God Remembered

When we last left Abraham, he had prayed and interceded on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah that God would not destroy the righteous with the wicked, but that He would spare the cities.  Having  communed with God, he left the company of his dear Friend believing he had touched the heart of God and that God would indeed answer his prayer.  Yet, he arose early the next morning anticipating the miraculous answer to his prayer only to behold the misery of apparent “broken promises.”

God had seemingly done the unthinkable, but Abraham had to trust God in the horror of the morning just as he had trusted Him in the hour of prayer the night before.  His faith was required to look beyond his field of vision into the face of the Holy God, the Righteous “Judge of all the earth.”

The soul of Abraham had asked the question,

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? – Genesis 18:25

Now, his faith was required to answer.

As Abraham looks down into the valley viewing the unthinkable, he has no idea that

it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, – Genesis 19:29

God never forgets!

God heard the words of Abraham’s prayer, but more importantly, He heard the prayer of Abraham’s heart.  His words said “Spare Sodom and Gomorrah.”  His heart pleaded “Spare my nephew, Lot, and his family.”  God did not answer the words of Abraham’s prayer; He answered the prayer of Abraham’s heart.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be utterred.  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. – Romans 8:26-27

“The Judge of all the earth” did what was righteous. The Almighty God, the Righteous Judge, knew the heart of Abraham and answered Abraham’s prayer more specifically than Abraham had asked or even dreamed.  The earnest prayer of Abraham’s soul was that his family be spared.  They were the “ten” he had asked God to spare.  And God answered, not by sparing the cities of the plains, but by actually sparing Abraham’s family.  He heard the prayer of Abraham’s heart, even when Abraham’s words failed to reflect his heart.

When burdens become heavy and the prayer of faith is all that we have, we often cannot find the words to express our heavy load, our deep sense of urgency and our utter helplessness.  Simply put, we don’t know how to pray.  We don’t know what to pray. All we know is that we need to pray.  Words may allude us and all we can manage is to whisper His name.  Our hearts melt; our eyes weeps; our lips quiver; and our tongues fail us.  In times like these take comfort in knowing that the Holy Spirit of God intercedes on our behalf.  He knows “what we should pray for as we ought.” He knows the intricacies of our burden, the heaviness of our heart and the frailty of our beings.  He helps us and communicates to the Father for us.  God the Father, “he that searcheth the hearts,” knows our hearts, our burdens, and our frailties;  He knows the “mind of the Spirit” because the Spirit has interceded for us.  Even though words failed us, God heard our prayer.

The Righteous Judge shall do right.  The Almighty One will answer the prayer of faith in His time and in His way.  When it seems we have been forgotten, we must look through eyes of faith believing that one day we will see that

“it came to pass… that God remembered.”

[Article 7 of 7 in Series on Prayer]

Article 1 – An Anomaly of the Christian Life

Article 2 – Between Friend

Article 3 – The Hose of Prayer

Article 4 – Forged Prayer

Article 5 – Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Article 6 – The Praying Hands

Article 7 – God Remembered