20 Then the Lord said, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless, and their sin is very serious! 21 I will go down now to examine the cries of injustice that have reached me. Have they really done all this? If not, I want to know.” (Gen. 18:20-21)
When the cries of the oppressed have reached the ears of God, he will come down.
This is a powerful story… and not for reasons that are just too easy to use as “targets” in our cultural wars.
The story is powerful because God visits Abraham FIRST before going to examine the situation in Sodom and Gomorrah. He knows Abraham will talk to HIM about the situation, and Abraham will plead for the city.
The story is powerful because God hears the cries of the oppressed. Sodom and Gomorrah were not “neighborly” in any sense of the word. They were abusive in EVERY sense of the word (which is far beyond the narrow cultural war view we take today.)
The story is powerful because Abraham does indeed intercede, even though God ultimately has to act.
These two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl have raised more awareness this year than any other year to human trafficking. There are dozens of teams representing hundreds of people in New York/New Jersey these two weeks talking about human trafficking because Super Bowl week is a HIGH traffic time for sexual abuse and prostitution.
This past week was also the commemoration of Roe v. Wade and the prayers of many who went up asking God to hear the cries of those who never got to utter their first cry.
There are abuses in so many places and there will be a time when those cries will reach the ears of the Father and action will be taken.
It’s not one tiny sliver of sin. We don’t get to pick the sins according to our political beliefs. It’s greed. It’s sexual abuse. It’s selfishness. It’s physical abuse. It’s marginalizing the poor. On and on. It’s across the political spectrum and every one of stand in the need of prayer and repentance.
The question is this: are we the kinds of people where God would come and talk to us because he knows we would take up intercession on behalf of the city? Or, does he pass us by because all we’ll do is say, “Yep. Burn ’em up!”
Let us hear the cries of the oppressed. Let us pray on behalf of the oppressed. Let us pray for the sake of the righteous. Let us hear what God is trying to stir in our hearts for the purposes of intercession.
Apprentice 2 Jesus 