Genesis 18:16-33

“Will not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25)

For all of those who have grown up believing that the God of the Old Testament is a God of harsh judgment, hellfire and brimstone, today’s passage should lay that to rest. We see in these verses a God of infinite grace. Frankly, I don’t know where people get that idea about God, because His grace flows freely throughout the Old Testament, but I know that, before I had read the Bible for myself, that is what I had always been taught. Not so!

We begin this passage where Abraham’s three visitors are getting up to leave:

When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” (vs.16-19)

Jon Courson points out here that God decides to give Abraham this revelation about His plan for Sodom because he knows that Abraham will communicate to his own family the things of God. He gives Abraham this information to pass it on! Isn’t this why He reveals things from His Word to us? It isn’t meant to just be stored in our own hearts, we are meant to teach it to our children and our grandchildren and all others He brings into our lives. If you want to gain more wisdom from God, SHARE what He’s already given you!

Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” (vs.20-21)

Apparently people had been complaining to God about the behaviors in Sodom and Gomorrah. When God says He will “go down and see,” it is not because He doesn’t know, but He is going to show the world that His judgements are just and fair. The angels then head for Sodom, while the LORD and Abraham continue their dialogue. Abraham, knowing his nephew Lot is in the path of destruction, pleads for grace from God on behalf of the city. He bargains with God about the numbers. In verse 24 he says, “What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare[ the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?”


After the LORD assures Abraham that He would spare the city for 50, Abraham keeps going lower and lower, bargaining until, finally, he settles with God for ten. Surely, he is thinking there are at least 10 who are righteous, because Lot’s family numbers at least eight (Lot, his wife, his two virgin daughters, and two married daughters and their husbands are mentioned in the next chapter), and there must be at least TWO more somewhere within the two cities!

In verse 33 we read, “Abraham returned home.” He was confident that God would do the right thing, and the city would be spared. I’m thinking I might have just taken a little trip down to Sodom to at least check on my nephew at this point, but I believe that Abraham, our father of faith, was resting in the justice of God - that no matter what the outcome, God remained God. We, too, must rest in the assurance that on the final judgment day, we will be singing with the great multitude in heaven,    “Hallelujah! 
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments.” (Rev. 19:1-2)

We see in this passage several great things about Abraham: he walked with God, he interceded for others with God, he was one who would SHARE his faith with his family, and he trusted the sovereign Judge of the earth to do right. No wonder he’s the father of the faithful! May the same be said of each of us!!
Tomorrow we’ll see what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah! It’s not pretty!!!

 

Genesis 18:1-15

“Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (vs. 14)

This is the heart of today’s passage. We see so many clever signs and bumper stickers that portray a Christian message, but this one should be the flashing neon sign over all of our door posts! Is there anything God can’t do?? Of course, He can’t deny Himself and His character, so He can’t lie - but I’m talking here about the challenges we face daily. Is there one that He can’t handle? Of course not! So, this morning I want to focus on this part of the scene we are looking at in Genesis 18.

The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. (vs. 1-2)

It’s the hottest part of the day, and in the blazing sun, Abraham sits at the entrance of his tent, and the LORD shows up. Note that it does not say that Abraham saw the three men coming at a distance, but “he looked up and saw three men standing nearby.” They just appeared! Jon Courson points out that the LORD always shows up when we are in the midst of the heat - when we are going through a fiery trial, He is always there beside us. Where we may not have noticed His presence so much when it was quiet (that’s our fault, not HIS), He appears in full force when the major challenges loom. He appears here to Abraham in the form of a man, with two angels by His side.

Abraham recognizes these are special visitors, for he rushes to bow before them, then gets everyone else busy preparing a lavish meal. I think it’s funny that the preparations are dealt with in six verses, as if it didn’t take a long time to prepare loaves of bread and to kill, dress, and cook a calf! Imagine the happenings in that kitchen!

Now, the LORD has come to personally deliver a great message: “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” (vs 10) God had already promised Abraham an heir through Sarah - He’d even given the child the name Isaac, meaning “laughter.” (Gen 17:19) So, I’m wondering why He has come again to give basically the same message... I’m wondering if this visit wasn’t just for Sarah! The rest of this passage focuses on her response. Sarah had been eavesdropping on the conversation from just inside the tent. When she heard God’s pronouncement that she’d have a baby in a year’s time, she laughs incredulously, since she’s already way past menopause! Note the way this is stated in verse 12:

So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”


The God who hears our thoughts and knows our hearts calls her out on her unbelief in this humorous exchange:

Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” (vs13-15)

As a teacher, I have similar scenes play out like this in my classroom all the time:

Me: “Why did you sign your mother’s signature on your reading log?”
Guilty student: “I didn’t sign it! She did!”
Me: “Really? She signed in PENCIL then ERASED it and SIGNED IT AGAIN? Do I look stupid to you???”

Seriously, why do we think we can get away with ANYTHING? And why would we WANT to? It’s amazing how fear of punishment will cause us to lie when the evidence is so glaring to the contrary! It shows our lack of understanding of our Father when we pull stunts like this one. Sarah had just heard God say He was going to bless her socks off - and she could not wrap her brain around His being the God of the impossible. Is ANYTHING too hard for Him??

What IMPOSSIBLE thing are you facing? Is it a financial mess that seems impossible to unravel? Is it a relationship so “beyond repair” that you have despaired of seeing it healed? Has the doctor given you the terrifying diagnosis of cancer, which has you immobilized with fear? Is your grief so overwhelming you cannot imagine going on? Or maybe you, too, are barren and figuring you will never know the joy of holding your own child? NOTHING is impossible for God! As Courson says, there is no “degree of difficulty” with God: curing a headache or a malignant tumor are the same to Him. Can we believe Him? Or do we laugh at the thought? Oh, LORD, help us to grasp just how big and powerful you are! Help us to trust in your sovereignty and your great love for us. Help us to KNOW without a doubt that you are not only ABLE but so WILLING to answer the deepest desires of our hearts!

Off to school - wonder if anyone is going to try to pull the wool over Mrs. White’s eyes today?? :)
 

Genesis 16:7-8

Today we are at one of the most precious scenes in the Old Testament:

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.


Let’s deal with the first issue: who is the “angel of the LORD?” Well, both Jon Courson and Beth Moore give reasons why we can assume this is God Himself, but I love that they aren’t dogmatic - and Beth, in her study, asks the reader to look for evidence from scripture that could confirm or deny that. So, I just looked down to verse 10 where the angel makes a promise to Hagar:

“I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”


In my mind the pronoun, “I,” is a pretty clear indication that the angel is, indeed, the LORD. At any rate, this visitation is incredibly meaningful. Note, that Hagar was NOT seeking God - in fact, she was in the middle of running away from the “family of faith.” No, she was not looking for God, but He was looking for her! Here she is, in her lowest moment, pregnant and without any idea of what she should do, and how like our precious LORD to come to this defeated woman, whom He calls by name. Just like the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), and the woman caught in adultery (John 8), the LORD shows His special love for the “least of these,” those who are weak and hurting. As Courson says, “After all, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who left the ninety-nine to find the single sheep who had gone astray...He goes after the one. He goes after Hagar. He goes after you.”

And how like Him to ask her a question when He already knows the answer. He did not need to know where she had come from and where she was going, but He wanted her to think about it. Beth Moore addresses her reader here, “Dear One, very often God initiates intimacy with us by raising fresh questions. Hard questions. Even questions that have no earthly answers. But the search leads us to heaven’s door. God often causes us to search ourselves, asking us to articulate what we’re feeling and why we’re making some of our present choices.”


So, I’m wondering, what question is He asking you? What is it He wants you to ask of yourself? Are there some attitudes that He seeks to change in your heart? Boy! I know I can use an attitude adjustment! There are so many times in a day when I’d just love to run away and have a good cry or just be free of the constant pulling in a thousand different directions. Life is messy and it is tough. There are many times throughout our lives when we find ourselves isolated in a desert like Hagar, wondering what in the world we will do next. Or maybe not even caring... Then He comes alongside - often through the word of encouragement of another, or just with a quiet whisper of His love, or in a fresh reminder from His Word - and we realize that He still seeks us. This relationship is entirely His doing!

He came to a pagan, runaway slave girl - He will come to you!