Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?... Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” (Gen 18,24.27-28)
How differently we will view this special conversation between Abraham and God, depending on whether we view the Bible as a bunch of legends or the precious Word of God! In other words, whether we consider the Bible to be superior to us or us to be superior to it. After all, the carnal mind here might say, well, some people are born merchants, so who would be surprised if they try to bargain with God Himself?
But those who have known moments of God's nearness are more likely to be silent when reading this conversation. For they know what it means when God and man stop opposite each other and listen to each other with all the seriousness. When there is someone who takes his place in the "gap" between God and man. In that moment, God perceived Abraham's pleas in every detail - to every single number Abraham uttered, God responded specifically. And Abraham, in turn, perceived how far he could go. He did not cling to some predetermined course of action as to how he would speak to God, stubbornly repeating his point as if he had "neither seen nor heard." His prayer evolved according to how he perceived God in it. He felt how far he could go, in other words, as far as he was entering an open door. In his spirit he perceived that God allowed him to continue until the number ten. Even of that number, the majority, six members, belonged to Lot's family, so that from Sodom alone it was enough to find only four.
At that moment he perceived that the door had begun to close, and he was to go no further. Abraham prayed to God as one who knows, but also as one who respects. In his lifetime of following, he had learned that prayer is not there to enforce something from God, but to grasp it together with Him.
