Genesis 19: Sodom and the outcry to God by the stranger in the land

God is love.  1 John 4:8

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,  Exodus 34:6; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 145:8.

So, what gives here?  How can a loving and merciful God be so angry and vengeful?

Gen 19:13.  The outcry to the LORD against [Sodom's] people is great, so he has sent us to destroy it.

Was God angry?  Yes.  Was God willing to give them a second chance (or a third, fourth, or fifth)?  Apparently.  Did you notice that at the end of Gen 18, God was willing to relent on his plans of judgment if only 10 people could be found in Sodom who would do the right thing.

Let's count.  Lot, his wife, and 2 daughters.  That makes 4.  He had to son in laws.  If they both had two  more friends, then they could have saved the city.  But the son in laws just laughed.  (14).  And they were the ones closest to the God-fearing Lot.

Why did they not believe Lot?  Was his witness too dim for them to see?  Not even those closest Sodomites to him shared his faith or perspective on God.  How in the world did he even stay in such a place?

So, not even 10 people (the same number that was required before Jews could establish a synagogue in a city--so perhaps a symbolic number suggesting that there were not enough God-fearing people in the land for God to tolerate the behavior) who feared God were found in Sodom.

And God decided for the nuclear option.

So, what was God's motivation?

I have seen some options on this:
1) God just got tired of the sin and decided to destroy it.  But this does not sound like the God who is compassionate and patient.  I need a better rationale than this.
2) Lot was righteous and needed to be saved.  My take on this is that Lot, who had displayed rather poor judgment and immaturity, was probably not the standard bearer for God's ideals like Abraham.  Yes, Abraham had his faults, but he at least kept his distance from trouble when able and lived in the land promised to him by God, even though he didn't own it.  I don't think Lot's action or inaction had much to do with the punishment.  Perhaps if he had been a better influence, the city would have turned to God, or at least 10 people would have been converted.  But this is not clear in the text.

Neither of these options really satisfies me.  Is there an answer that allows me to see God as compassionate and patient, yet also holy and just?

How about this:
God's reaction to Sodom was based on a "cry out."  But God was responding to the voices of others, not himself.  The three angels saw first hand how Sodom mistreated strangers and foreigners in the land.  And not just mistreated, but abused and violated.  This was not the first incident, but God made sure it was the last.  There was not one person in the land who stood up for the helpless or the defenseless strangers. 

So, God, after patiently waiting for Sodom to get it right, finally stood up for the persecuted and the violated.

In compassion, he protected those who would be harmed.  In justice he avenged those already wronged.

And Sodom had an apocalyptic moment on par with the judgments of Revelation--and it was all based on God's protection and justice for the stranger and the helpless.

How does your community do in protecting and caring for the stranger, alien (legal or illegal), or defenseless in your community?  How would God respond to your area if he allowed three messengers to experience it first hand?

Remember, you may already be entertaining angels and not even know it.  Hebrews 13:2.

Also, we as Christians are foreigners and exiles in this world.  We, of all people, should be sensitive to the needs of the foreigner and the wanderer.  1 Peter 2:10-12.

Genesis 16: God's mercy and grace within our free will

God has a plan.  He always does.

I have an idea.  Sometimes it is good.  Sometimes not.  Most of the time my ideas need to age gracefully before they are implemented.  Ah, but patience is not my strength.

And thus, I am able to identify with the great man of faith, Abram.  And his wife, Sarai, who hatched a plan to make sure God's promises would not fail.

Like he really needs our help to insure his faithfulness.

After all, how could God accomplish his plan given the current circumstances.

Sarai was too old.

Abram was too old.

There were human solutions that were readily available and had worked in other circumstances.

Time was growing short.

So, Abram deferred.  His wife's plan was culturally acceptable, easily seen, and apparently easily executed.

So, Abram agreed.  And he was given a son named Ishmael.

And then the fallout.

Sarai was too jealous.

Abram was too compliant.

Hagar was too blessed of God.

The human plan worked all too well.

But it doesn't trump God's plan, nor does it thwart it.

So, why didn't God just do away with the rival plan?  Grace.

In fact, he promised to bless Ishmael in answers to the prayers of his mother Hagar and father Abram (Gen 18).

Did Abram and Sarai act out of fear and not faith?  Yes.

But God can still bless that action, even if it is not within the original blue print.

Our whole existence is outside of the original blueprint (Eden).

Yet, God's grace brings something beautiful out of our plans and mistakes and choices.

And it all flows within a tapestry of actions that reveals God's present work in our lives.

So, what choices have you made that have been against God's plan for your life?  Have you asked for God to still cleanse those choices and bless them?  Also, did you notice how God responds to the prayers of the mother and father?  Ishmael was blessed because someone cried out on his behalf.  Will you pray that God will heal the choices in lives around you and gracefully bless those who are hurting--for the glory of his grace and name?

God is powerful.  His plan is going to succeed.  But I think his greatest power is displayed, not in what goes perfectly, but in how he redeems and uses the broken and imperfect within his plan.

Genesis 18: God's multitasking

When God visits, he isn't focused on one task. God can multitask like nobody's business. Now, you might think, "Duh." But let's admit it: sometimes all we can see if what God is doing in our immediate circumstance, forgetting that he loves everyone around us. And he is working in their lives even as he is working in our life. Genesis 18 gives me a glimpse into this.

First, notice the three visitors or travelers. Who are they? They are angelic messengers of God come to proclaim witness against Sodom and Gomorrah. They are dealing with the fate of cities and even states, kings and authorities.

Yet, they take time to affirm God's covenant with Abraham.

They take time to affirm God's promise to Sarah: You will have a child by this time next year. (By then, she will be 91)

They take time to sit with Abraham, and Abraham humbly recognizes their authority, even if he is not truly aware of their full identity.

By the way, Abraham has this spiritual awareness that is amazing--to sense God's voice, to hear him, to go as he leads, and to recognize his authority wherever he appears (oaks of Mamre, Melchizedek, the three visitors). Wow. I want to be spiritually sensitive like that.

Why all this fuss over Abraham when the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah are at hand?

I think God is merciful like this all the time. Yes, he is active in the big things: nations, countries, universes, mega-churches, etc.

But he is also at work in individual lives who simply trust God with eyes and ears attuned to his work. And he touches us all in a divinely multitasking way as he moves in this world.

Abraham, Faith, and Salvation

Genesis 15:6.  Abraham believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Abraham had doubts.  Lots of them.  And they were quite logical.  How could he have a family at the age of 100?  How could God fulfill promises of an heir?  And how could one man hope to establish a nation among other powerful city-states in a "wild west" context in Palestine around 2000 BC?

Well, none of it really makes any sense, except Abraham heard that still, small of voice of God.  And he believed.  And then lived life based on that belief.  He had a conversation with God and walked in relationship with God long before the Law was ever established.  He was saved without the Jewish religion.

Paul and James both pick up on this verse and make significant statements on salvation by faith in Christ based on it.

In Romans 4, Paul makes these observations:

• Faith in God brings credit for righteousness.  It can never be earned.
• Abraham was saved before he was circumsized.   Therefore, circumcision cannot save, nor can ethnicity.
• Because Abraham depended on faith (God) and not works, God could insure that the promises would come true--because those promises were based on God's work not Abraham's.
• Abraham was a good as dead (unable to have children, and thus no hope), and yet faith gave him hope (and life).  Thus, having faith is like being resurrected from the dead.

In Galatians 3, Paul makes some similar points.

• Abraham was saved by faith, not the law.
• The Spirit gives life, whereas the Law simply points out that we are already dead.
• Since God made a covenant with Abraham before he made the Law, the first covenant is greater than the latter.
• The covenant of God was also mediated by God himself, making its argument and foundation more complete and greater than the Law, mediated by God through Angels to Moses.
• Without faith, we are all prisoners.  Faith in God sets us free from the restrictions human religion. 

And James 2 adds the following:

• Abraham acted on his faith, and thus his faith was a living faith. 
• He was called God's friend because he not only claimed faith but walked in that faith.

Genesis 15:6 plays a vital role in our understanding of how God saves us.  Faith--without the Law, land, immediate fulfillment of promises, organized national religion, human intermediaries--is all that is required.

Are you living by faith today?  Are you trying to make it all happen yourself, or are you depending on the God power and grace to do miraculous things?   Are you claiming in faith, but not walking with the One who saved you?

Remember, faith is life and freedom.  Trusting in God is the heart of hope.  Let Abraham be an inspiration today: he was far from perfect, but so very close to God because he heard the voice, obeyed, and walked where God led. 

Genesis 14. What's a Melchizedek?

What is a Melchizedek? The author of Hebrews sets out to answer this question in Heb. 7. He was historical. He was a priest before the Law established Jewish priests. He was a priest based not on his family heritage, but based on a call and gift of God. In this way he resembles Jesus who is our high priest, not based on Law but based on the oath (promise) of God, who gives humanity a gift by establishing an heavenly intercessor for us--one who never fails in redeeming us before the throne of God. 

 

I find it interesting that God already has a high priest in the Palestine before Moses gave the Law or Abraham ever showed up.  God was already at work in the Holy Land before the Jewish story started.  This is not to discount God's work in his people.  However, we must all acknowledge the God is already at work in the world around us before we arrive, and he will continue the work after we are gone.   This is both humbling and comforting.

 

So, how do you see God already at work in your life and world before you even pray?  Do you need to be humble before him, or comforted by him today?

Genesis 15. God cuts a deal with Abraham

God cuts a deal with Abraham.   Literally.  Yeah, I know that Abram did the cutting, but it was God that vowed to uphold the deal.  A couple of notes of interest.  First, why did Abraham cut the animals in half?  It was a symbol of the commitment of the two parties.  Basically, the parties that walked in between the two halves of the animals said, "May the same fate come to me if I do not uphold this covenant."  Secondly, did you notice that Abram fell asleep?  He did not actually walk through the animals.  Only God walked this path, while Abram only dreamed about it.  Thus, God took all of the responsibility of this agreement on himself.  That makes this covenant unconditional.  God will uphold his promise to bless Abraham with descendants who will inherit the land.  This affirmation helped Abram during a time when his faith was wavering.

Has there ever been a time when you needed affirmation in your faith?  What kind of unconditional promises has God made to you that can strengthen your faith?  Remember what God said to Abraham: I am your shield, your very great reward.  Do not be afraid!

What a wonderful promise, indeed!!