Going Foward

 Read Genesis 21

We have come a long ways to get to these words.

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.

And so, 11 chapters into the story of Abraham, he and his wife have a child together.  It was just as and when the Lord had promised.  The child was named Isaac as the Lord had directed.

When the child was 8 days old, he was circumcised as the covenant directed. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

Imagine Isaac at Little League games.  Some kid asks him which one is your father.  He answers, the one sitting next to your great, great, grandfather. OK, baseball wasn’t invented for another 3,600 years, but you get the idea.  Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born.

Isaac fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham.  It was a promise that Abraham and Sarah sometimes doubted.  Sarah even laughed to herself a year earlier when the Lord and two angels declared that Sarah would have a child in about one year.

Sarah laughed to herself and thought, will I really have a child at such an old age?

It really didn’t matter that Sarah was talking to herself, the Lord heard her.  You remember what followed.  The Lord said why did Sarah laugh?  Sarah jumped into the conversation between the Lord and her husband and said, I didn’t do that.

The Lord said, yes you did.

But now with the birth of her son, Isaac, Sarah laughs with joy and amazement that God fulfilled his promise in her.  The laughter was in response to God doing the impossible.

Everyone who would hear the story would laugh in response to this question.  Is anything too hard for the Lord?

The child grew and was weaned and, on that day, Abraham held a great feast.  God’s promise had come true and the child was growing as evidence of God’s promise.

For all the buildup we have seen to this point, this part is a short story. Do you know what’s missing from this story?

Regret, repentance, and remorse.  We will just stick with the R words for now.

We don’t see Abraham saying, I regret not really believing. How could I not trust the Lord?

We don’t see Abraham and his wife Sarah covered is sackcloth and ashes in repentance for their disbelief.  OK, we don’t even see a reference to sackcloth until much later in Genesis, but this was not a time of repentance.

We don’t see hearts saddened with remorse over having doubted the Lord.

We don’t see Abraham and Sarah looking back at their past mistakes.  We don’t see these two anchored to their pasts.  There was likely some repentance along the way.  When Sarah started showing, both Abraham and Sarah surely knew that the fulfillment of God’s promise was on the way.

When the baby moved or kicked, that probably put a lump in the throats of these parents-to-be. At that point, these two had to have some regret or remorse over their doubt.  We don’t read about it but these two if nothing else, were 100% human and subject to human emotions and reactions.

What we see when the promise is fulfilled are a couple of happy parents.  Mom is laughing and knows that it is from God.  God has delivered on his impossible promise.

Dad is obedient, circumcising his son on day 8 of his young life. Dad is putting on the Ritz when the kid is weaned.  Dad is celebrating.

God does this incredible thing for us.  He designs our lives to be lived going forward.  Sure repentance and seeking forgiveness are big things in our lives.  They got us to the words, JESUS IS LORD!

Learning lessons from our past leads to wisdom.  God values wisdom, but he designed us to live going forward.

Abraham had pulled some boneheaded stunts.  Sarah did her part as well, but God had plans and purposes for these two and he fulfilled them in spite of all of their doubt and shortcomings.

When God fulfills his promises in you, you celebrate.  You trust him more. You learn your lessons but your focus is forward.  Your life is before you.

Not quite 2000 years later, Jesus said that the truth will set you free. Part of that truth is that God has good plans for you.  God has purpose for your life.  God will direct our steps if we trust him.

But we continually miss the mark.  We transgress. We sin.

That’s all true, but God always hits the mark.  God fulfills his promises to us.  Even when it seems like we are a bigger knucklehead than Abraham, God still fulfills his promises to us.

And when he does, it is not a time for regret, repentance, or remorse.  It is a time for another R word.  It is time to rejoice.

We rejoice that God continues to work in this world.

We rejoice that God does have good plans for us.

We rejoice that God’s mercy and grace go beyond our transgressions.

We rejoice that God does fulfill his promises.

We rejoice that he is faithful and just to forgive us.  We rejoice that we don’t have to wonder if God loves us or will forgive us.

We rejoice that God takes everything that happens to us—and some of that stuff is due to our own boneheaded mistakes—and uses it for good because we do love him and we have been called according to his purpose. 

We rejoice that God is for us.

We rejoice that we get to live going forward.  We sometimes might laugh or chuckle as we go forward. Man, did God ever get me through some stuff?  Did God ever deliver me from my own bad mistakes?  Did God not do what I thought was impossible.

We get to laugh and live in God’s promises.  We get to live going forward.

Now our human nature tells us that we need to pay the price for our mistakes.  We need to pay the price for our transgressions.  We need to pay for doubting God.

And our human nature is correct.  We need to pay for all of those mistakes.  They are listed on an invoice of our sin and we must pay with our very lives.  The penalty for sin is death and we were charged, found guilty, and sentenced to death.

And Jesus said, I will pay the price for them. He did pay the price for us.

So, we can look back at all of our mistakes, sins, transgressions, doubt, and other shortcomings with regret and repentance and remorse or we can rejoice in the life that we have been given in the blood of Jesus.

There is a time for repentance and surely we cannot live without some regret or remorse here and there.  We are human and there is a time for everything.

But when we realize that God has fulfilled a promise to us.  It is time to rejoice and celebrate.  We can rejoice in the fulfillment of the promise to take away sin and death and we can do that every day, but we should be on the lookout for those other things that God has promised us and delivered upon.

We might even laugh a little when he does what the world deems impossible. Is anything too hard for God?

We might just break out singing our God is an awesome God when our human eyes see what almighty God has done for us.

We might just want to throw a feast every time we realize that the invoice for our sin was nailed to the cross.

On the worst of our days, we might still want to wear a smile on our faces as we are blessed to live going forward.

Sorrow may last for the night but joy comes in the morning.  We rejoice that we get to live going forward.

Amen.

You didn't interview for this calling. God chose you!

  Read Genesis 21

Isaac was weaned and grew and all was well in Abraham’s family.  That is, except for Ishmael.  The text said that he mocked Isaac.  Surely there was contempt for this younger son.  Ishmael was going to be the heir and then he wasn’t.

Ishmael was big news and then he wasn’t.  Everything was focused on Isaac now and Ishmael didn’t like it.  Again, Sarah went to Abraham and insisted that he get rid of Hagar and Ismael.

This distressed Abraham.  The last time that he sent Hagar away, Ishmael was still a bun in the oven.  This time, he had come to know his son.  Ishmael was Abraham’s son.  He was not the son through whom God would fulfill his promises, but still, he was Abraham’s son.

Abraham had dissonance.  He wanted to honor his wife—who by the way instigated this whole kid by the maidservant business—and he loved his son.  His heart and mind were surely in turmoil.  How would he figure this out?

But God told Abraham not to be worried.  God would take care of Hagar and Ishmael.  God would make Ishmael into a nation.

God told Abraham to go ahead and do what Sarah asked of him.  Hagar and her son were sent packing with some provisions.  Abraham put those provisions on her shoulders, so they must have been more than what you would take for a day, but she would have to find some way of sustaining herself and her son.

Today, we have what’s called long-range patrol rations.  You can get several days of generally lightweight food and carry it on your back, but water is the real logistics factor.  A human can only carry so much water.

The two went as far as the water would take them and then mom was ready to throw in the towel and die.  She put her son in the shade and went a short distance away because she could not watch her son die.  Both cried.

God heard them.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar?”

Don’t you just love it when the angel acts like he doesn’t know what is going on?

“Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

And God sent them on their way and said, Good Luck, Kid. Well not exactly.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

God was with Ishmael as he grew up.  We don’t get much of that story, only that mom found him a wife from Egypt.  If you were hoping for some wild donkey-of-a-man stories, we just don’t get them.

We do read about Ishmael one more time in Genesis.  He comes for his father’s funeral.  That part rings true more often than not today.

How many people—family and friends—do you only see at funerals these days?

This is not the first time that an angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar in the wilderness.  Previously, the angel sent Hagar back to Sarah and told Hagar that she—through the son she carried—would have many descendants.

During this wilderness encounter with the angel, Hagar is again promised that the Lord will make Ishmael into a nation.  They would not die of thirst or hunger in the desert.

Why did God have mercy on these 2 people?  Why are they part of the story?  We don’t hear from Ishmael after Abraham’s funeral.

Why did the Lord give so much attention to Ishmael?

It was because he was Abraham’s son.  We have seen God bless Abraham with riches even when his behavior didn’t really bring glory to God.

We have seen God give Abraham an impossible victory over 4 undefeated armies with only 318 men, even though we have no evidence that Abraham was a brilliant military commander.

We see Mechezideck bless Abraham on behalf of the Most High God and we see God credit this knucklehead with righteousness for his faith even though we have many examples of Abraham acting in accordance with his own understanding instead of trusting God.

We have seen God bless Abraham as the Father of many nations—most of that’s still very much in the future—but he did it in spite of Abraham’s knuckleheadedness.

But God did not kick Abraham to the curb and find someone more qualified.  God chose Abraham and God’s plans would be fulfilled through Abraham.

And many blessings flowed from being associated with Abraham.  God sent a rescue team to retrieve Lot and his family from Sodom.

God rescued Abraham’s older son from dying in the desert.

God blessed Abraham’s older son and made him into a nation.

The recurring theme here is Abraham.  God chose Abraham and many blessings proceeded from Abraham. These were not because Abraham was such a stellar performer.  He was not, but he was God’s choice.

That’s good news for some of us whom God has chosen for different things.  If God has called you to something, he will bless you when you respond.

Now if God calls you to something and you make a mess of so many things, remember, God still chose you.  Don’t throw in the towel.  Let God work in your messiness.

We have all fallen short of God’s glory, and guess what?  It’s likely going to happen again, and again, but when God picks you, chooses you, calls you to his purpose, he sticks with you, even in your messiness.

So if God called you to preach or sing or teach or cook or clean or hand out gospels or greet people when they come in the building and you forgot or lost your temper or just did something really stupid, or you just thought what you were doing was not that important, remember that God called you.  He chose you.

Not everything that God chose you to do has to do with a Sunday morning or a Wednesday evening.  He planned much for you to to well before you became a new creation.  Some of that is in your home.  Some at your job.  Some is at Walmart, which for some of you may be both your home and job.

He may have even placed a spiritual gift in you and if you would trust God and quit fighting the Spirit that he placed inside of you, you might move out of your messiness into fruitful ministry.

The lesson for today is don’t ever give up if it is God who has called you or chosen you to do something.  He will stick with you even in your mistakes.  He will stay with you and you will accomplish his purpose.

If God is for us—and he is—who can be against us?

If God called you or chose you, why fight against it?  Why be God’s consultant when he already knows what you are called to do?

I have shared this Corrie ten Boom quote before, but I think it appropriate to share it again.

“Don't bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”

If God has chosen you for a purpose, don’t argue with God.  Don’t try to convince him that someone else would be a better choice.  Don’t say you are not qualified.  Qualification is not relevant if God has picked you himself.

There’s a mantra that’s a little on the simplistic side, but is worth considering from time to time.  What that?

God does not call the qualified.

He qualifies those he calls.

Too simple, perhaps, but worth some thought.

Don’t tell God that you keep making a mess of things.  Just report for duty and then have eyes to see how God blesses so many through what he chose you to do.

God chose you.  Just report for duty.

Amen.

 

 

But My Sister is My Wife

 Read Genesis 20

Be faithful.  Walk blamelessly before the Lord.  This was the counsel of God to Abraham.

We know that it is not possible for us to truly be blameless on our own.  We need the atonement of Christ Jesus to put us in right standing—blameless—in our relationship with God.

We really couldn’t expect Abraham to live a life without transgression, but really, trying to pass your wife off as your sister again should have been a lesson that Abraham already learned.

But we see this behavior repeated.  Abraham moved to the southwest to an area called the Negev.  It was between Kadesh and Shur.  It was also north of Paran.  Paran was where Moses stopped and sent 12 spies into the Promised Land centuries later.

This was also the land of the Philistines, though the animosity between the Philistines and Israel was centuries down the road.

Essentially, Abraham had moved closer to Egypt. When Abraham settled into a place called Gerar, he informed people that Sarah was his sister. The king of that area—Abimelech—took Sarah for his own household.

This must attest to Sarah’s good looks.  The king took a 90-year-old woman into his own household.  Essentially, she would be another wife or a concubine. If we think about this and this account is chronological, it must have happened very soon after the destruction of Sodom.

Had Sarah been showing that she was with child, Abraham would have had to come up with a cover story as to why his sister was pregnant.  Really, what king rounds up pregnant women for his palace?

Abimelech did not have sexual relations with Sarah.  God prevented this, but there were consequences for bringing her into his household. All of the women in Abimelech’s household were prevented from conceiving children.

Abimelech might have been oblivious to what was going on and why except for the fact that God came to him in a dream.  God was very direct.

“You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.”

Abimelech appealed to God.  I didn’t know. Abraham said she was his siter.  Sarah said he was her brother.  I didn’t knowingly do anything wrong.  In fact, I never touched her.

God replied in the dream.

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”

Sometime after the king’s dream ended, he advised his officials of what had happened and summoned Abraham.  What were you thinking? What did I even do to deserve this sort of treatment? Why, just why?

Abraham had an answer, though upon examination it doesn’t really speak well of the Father of Many Nations.

Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

So what was Abraham thinking?

·       Let’s start with there is no fear of God in this place.  I think Abraham had bad intel as the king seemed to know who came to him in his dream and started explaining himself to the God who appeared in his dream.  The fear of the Lord was present at least in that moment.

·       Abraham next tried a technicality.  She really is my sister.  She is my father’s daughter by another mother.  I took her to be my wife.

·       And it’s sort of God’s fault.  He told me to leave my father’s household and go to a land that he would promise to my descendants, but that I would surely be a stranger in now, and then after I got there, there was a famine.  I concocted this plan with my wife because I figured that I was a dead man if anyone knew Sarah was my wife.  She is a looker, you know. I told her that she would need to tell people that I was her brother.

Here’s Tom’s thinking.  This was not the era to be a woman. Lot was ready to throw his daughters to an angry mob of men. Abraham has now twice passed his wife off as his sister thinking it would save his own skin and been caught in his deception.  Yes, she was a half-sister, but when you leave out the part that she also happened to be your wife, it taints the whole story.

So, God punished Abraham… Not exactly.

Once again, we see Abraham profiting from his deception.  Silver, flocks, slaves, and freedom to settle anywhere in the king’s land were given to atone for the perceived sin that Abimelech never committed.

Abraham made out like a bandit.  Where is the moral lesson in this? What can we apply in our lives?

·       If you are the king, be careful about bringing 90-year-old women into your household with hopes of adding them to your harem.  I guess that could be a lesson learned.

·       If you got rich once before playing your wife off as your sister, it might be worth another go.

·       If you are a woman and someone invents a time machine, don’t go back to this time.

Those can’t be our lessons from this chapter.  No!  That just can’t be it.  So what?

God had chosen Abraham for his purpose.  Abraham with all of his flaws was still chosen by God to be the Father of Many Nations.  Abraham did not qualify for this role.  God chose him.

It seems that sometimes God chooses a real screwball.  God told Abraham to keep the faith and walk blamelessly before him.  Abraham was not the model for either charge.

Now, Abraham did do what God told Abimelech that he would do.  He prayed for Abimelech and his household and they were healed.

As we look at this chapter, we might think that the editors could have just left this one out.  What does it add to the story?

Abraham and his wife are in this year of waiting for the promised son.  Apparently, Sarah has not shown any signs of being pregnant.  Abraham decided to move. We don’t see any signs of Abraham setting up the nursery.  It seems that Abraham and Sarah are just going about their lives as usual.

The promised son doesn’t seem to be the central theme in the story.  Didn’t God just visit them?

Abraham will be the Father of Many Nations because God chose him to be the Father of Many Nations.  It was not because Abraham made the best decisions ever.  It was not because Abraham was known for his integrity.  If we read ahead just a little, we see Abraham and King Abimelech making a treaty but Abimelech wants to know that Abraham isn’t going to pull a fast one on him.

Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.

King Abimelech knew that God was with Abraham in everything he did, but Abimelech was very cautious about having dealings with this man named Abraham. 

So God was with Abraham, but Abraham didn’t have much to his personal credit.  His wealth, his military victory, and the son promised to him are all from God.

God credited Abraham with righteousness because of his faith but we don’t see that faith manifested in Abraham’s life for a couple more chapters.

We have talked previously about God doing the impossible so we can know it could only be God.

Now, look at Abraham’s life.  On his own, Abraham was a total mess. Without God, he was just a screwball.  He passed his wife off as his sister twice, had a child with Hagar, and asked God to bless Ishmael thinking God couldn’t give Sarah a child, and yet he still has silver, servants, flocks, and is generally wealthy.

It seems that God chose an impossible candidate to be the Father of Many Nations.  Just as Sarah was beyond child-bearing years, so too was Abraham at the very bottom of the list as far as being qualified for such a selection as being the Father of Many Nations.

Perhaps that is so we can see it is God at work.  There were surely more qualified men somewhere on the planet, but God chose Abraham and God did the impossible through him.

There will come a people through whom God will work and reveal himself to the world.

There will come a Savior for a lost world and we know today that he came from the line of Abraham.

They will come through the line of Abraham, a man who is not much to talk about on his own.

So how do we apply this to our lives?

Consider Abraham and consider Paul’s words to the church in Corinth.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.  What a crazy statement, at least in the world’s model.

But the second part of it is what we see in Abraham—God’s power resting on him.  Paul described it as Christ’s power, but it was the power of God being manifest in his weakness.

Let’s not throw in the towel just because we find ourselves numbered among the screwballs of the world.  Let’s be glad that in our weakness, our shortcomings, and even our transgressions, we can know God’s strength.

Don’t go having kids on the side or try to pass your wife off as your sister to save your own hide, but consider all the things in which we just miss the mark and know that is where God’s strength carries us through.

As we have made our way through this story of Abraham, I have reminded you before of some of Paul’s words from his letter to the Romans.

For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

God chose Abraham for his purpose.  Abraham received the mercy of God time and time again.  Abraham lived in the favor of God.

Despite his shortcomings, Abraham knew and lived in the favor of God.

Let us never lose sight that we too live in the favor of God. We see the mercy, forgiveness, grace, and favor of God even in this first book of the Bible.

Thank God for his favor, for without it we would be lost and alone.

Amen.

Abraham Catch Up

 Abram Catch Up

Read Genesis 11-19

Note:  Genesis chapters and verses are noted not linked.

The 11 am service will have the main story from chapter 20, so for now, I want to do a quick flyover of the 9 chapters about Abraham that we have covered so far.  Don’t miss the 11 am service as it will address what happened in chapter 20.  I will put a few questions in here for those who remember the story. Here we go…

Abram comes from the line of Shem one of Noah’s sons. 11:10-26

Abram’s family lived in the land of the Chaldeans.  This was pagan country. 11:27-28

Abram’s father was named Terah . 11:27

Here’s a question for you. Abram’s father, Terah, had three sons.  Two of them were Nahor and Haran.  What was the name of the third son? Abram.  11:27-32

Lot was Abram’s Nephew.  Haran was his father. Haran died while everyone was still living in Ur in the land of the Chaldeans.

Abram’s father took his family from Ur in the land of the Chaldeans and moved north to a place called Harran. 11:27-32.  Terah, Abram and his wife Sarai, and Terah’s grandson, Lot, made the journey. We don’t hear anything about Nahor.

While in Harran, God called Abram to leave Harran and his father’s household and go to a land that God would show him. This is what will come to be known as the Promised Land, but that’s yet to come at this point. 12:1-3

How old was Abram when he left his father’s household? He was 75 years old.  Imagine living at home until you were 75.  If mom keeps doing your laundry that might be a sweet deal. 12:4

What other male relative came with Abram? Lot.  We don’t see that God called Lot to go with Abram, but he went anyway and will be part of several stories in the chapters ahead. 12:4

Abram next went to Egypt.  Why? There was a great deal on an AirB&B—No, that’s not it.  There was a famine in the land.  Turn your biblical clocks ahead to the story of Joseph and think on that one for a while. 12:10

In Egypt, Abram tried to pass his wife off as his sister for his own safety. 12:10-20

Pharoah discovered the deception as a result of serious diseases inflicted on him.  He sent Abram and crew packing but with great wealth. That’s quite the trick.  You deceive the Pharoah and surely are not much of an ambassador for the one true God, but you make out like a bandit. 12:10-20

Now we come to a point where Lot and Abram went separate ways.  Both seemed to be successful and had many flocks and their servants were always fighting over who got what pastures.  So Abram said to Lot:  You go where you want and I will go somewhere else. Who settled in the land around Sodom and Gomorrah?  Lot did.  It was that greener pastures sort of thing. 13

Here’s a cool fact for you. Abram had an army.  How many men composed his army? There were 318 men in Abram’s army and they defeated 4 undefeated armies.  Why did Abram go to war?  Because Lot was captured and taken away by these armies as part of the spoils of war. 14:1-16

To whom did Abram make a tithe following his victory? The tithe was made to God but Melchizedek was the priest, and also the king of Salem, which you know better today as Jerusalem. 14:17-20

Following this meeting and blessing, to whom did Abram say he would take nothing from him? The king of Sodom. Abram somehow knew that this whole Sodom business was ugly and he wanted no ties with it.  He probably couldn’t figure out why his nephew still wanted to live there. 14:21-24

Abram had been in the land for a while and still didn’t have any kids. He was worried that his estate would go to Eliezer of Damascus because Abram was childless. 15:1-3

God told Abram that his heir would be of his own body.  Abram believed God and God counted his belief (faith) as righteousness. 15:6

How was the Promised Land defined in this covenant? God promised Abram many descendants and told Abram that they would reside in a land promised to them. What land?

When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” 15:17-20

I think he left out the gigabytes and terabytes and the smaller tribes of the megabytes and kilobytes.

What creative solution to this childlessness business did Sarai and Abram concoct? Sarai told her husband that he should do the deed with her maidservant and make a child.  He did and Hagar, Sarai’s servant, got pregnant.  Hagar started pressing her luck and there was animosity between her and Sarai.  Sarai came to Abram and told him it was all his fault. Abram told Sarai to do what she wanted with her servant.  She mistreated Hagar and she ran away. 16

What name was to be given to this child? Ishmael.16

Was this the child of the promise? No.  God will fulfill his promise.

Did God tell Hagar that she was on her own? No.  The angel sent her back to Sarai but promised to provide for her and her son. 16

How did the angel describe this child that was to come? A wild donkey of a man. 16:12

Was Abram circumcised? Not until chapter 17.  This was not a medical procedure.  It was a sign in the flesh between God and Abram and all his Abram’s household and all of Abram’s descendants.  The covenant was that God would make Abram the Father of Many Nations.

God did one more thing that was a sign of things to come in short order.  He gave Abram and Sarai new names, names appropriate for the Father of Many Nations and his wife.  They were Abraham and Sarah. 17

Three visitors came to see Abraham.  They were the Lord and 2 angels.  They said that Abraham and Sarah will have the promised child in about one year.  Sarah laughed.  God heard her.  She said that she didn’t laugh. God said, “Yes you did.”  Imagine getting into a back-and-forth about what you did or didn’t say with God. 18

The two angels headed towards Sodom and the Lord told Abraham that he would destroy the city and surrounding area because of its wickedness.  Abraham bargains with the Lord for the city, asking will you destroy the righteous along with the wicked.  Abraham asked the Lord if he would spare the city if there were 50 righteous men in it.  The Lord said for the sake of the 50, he would spare the city.  A negotiation of sorts ensues.  What about 45. OK.  What about 40. OK.  At the end of this dialogue, the Lord said if there were 10 righteous men in the city, he would spare it, and he left. 18

We might wonder why Abraham cared about Sodom.  When he met with the king, he didn’t want to have anything to do with him.  Why did he care?

We don’t know for sure, but it might be because Lot lived there, and he had a family now.

Little did Abraham know that God had already set in motion a rescue for Lot and his family, at least those who were willing to be rescued.

The short version of this story is that Sodom and Gomorrah and much of the surrounding area were toast.  Burning sulfur started raining down at sunrise.  On that day, the best part of waking up might have been Folgers in your cup because the rest of the day was nothing but destruction.

The two angels had rescued Lot and his wife, plus the two daughters that were unmarried and lived at home.  There may or may not have been other daughters that were married.  Genesis only tells us of the two.

During the night, the angels grabbed these 4 people and got them out of the city, then set them loose with instructions.  Run for the hills (actually the mountains) and don’t look back.  Both parts of this instruction were important.

Lot convinced the angels that he couldn’t survive in the mountains and they let him take shelter in a small town near the mountains which would be named Zoar, which means small town.

Lot’s wife ran away for a while but at some point, after dawn, she looked back and became a pillar of salt.  There is plenty of speculation on why she looked back and why she turned into salt, but from this chapter we just get the account.  She looked back and turned to salt. 19

Most people remember the story up to this point, but there is a little more.  Lot and his daughters moved to the mountains.  That was where the angels originally wanted to send them, but Lot thought Zoar would be better.  As it turned out, he was afraid to live there.

So, they moved to the mountains and lived in a cave.  Apparently, they had no neighbors.  The solitude might have been good for Lot, but the 2 young women felt it was the end of the world.  They had no prospects for husbands or for children.

They could do something about the second part, so on consecutive nights, they got dad drunk and had sex with him and conceived.  Apparently, Lot was oblivious to the process.  That must have been some wine!

The older daughter had a son and named him Moab and the younger had son and named him Ben-Ammi. 19:30-38

And that little soap opera brings us up to chapter 20 and a story that sounds a lot like one we heard before.

So, that is the 10,000-foot overview—a quick flyover of 9 chapters with the son of the promise and the testing of Abraham’s faith yet to come.

Keep on reading.

Amen.

God's Judgment and God's Favor

 Read Genesis 19

Abraham bargained with God to the point where God said if there were 10 righteous men in all of Sodom, he would not destroy the city. I’m not sure that there were any righteous men in the entire city.  Lot would be saved because God found favor with Abraham, but the men that were to marry Lot’s daughters didn’t believe that God would destroy their city.

The story unfolds with these men that had visited Abraham entering Sodom.  These men were most likely angels.  They met Lot at the entrance to the city.

Lot invited them to stay with him.  They said they would sleep in the city square.  Lot insisted that they stay with him.

We see this insistence on hospitality for the visitor with Abraham and now with Lot.  While we don’t know much about Lot, we can see that he valued caring for the stranger.

These men entered Lot’s house and in very short order that house became the center of attention for the entire city.  Men gathered around it demanding that the visitors be sent out to them so they could have sex with them.  These were young and old men alike.

Lot knew to show hospitality.  Now he demonstrated that he must protect those who were under his roof.

The townspeople demanded that the strangers be sent out.  Lot tried his hand at bargaining.  How about I give you my two virgin daughters instead?

That’s putting a premium on taking care of the visitor, the stranger who enters your household.  That’s going the extra mile to protect them.

That’s not the guy most young ladies would want for a father.  Here, take my two daughters and do what you want with them.

There seemed to be a tussle around Lot’s door and the angels blinded the men who came with bad intentions.  They were blinded and could no longer find Lot’s door.  One less problem to worry about…

That was not the end of the story.  The angels came to get Lot and his family out of the area before God destroyed Sodom and the surrounding plains.

Lot’s sons-in-law didn’t believe that God was going to destroy Sodom.  Perhaps they didn’t believe there was a God.  In any case, they were not going.  They were not yet married to Lot’s daughters, but it seems that they would rather stay in Sodom than go with their brides-to-be.

Lot and the women were somewhat hesitant too, so the angels grabbed them by the arm and said let’s go.

Abraham bargained for Sodom, probably because his nephew lived there.  Abraham did not know that God already had plans underway to rescue him and his family—at least those willing to be saved.

These angels were on a mission from God and there was some urgency to the mission.  The angels didn’t say, pack a few things and then we will leave first thing in the morning.  They grabbed Lot and the women and said, we’re leaving.

Visualize the angels dragging these few people at first then giving them the boot once they were out of the city.  Run for the hills and don’t look back.

Lot didn’t think that the mountains would work for him so he got a concession out of the angels and they let him stop at a small town which would be called Zoar because it was a small town.  Sometimes you wonder how a town got its name.  I wonder that every time I drive I-40 in Arkansas and the sign for Toad Suck.  Who were the people on the naming committee?  In today’s account, we see why Zoar got its name.

  It is quite possible that this action by Lot saved this small town from the destruction that came upon Sodom and the surrounding area.

Lot reached Zoar.  The sun came up.  Burning Sulphur came down upon Sodom and the plains around them. And there was one more thing.  Lot’s wife looked back.

What’s with the women in the Bible?  Eve made a calculating decision to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree.  Sarai convinces her husband to have sex with her female servant and then blames what follows on him.

Lot’s wife—who is not named in the Bible but some Hebrew commentaries call her Idit—disregarded the instructions not to look back.

Fortunately, you have Ruth, Ester, and Mary the mother of Jesus to look forward to, but so far the wives and mistresses have not received the best roles.

The words don’t look back are generally used metaphorically, but in the case of Lot’s wife, they were more than a metaphor.

She became a pillar of salt.  When we say that someone is a pillar of the community, that a metaphor.  It’s a complement encased in a literary tool.

But Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt, that’s actual salt in a vertical display. Everyone remembers that part of this story.  Lot’s wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt.

There’s an image for you.  There’s something to think about the next time you want to push your luck with following instructions.  Here’s a question for the ages. There is much speculation as to the answer.

Why did she look back?

Was it just human instinct?  Perhaps she felt that she had outrun the judgment of God and now she could see what had happened.

Was there something there that she missed?

Was there someone there that she missed?

Did she hurt for those who she knew were now dead? Could some of them have been her family?  Some non-biblical accounts say that Lot and his wife had two daughters that were already married and living apart from them.

Was it disbelief?  Did she think that Sodom would still be standing?

Had she left the coffee pot on?  Was the roast still in the oven?

We just don’t know.  We see a brief reference to Lot and his wife as Jesus is explaining the end of the age.

It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.  On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.

Perhaps we see our own tendencies in Lot’s wife.  What tendencies?  Those that want to hang on to the things of this world when we should be seeking the things of God.

The world behind me.  The cross before me.  No turning back.

Here’s a paraphrase of the scripture found in Luke 17.

Whoever tries to hold on to their life that is vested in the things of this world will lose it, but those who can let go of the things the world desires so much and seek God will know life.

That was Tom’s paraphrase.

We just don’t know for sure why she looked back, but the only survivors of this judgment were the 3 who did as they were directed and didn’t look back.

The world behind me.  The cross before me.  No turning back.

Maybe Lot’s wife should have been singing:  No looking back.  No looking back.

Abraham had bargained with God for Sodom. I doubt he even knew anyone in the city other than the King who he didn’t want to have any association with and his nephew, Lot. Was Abraham negotiating for the life of Lot?

Perhaps, but when we read further, we see that such a negotiation was not necessary.

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Abraham looked down from where he was and saw the city and the surrounding plains in ruin.  He did not know what God had done.  His angels had rescued his nephew because God found favor with Abraham.

Did Lot deserve God’s favor?  Probably not.

Lot seemed to be pretty much along for the ride for most of the story since Abraham left his father’s household and came to the land that was promised to his descendants.

Abraham was on a mission from God. Lot, perhaps not so much.

Lot chose the greener pastures when Abraham and Lot went separate ways.  Abraham let Lot choose where he would go. Lot chose Sodom.

Lot was lumped in with the rest of the residents of Sodom when the 4 armies came and overran Sodom.  Lot was just another body in the spoils of war.

Even after Abraham rescued Lot, Lot chose to live in Sodom.

And when it came time to find a wife, let’s just say it was slim pickens for finding a righteous one.  The struggle was probably equally difficult for finding husbands for Lot’s daughters.

We must understand this. Lot received God’s favor because of Abraham. So, as we digest this chapter in Genesis, let us consider the favor of the Lord.

We live in the Lord’s favor.  We have received his mercy.  We have received his blessings. We are saved from sin and from death and we have been given life now and for eternity.

We didn’t do anything to deserve it, but we surely are blessed to know it—to know God’s favor.

Remember this simple verse from Ephesians:  We are saved by grace through faith so that no one can boast.

Our salvation is not of our own doing.  We are forgiven of sins that would condemn us.  We receive blessings that we don’t deserve.

We live in the Lord’s favor.

I doubt that Lot knew the whole story.  He just knew to receive these men—maybe he knew they were angels—into his house, treat them well, and protect them.  As it turned out, they had come to protect and save Lot and his family.

They were the instruments of God’s favor.

We don’t always know the instruments of God’s favor but we must always know that we live in God’s favor.  If we are drawing a blank in our prayer time about what to thank God for today, we can always thank him for living in his favor.

What separated Lot from the lot of those in Sodom was God’s favor.  Lot received it because God found favor with Abraham, but God’s favor is God’s favor.

It’s not something that we do to deserve it.  God pours his favor out upon us.  There is a simple term for this.  It is blessed.  We are blessed.

So, we read about the destruction of sinful Sodom but Tom wants you to go home thinking about how blessed we are to live in God’s favor.

That’s the ticket.  That’s the message for today.

Have eyes to see how richly we are blessed to live in the favor of the Lord.

Thanks be to God that we live in his favor!

Amen.