In our first reading today from Genesis 18, we see an amazing story of Abraham negotiating with God. In the Gospel reading, Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray.
God was sick of all the wickedness that He saw in Sodom and Gomorrah. It was time to clean house. But the thought of innocent people being wiped out with the guilty really bothered Abraham. So Abraham begins to negotiate with God. He asks God if He would spare the city if God were to find fifty innocent people there. God says He would spare the city if He found fifty innocent people. And so Abraham goes on, lowering the number with each request. And God relents each time, saying that He would spare the cities if He found innocent people.
Imagine Abraham’s boldness! It must have taken some guts to get into a negotiation with God. But I’ll bet that you have done something similar. In fact, each time we pray and ask God for something, it is a sort of negotiation. Jesus said that we could ask for anything in His name. The bottom line is this: we must always ask, in the end, for God's will, and we must be okay with whatever His will is.
Father, thank you for hearing us and wanting to know the desires of our hearts. As you are willing to work with us, make us more willing to work with you. Amen.
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