Prayers in Genesis and Exodus Part 1 Salisbury Baptist Church 9:30 am September 17th 2017

Abram prays for an heir

(1) Abram praying for a Son Genesis 15:1-6 (ESV) 15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

Prayers have to bring heavenly promises to engage with reality.

3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”  4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 

5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

What mattered to Abram was the lack of a son. What mattered to God was Abram’s faith that would be an example all through the Bible of gaining a righteousness by faith. God uses our needs and prayers about them for deeper purposes

(2) Abraham tries by human means to gain his own answer Genesis 17:15-20 (ESV) 15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 

17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”  18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”  19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

  20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.

(3) Abraham prays for Lot in Sodom Genesis 18: 22-33 (ESV) 22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.  23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 

25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”  26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.  28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 

29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”  30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 

31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”  32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”  33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Abraham’s prayer fails for Sodom but has Lot rescued Abraham’s prayer fails for Sodom but has Lot rescued. Genesis 19:27-29 (ESV) 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord.  28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

(4) Eliezer prays for a wife for Isaac. Genesis 24:12-21 (ESV) 12 And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 

14 Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” 15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. 

16 The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.  17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” 

18 She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.  19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 

20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.  21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not.