James teaches us that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16, ESV). Scripture is saturated with the prayers of righteous persons whom God uses to work great things in redemption history, such as Moses, David, and Elijah. James is kind enough to remind us, however, that “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours . . .” (James 5:17, ESV, emphasis added).

In other words, Elijah was not superhuman. His prayers were not effective because of his own excellence, personality, or charisma. He was a man with a nature like yours and mine, and yet his prayers were answered by God. We have confidence that the same God who answered the prayers of great biblical figures such as Elijah will answer our prayers.

A Little About Lot

Abraham is one such person we might consider great—perhaps even greater than we could ever be. But Scripture tells us that He was not righteous by His own merit, but that “[Abraham] believed the LORD, and [God] counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6, ESV). Abraham was a righteous person, and his prayers were answered with a grand display of God’s power and mercy. On one such occasion, Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city of Sodom, a city of great wickedness, on account of the righteous who lived in the city (Genesis 18:22–32).

Perhaps Abraham pleaded for Sodom because his nephew Lot lived in the city. The Apostle Peter refers to Lot as a righteous person—three times in the span of two verses (2 Peter 2:7–8). Abraham was like a father to Lot, who journeyed together with Abraham and his wife into Canaan (Genesis 12:4). It was only after the Lord had blessed Lot with great possessions that the two separated and Lot went to live in Sodom (Genesis 13:1–13).

Shortly after their separation, Lot was taken captive in a war among the kings of the valley, and Abraham and 318 of his trained men rescued Lot and defeated his captors (Genesis 14:12–16). Abraham loved Lot and worked for the well-being of his dear relative. But the greatest deliverance Lot was to experience would come by Abraham’s prayers, not His sword.

God’s Abrasive Mercy

Though God had determined to destroy Sodom, he would rescue Lot in response to Abraham’s pleadings in Genesis 18. The Lord sent two angels to deliver Lot and any others associated with him from the wrath to come. After an eventful evening, the morning dawns when Lot is to escape the city. The two angels tell Lot to take his wife and daughters and get to safety. Then comes verse 16: “But [Lot] lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city” (Genesis 19:16, ESV).

Lot lingers. He delays. He hesitates in the danger zone. So, the men “seize” Lot along with his wife and daughters, bringing them outside the city to safety. All of this transpires as an expression of the Lord’s mercy. Notice that parenthetical phrase: “the LORD being merciful to him.” This seizure is the mercy of God. It is rather abrupt and disruptive.

God’s mercy is not polite, but abrasive. It does not ask, it seizes. It does not offer, but drags to safety. The word translated “seize” here is also translated elsewhere in the Bible as “severe” (of the famine in Genesis 41:56), “harden” (of Pharaoh’s heart throughout Exodus), and “strong” (Deuteronomy 31:7, Joshua 1:6).

We could therefore say God’s mercy toward Lot is severe, hard, and strong. When Abraham prayed for the righteous in Sodom, he did not mean for God to be gentle, soft, or weak when rescuing them from destruction. He meant for God to pull out all the stops in sparing the righteous. God’s mercy is invasive, disruptive, and oh, so good!

We can compare God’s mercy to CPR, which is also quite invasive and disruptive. A modest estimate of broken ribs or fractured sternums came in at 30 percent of patients who received CPR—one study estimated it as high as 55 percent. At least one out of every three people who receives life-saving CPR may end up with a broken bone or two. But in addition to those broken bones, they’ll also have a beating heart!

God’s mercy toward Lot may be abrasive, but it works. It saved his life. Here’s what’s true: God doesn’t need our permission to be merciful to us. He does not need our consent to do good to us.

And this is part of what it means for God to be God, for he tells Moses, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19, ESV). God is free to invade your personal space and show you mercy. And he’s free to answer your prayers for mercy in the same disruptive, abrasive manner as he answered Abraham’s prayer for the righteous.

Pray For God’s Mercy

And isn’t this what we want? How do you pray for your loved ones? “God, please save my loved one, but be respectful of their space.” “God, please be merciful to my loved one, but don’t infringe upon the freedom of their will.” “God, please rescue my loved one, but mind their preferences.” Likely not! Don’t we instead beg God to do whatever it takes to save our loved ones, as Abraham did?

“God, drag them kicking and screaming if you must. Break them, blind them, bankrupt them, do whatever it takes to get them out of the city limits and into safety. Be merciful unto my loved one.” This is the true nature of mercy. Lot recognizes it as such in Genesis 19:19: “Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life” (ESV).

Lot is not upset with the angels for seizing him and dragging him out of the city. He’s not mad at God for interrupting his daydreaming. Rather, he recognizes that he has found favor—grace—in God’s sight. He calls what God has done for him through these angels “great kindness” or “lovingkindness.” Psalm 23:6, a well-known verse, shows us that God’s lovingkindness is not passive: “Surely goodness and mercy [lovingkindness] shall follow me all the days of my life” (ESV). Rendered literally, God’s goodness and mercy pursues us.

God’s mercy is strong and relentless. Lot could care less that his robes have been wrinkled by the strong grip of God’s mercy. He’s been saved! And it is all because of Abraham’s prayers in Genesis 18. Lot receives mercy from God because “God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived” (Genesis 19:29, ESV).

In the same way, I’d like us to circle back to where we started. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16, ESV). Abraham’s prayer worked. Your prayers will work. Keep praying for your loved ones the way Abraham prayed for his beloved nephew. Plead for God’s mercy that they should escape the wrath to come, knowing this: “the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Peter 2:9, ESV).

Genesis 19 teaches us that intercessory prayer works—it moves the hand of God to mercifully seize sinners, snatching them out of the fire (Jude 23). God rescued Lot for Abraham’s sake. Who will he rescue for your sake?

Notes

1. Van Wijck et. al., “Rib fractures and other injuries after cardiopulmonary resuscitation for non-traumatic cardiac arrest: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, 50, no. 3 (2024): 1331–1346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-023-02421-7.

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Author Bio

K. Jack Faught serves as Associate Pastor at Parsons Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. He is pursuing a D.Min. in Applied Theology from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jack lives in Columbus with his wife, Claire, and their two sons. He enjoys discipling his boys, making his wife laugh, and spending time with his church.

Additional Resources:

Pray Bible Study		The Prayer Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Practice of Prayer		Genesis Bible Study		James Bible Study
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