Then he said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the ten."We approach God in a much different manner than Abraham did. We will pray about anything and everything, sometimes treating God like a vending machine. From the beginning of this chapter, Abraham considered merely speaking to God to be something he was completely unworthy of. He was actually afraid of making God angry at him for opening his mouth! How often do we approach God with that amount of awe and reverence? How would our actions be different if we did?
Abraham saw God as the Almighty, someone who could do whatever he wished, but had looked upon Abraham with favor. That favor shows here, as well. Sodom has become so evil that it cries out to God, and he plans on destroying it. But if there are merely ten people who do what is right, who stand against the trend, God will spare the hundreds or thousands of evildoers from his wrath. Today, some people wonder why God doesn't come down and destroy the "sinful nations," sometimes including America in that group. Perhaps this passage gives a possible answer. If God would spare places of complete wickedness for the sake of ten, how many millions will He spare for the thousands of believers here? While Abraham sees God as being just, he also sees His mercy at work, as well.
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