Standing Before God When You Feel Helpless — Genesis 18
There is a particular helplessness that comes from watching someone you love slide deeper into destruction. Abraham knew it. He stood overlooking a city he could not control and turned toward God anyway. What follows is an invitation to do the same.
Why God Told Abraham at All
There is a particular kind of helplessness that comes from watching. A person you love sliding deeper into something that is destroying them. A community fracturing under violence you cannot stop. A situation with no good outcome in sight. And in that moment, prayer feels like two opposite things at once: the only thing left to do, and like talking into a wall. You want to beg God to intervene. But you are not sure if begging is allowed, or whether it changes anything, or whether the outcome has already been decided.
Abraham knew that exact paralysis. He stood on a ridge overlooking a city he did not live in, full of people he could not control, and rather than turning away, he turned toward God and started talking. What follows is one of the strangest, most honest prayers in all of Scripture.
Take a moment to read Genesis 18:16-33. Read it on Bible Gateway if you'd like.