Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 1 Peter 5:6-7
There is much we can learn from this passage from Abraham’s approach to God in prayer, or rather God’s invitation to engage in conversation with him.
The first thing that we see is that God chose to approach Abraham and he did it by taking on human form. God had a human body – he walked, talked, ate, and drank with Abraham. God called Abraham his friend (Isaiah 48:1, 2 Chron 20:7, James 2:23). As his friend, God told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. God knew that Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived there, and that Abraham would be concerned.
Abraham also knew that Sodom was a wicked place, but he didn’t want it destroyed because of his concern for Lot and his family. So, in an attempt to save Lot, he asked God to spare the city. Six times he asked God to save the city for the sake of the righteous, each time lowering the number of righteous people, until he asked God to spare it if there were only ten righteous people. The text tells us that Abraham knew that he was being bold in his requests and he feared that God would get angry, but as a friend of God, he continued to intercede.
God calmly listened to Abraham’s requests – friend to friend – and agreed to all of them. When they finished, God left and Abraham went home. Unfortunately, there were not ten righteous people in Sodom, so God destroyed it. However, in his mercy, God answered Abraham’s prayer and spared Lot and his two daughters.
When you pray, do you consider yourself God’s friend? Do you approach God with your deep desires, considering that God will listen and understand? Do you trust God to answer in his very best way, even if you don’t get what you want? Do you recognize the ultimate wisdom in God’s answer to your prayers? Consider how patiently God dealt with Abraham – he will do the same for you.