This week I read about a five-year-old boy who came to his
father one day with a request. “Dad,” he said, “I know that Mom is supposed to
have a baby in a few months and I really want a brother. Can you promise me a
brother?” His dad replied, “Johnny, I’ll tell you what. If you pray every day
for two months for a baby brother, I guarantee that God will give you one.”
So the boy started out strong. For a month he prayed every
night before he went to bed for a baby brother. But after a month he began to grow
skeptical. He began to ask around the neighborhood and found that nobody who
ever prayed for a brother got one. In fact, he was told that it was silly to
keep praying that way. So he stopped.
And at the end of the two months his mother went to the hospital
and delivered. The next day when the five-year-old was allowed to visit, he
came into the room and found a set of twin boys. His father said to him, “Now
aren’t you glad you prayed?” And Johnny hesitated a minute and said, “Yes, but
aren’t you glad I stopped after one month instead of two?”
When most people think of prayer they think of it like that
father and son; prayer is a means of securing a desired end. However, in this
week’s message, “The Prayer”, we will be examining the first extended prayer in
Scripture. It’s a prayer in which Abraham makes six separate requests of the
Lord, all prompted by the Word of God and all on the same subject. But unlike
most prayers, this one is initiated by God (18:17). The Bible says that as the
three visitors set out from the tent of Abraham (note: the message of October
25th, “The Laugh”), the Lord says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I
am about to do?” Stuart Briscoe in his commentary on Genesis says, “This
question, which apparently the Lord was addressing to Himself, is as of great
interest to us as it was undoubtedly to Abraham. It deals with the whole
question of whether God has a strategy and if He will share it with His people
and, in fact, involve them in its outworking.” But it’s far more than that.
It’s a divine exposure that gives us one of the greatest foreshadowings of the
Gospel in the entire Old Testament.
Think of it. In Genesis 3 God announces the promise of the
Gospel. In Genesis 15 He ratifies the veracity of His promise. In Genesis 22 He
provides a phenomenally clear portrait of the Gospel. And in Genesis 18 He
explains the reason for it.
For years I have taught that Abraham’s negotiation with God
in Genesis 18:16-33 is a transparent example of God’s foreordained will. Rather
than showing God’s will bending to the will of Abraham, Abraham’s will is
bending to the will of God. In other words, God knows what He is going to do
and Abraham comes to learn it through this prayerful dialogue. And while all of
this is true, there’s so much more that’s taking place here. Indeed, in this
divine exposure, Abraham, and every inspired reader, learns of the loftiness of
God’s holiness and the breadth of His grace. There is so much here!
In preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to consider
the following:
See you Sunday!
1.
Two weeks ago in Genesis 18:1-15 we read of
these three men. Who are they?
2.
In verse 17 the Lord says, “Shall I hide from
Abraham what I am about to do?” Why the first person singular pronoun?
3.
How is this question really an invitation to
Abraham to engage Him?
4.
On what grounds does the Lord invite him into
dialogue?
5.
What do you make of the words, “Because the
outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will
go down to see…”?
6.
What do you think happens in verse 22 to clarify
the parties engaged in the following dialogue?
7.
What does the Bible mean in verse 23 when it
says that Abraham drew near?
8.
In what way is Abraham acting like a priest or
mediator between God and the Canaanites of the plain?
9.
What marks Abraham’s request as unique to
Scripture?
10. Why
does he stop at ten?
11. What
does all this tell you about the Gospel?
