May 14, 2023
Reading: Genesis 18:16-33
Focus: Genesis 18:23-25 – Then Abraham approached Him and said, “Will You sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 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 fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing – to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Father God. Thank you for another day to learn from Your Word. Open our eyes and our hearts to what You want us to learn. In Jesus Name. Amen.
After the conversation and promise of a child for Abraham from Sarah, the three men got up to leave and the Lord wondered if He should hide what He was about to do from Abraham. God knew the plans He had for Abraham and his descendants. He knew that Abraham would keep the covenants that had been made and he would pass them down to his descendants as well. So, the Lord had told Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah was so wicked that the outcry of it had reached Him. The Lord already knew how horrible the sin was in Sodom and Gomorrah but He told Abraham that He was going to see if it was as bad as the outcry that had reached Him.
Abraham knew that Lot and his family were living in Sodom. He knew that Lot was not as faithful as he should have been but he still followed God as best as he could in that city. It makes me wonder what his life would have been like had he been vigilant in his worship of God. But Lot took the easy road. Living for the moment and not seeing the consequences of his actions. That half-hearted following of God landed him in a precarious place. He was living in a doomed city. Abraham knew that God was a just God and will always punish sin, but he also knew that God was merciful to sinners who repented.
Abraham took a bold step here. Lot was in danger from the impending destruction of the cities. He feared for their lives. He stood in front of the Lord and asked if the righteous would suffer along with the wicked. If there were fifty, would He spare the cities? Abraham did not stop with just one request. He seemed to be trying to see just how merciful God was. He negotiated the number down to 10. The Lord said if there were just 10, He would spare the cities. Then He left Abraham where he was standing.
God never takes pleasure in punishing sinners. God does not want any of us to go to hell. But the choice is left up to us. He allowed Abraham to intercede for the cities knowing that there were not even ten righteous people in those cities. God was merciful to Lot and his family when He helped Lot and his family get out of the cities before their destruction. We are also recipients of God’s mercy. We deserve justice but we have received grace and mercy.
I don’t know that I would have the nerve to try to talk God out of anything. But Abraham was called a friend of God (James 2:23). You can speak with friends in ways that you cannot with strangers. Abraham’s belief in the Lord was strong. So much so, that he spoke with the Lord often throughout his life. But here he puts that friendship to the test; trying to talk God out of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. His bargaining chip – righteous men living in the cities. It may be that he knew there none, other than Lot and his family. But he had to try.
The Lord was going down into the city to see if it was as bad as He already knew it was. God was not unfair to the city. His presence in the city did nothing to stop the outrageous sin of the people there. God agreed to spare the city if there were only ten righteous people. There weren’t. God showed mercy to Lot. He was probably the only man in the city who had any kind of relationship with Him and even that was stretching it. He also showed patience with Lot, as He led them out of the city and told he and his family to run for the hills and don’t look back.
Bargaining with God is pretty risky. But God was patient with Abraham. God showed him that asking for anything is allowed. We may not always get what we ask for but we can ask knowing that answers come from God’s perspective and not ours. We often don’t even see God’s answer to our prayers because what we get is not what we expected. Sometimes we don’t realize what we are asking for. And then sometimes, God does give us what we ask for, much to our regret
A number of years ago, the patriarch of a family at my home church suffered a massive stroke. His family prayed constantly that God would spare his life. They prayed for weeks on end. God spared his life, but he was not the healthy and active man he had been. He was partially paralyzed and there was severe brain damage from the stroke. He was a mere shadow of his former self. After he died, one of his daughters said they had prayed so hard for him to live that God gave them what they asked for but not what was best for the family. The answer to their prayer brought so much more sorrow because he lived than they would have had if he had died. They suffered the tragedy of losing him twice. Once from the stroke and second when he died.
That lesson stuck with me. Years later, my father passed away. He’d had a heart attack. Mother had called and said I needed to come home. I raced home, gathered a suitcase of clothing and jumped back into my car for the 5-hour trip home. I wasn’t ready for him to be gone. I prayed all the way to the hospital. My sister kept me informed of what was going on. She told me that the doctor said he was brain dead. He just couldn’t be gone, could he? I wasn’t ready for this. But I remembered that family and the hard lesson they had learned. So, I prayed that he would live long enough that I could say goodbye. That 5-hour trip took 4 hours. He was still on the machines when I got there. After talking with the doctor, I did what Mother couldn’t. I asked that they take him off the machines. Then I began to pray that God would take him Home because I didn’t want my dad to live as a vegetable. It was a very long night and he died the next morning. He stepped into heaven healthy and whole.
There is a picture of Jesus here. We are told that He sits at the right hand of God, interceding for us, just as Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus asks mercy for us. He asks forgiveness for us through the blood He shed on Calvary. Jesus will always intercede for us. The angels rejoice when one soul turns from sin and turns to Jesus for salvation. I believe that the prayers our parents and grandparents have prayed for us are always before God, even though they have already passed away. I believe that God doesn’t forget those prayers. That even though those loved ones are gone, their prayers live on in the presence of God.
God, the Father and Jesus, His Son, listen to our prayers. God listens to our wants and our needs. He also listens when we try to bargain with Him for what we want. God always answers our prayers too. I want to win a $20 million sweepstakes. I have told God all the things I would do with that money, but God knows me better than I know myself and knows that millions of dollars is not in my best interest. He knows that is not what I need. What I need is to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself in.
There are four answers: Yes, No, not now and here’s My way. Jesus has experienced the pain of loss and grief that we feel. He knows what living on this earth is like. He hears our wants and desires. He wants us to be happy but He also knows that sometimes those wants and desires are not the best thing for us. What we think will make us happy will often be the wrong thing for us. Be careful what you ask for.
What does God hear when He listens to you?
Father God, thank You for listening to me. Thank You answering my prayers in my best interest. Help me, Lord, to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. Keep my mind full of You and my heart full of Jesus’ love. Help me to share what You have taught me. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Food for Thought
- Do you think Abraham was wrong to bargain with God?
- Do you think that the Lord already knew there was no hope for Sodom and Gomorrah?
- Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to bargain with God?
- Have you ever prayed for something and then wished God hadn’t answered your prayer the way your wanted?
- Do you think you could be a friend of God?
