Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
We often wonder why God allows the existence of towns and cities where his name is despised. These towns and cities are populated by wicked people who have misbehaved for years and years, despite the many warnings against it. Towns and cities are known worldwide for using the questionable lifestyle of those who inhabit them as a trademark. Thus we have, for example, San Francisco, California where there is a large community of people who live according to the gay lifestyle. Las Vegas, Nevada, is known for gambling and prostitution. They even call it “Sin City”! Both the principality of Monaco and Macau, one of the Special Administrative Regions of China have been important centers for gambling for a long time. The mountain fortress of Alamut in Iran, now in ruins, used to represent the ultimate place where you could find a murderer for hire. Indeed, the English word assassin comes from the word hashashin, which means smoker of hashish in the Arabic language. But that’s another story.
Many times we complain about violence, poverty and other ills that prevail in the places where we live. We say that the fault lies with the civil authorities who have, by their gross inability, allowed crime to advance freely and without reins. But when was the last time you prayed for your city? Abraham interceded beyond reason with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah. After intense negotiations God accepted that if ten righteous people were found in Sodom he would cancel the sentence of destruction he had imposed on the two cities because of their collective sin of homosexuality. Unfortunately for the sodomites, only four people were found, so the punishment was carried out as it had been decreed. By contrast, the city of Nineveh was spared by the prompt intervention of the repentant king and the obedience of its people to his call for collective fasting. Intercede for your city, chances are that’s all that remains for God to begin to pour out his blessings on it. Only to God be the glory!