Genesis 18:16-33
"Abraham's Plea for Sodom"
First, remember that Lot, Abraham's nephew, lived in Sodom.
Now, God announced to Abraham His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, it was more like His plan to investigate the outcry against the two cities due to their sin and then, if the outcry was just, destroy the cities. Remember, though, that God is all-knowing. God already knew whether the outcry was just; this, to my fallible understanding, was another test for Abraham.
Abraham then did two things: he argued with God and he bargained with God. Abraham argued with God about the justness of God's actions in destroying Sodom, in killing both the righteous and the unrighteous. From that point, Abraham drew his plea, asking God to spare the city if 50 righteous people were found there. After God said yes, Abraham asked to presume to ask the same outcome for only 45, 40, 30, 20 and eventually 10 righteous people. God, already knowing the number of righteous people and the punishment set for the city, agreed to 10. As it turns out, God honored that request, but there weren't even 10 righteous individuals in the city.
Abraham stood before God and argued with Him. God does not shirk from argument, not does He shrink away from the angry words of man. He is bigger than that. In fact, God invites us to question our beliefs and to seek answers from Him. That is, after all, how we learn.
Additionally, God invites us to make requests of Him. Let me clarify, though, that God does not answer every request "yes" or every question with the desired answer, if an answer at all. What God does do, however, is keep His word. We can trust Him at His word but looking through the Bible at past occurrences where God made a commitment, promise or statement of action, we can see that He followed His word on a vastly large number of times.
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