The Power of Intercessory Prayer
INTERESTING FACTS : The first translation of the English Bible was initiated by John Wycliffe and completed by John Purvey in 1388[1]
DAILY READING : [GENESIS 19 ? 21]
TEXT: Gen 19:16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. Gen 19:29? And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
THEME : PRAYER
An interesting event takes place in chapter 18 when God tells Abraham that He is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness. It is then that Abraham becomes concerned with the welfare of the righteous men and women who lived there, and of course, he fears what would happen to Lot. He goes before God and reminds God that He is the Judge of the earth, and that God must always do what is right. Then, He asks would He spare the city if there are fifty, or forty ? five, or forty, thirty, twenty, or ten righteous men and women. In each case, God answers that He will not destroy the city if as little as ten righteous individuals live there. Sadly, God destroyed the cities sparing only Lot and his wife and daughters ? no more. This points out there were not even as little as ten righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, God rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed the two cities as well as the surrounding towns and villages as we see in chapter 19.
Recently, archeologist Dr. Steven Collins of Trinity Southwest University in Albuquerque has made intriguing discoveries at the site at Tall el-Hammam dig in Jordan, where Dr. Collins and his team believe they have found the true location of the Biblical city of Sodom. Part of his discoveries includes the positions of the skeletons of the people destroyed. Dr. Collins explains his astounding sighting in an interview with Brian Nixon of ASSIST News Service.
"Two of our osteologists, Dr. John Leslie, PhD, MD, and Dr. John Moore, PhD, DDS, looked over the bones. The area they concentrated on was the bottom half of the body, including the pelvis region, legs, and feet - the upper portions on two of them were missing. The initial results were amazing and quite exciting archaeologically - but sad in how the people died. They found the bodies splayed out, face down, joints twisted, toes hyper-extended, with many signs of violent burial within collapsing debris. In short, the bodies were extremely traumatized in their death. Shortly after, we discovered a child's body one meter north. The child's skeleton showed the same destruction, demonstrating traumatic demise. The legs were flexed in the wrong way, the knee joints were ripped apart, one arm was broken with left palm up, and the other arm was smashed under the pelvis. In all, it showed the signs of a sudden, ghastly death. Generally speaking, the skeletal remains were found throughout the area, following the same patterns. One skeleton seems to be crouching, as if in fear, protecting itself from the destruction. Initial evidence points towards a large-scale destruction from a catastrophic event. I say this because, in that area, the skeletal remains were traumatized by an east-to-west directional event, demonstrating that the catastrophe came from a particular compass point."
God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their flagrant immorality and incredible perverseness. In addition, God tells us through Ezekiel another reason he burned Sodom and Gomorrah. "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." [Ezekiel 16:49] Therefore, we see that Sodom and Gomorrah were not only sexually perverse, they also had no consideration for the poor, and were filled with arrogance and excess.
TRUTH FOR TODAY : THE POWER OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER!
We do not know exactly why Lot's wife turned back to look at her former home, nor do we know why Lot's daughter's husbands laughed at Lot and could not believe God would destroy Sodom. All we know is that God did judge all who lived there, and He killed Lot's wife for her disobedience to His command. Jesus uses Lot's wife as a warning to all Christians before His return not to look back at the world or their former life, but to keep looking straight ahead. This is a solemn warning, telling all of us to stay diligent and fervent to God and His Kingdom in the last days, no matter how much ungodliness is around us. "Remember Lot's wife," said the Master. Remember her, so we do not have the same fate!
However, we find today's truth in God sparing Lot because of Abraham's prayer. In addition, we should note that God committed Himself not to destroy the wicked if there were as little as ten righteous people living there. We learn a powerful lesson from the Bible in this story. It is the fact that praying for others has a powerful effect on both individuals and communities. We also learn that it is urgent that Christians understand that as the salt of the earth, their lives can keep God's judgment from falling on their nation, community, or family and so forth - if they will live a life pleasing to the Lord. Lot was lingering during a dangerous time, but our text tells us that God was merciful to him, having the angels pull him out of there because God remembered Abraham's prayer! How powerful are our prayers on the behalf of others. Perhaps we may never know in this world who God spared from imminent dangers because we took the time to pray for them!
In this ungodly world, let us have faith in God and His Word and learn a lesson from Abraham and Lot. Let us also remember the words of Lord Alfred Tennyson who wrote - "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." How true!
