Pray Without Presumption

Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 14:12-23

You might recall the backstory of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah where Abraham, having been told of the impending judgment, began to pray for God to show mercy because his nephew Lot was living among the people of that valley. He asked God to spare the cities if there were a certain number of righteous people there. Then, every time God said yes to his prayer, he lowered the number until he got down to 10.

We can read that and take it to mean that as long as there are a few righteous people God will spare a nation from judgment. We can assume that what is being taught is a divine standard across all time. That would be a mistake. That isn’t the lesson we should take from Abraham’s experience. Reading Ezekiel 14 clarifies that for us.

In Ezekiel 14 the statement is that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in Judah, their presence would not cause God to spare that nation. They would be delivered, but not the rest of the nation. Lot, in comparison to Noah, Daniel, and Job, was a spiritual sloth. He was righteous in that he was a believer. But the only way we know that is because the Bible says he was. As far as being a vibrant man of God, Lot doesn’t come close to measuring up to Noah, Daniel, and Job.

So, God was dealing with these two situations differently. And here is my point…Abraham’s experience teaches us to pray, and Ezekiel’s experience teaches us to not presume. We can and should pray in expectant faith when we have a clear promise from God about a matter. What about when there is no promise we can claim, but we have a burden about something? We can and should pray and plead with God. We should seek his mercy. But we shouldn’t presume that God has to act in the same way in every circumstance.

God is God. He always acts according to His nature. He is Lord and Sovereign and also acts according to the pleasure of His good will. He does what is right and best. Always. Pray but don’t presume.