What can I say? This is a very disturbing portion of scripture. I said that I wouldn’t gloss over the bad stuff, so I’m not. It’s a tragic sin that ultimately was the result of wrong choices. Lot chose to live in the city of Sodom. He took the easy way, the greener grass and the prosperous city. But apparently, he did not take the time to teach his daughters just how sinful the culture of the Sodom was. He did not teach them that the actions of the people of Sodom was sin the eyes of God. And that God hated sin. Sin brings trouble and has consequences that can only bring sorrow and pain; not only to the ones who have sinned but it will affect generations to come. Only God can take a tragedy and make something good out of it.
Category: Bible Discussion
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a very sad story but it is one that reminds us of just how much God hates sin. The Lord and two angels had visited Abraham and told him of the destruction that was going to fall on the cities. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city if as few as ten righteous men could be found. Abraham knew Lot lived in Sodom. The Lord knew just how bad the cities were. How corrupt and what an abomination they were. The immorality, the sexual perverseness and the absolute abandonment of any sense of right and wrong.
Share this:
Let’s Make a Deal
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
Share this:
REALLY I DIDN’T LAUGH
Have you ever overheard other people talk and heard something so preposterous that you just wanted to laugh out loud? Then you had to try to keep from laughing too loud because you didn’t want anyone to know that you were eavesdropping. Or have you ever gotten the giggles in church? That is the worst. You have to keep your mouth shut and try not to let anyone know you’re laughing.
Share this:
ANGELS AMONG US
I had gotten into line at the self-checkout and remembered another item I had wanted to get. I left the line, got it and came back. This time I lined up behind a little lady that had to be 90 years old if she was a day. She looked back at me, smiled and asked me how I was doing. To tell you the truth I was exhausted. This was my first solo anything since leaving the hospital. She offered to let me go ahead of her and to scan my groceries, what little they were. We discussed it and I said ok. My first thought was that God had sent an angel to help.
Share this:
FATHER OF A MULTITUDE BUT NO KIDS
God didn’t just promise Abraham a son, He promised him a nation, He promised ownership of land, a forever home, a place to put down roots and grow. God also promised to be their God down through the generations. God’s only demand was that Abraham, and his descendants, keep their part of the covenant.
Share this:
LET ME GIVE GOD A LITTLE HELP
Have you ever had someone give you a task and you tell them you’ve got it and that they don’t need to worry, it will get done? Then, while you are getting things together in a manner that will complete the task correctly and in a timely manner, they jump in a do something that messes it up. Well, that’s what Sarai did. She didn’t take God at His Word and jumped in to see if she could help God move matters along. Not only did she bring about the birth of child whose descendants would be enemies of her own son’s descendants. She gave herself someone to be jealous of. Neither event was a good thing.
Share this:
Third Time’s a Charm
Life settled down for Abram. He returned to his home under the trees of Mamre. And he still did not have a son. I often wonder what Abram and Sarai thought of the promise of descendants that could not be numbered. They had no son, or daughter for that matter. No children at all. My heart goes out to Sarai. She must have wanted children and suffered because she had not been able to give Abram a child.
Share this:
DON’T FORGET YOU HAD HELP
King Kedorlaomer and his allies sacked the cities and took everything. Food, clothing, livestock and captured all of the people in those cities. One of the captives was Lot, the nephew of Abram, who was living in Sodom. Abram did not have to go after Lot. He could have just left him enslaved. It would have been easier and safer to just stay out of it. But he didn’t. It took courage to go up against the forces of these four kings. He took 318 men to go after them.
Share this:
THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER
Abram realized they had too many livestock for the land to support. He also anticipated that if they stayed in the same area, there were likely to be disputes among the herdsmen over grass and water. Not only were their livestock in the area but livestock of other people were there too. There were too many for the land to support without disputes. So, Abram decided to prevent any disputes by separating. Abram, even though as the elder should have had the first choice, he gave that choice to Lot. He told Lot that he could go to the left or the right and he would go the other direction.
Share this:
The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth
Have you ever been so afraid that you did the wrong thing and it made it worse? Well, that is just what Abram did. Abram knew how beautiful his wife was and he was afraid that someone might kill him just to take her. So, he told her to say that she was his sister. I don’t know what he was thinking. All he wanted to do was deceive the Egyptians so that they wouldn’t take Sarai.
Share this:
IT TOOK JUST EIGHT PEOPLE
It is amazing to me that the nearly eight billion people on this earth are descended from three men. Ultimately, we are the descendants of one man, Noah and through him, we are descended from Adam himself. When my son was young, I used to keep the Discovery Channel and the History Channel on for him to watch with me in the evenings. One night the program was on genes and the gene pool. I wasn’t paying much attention to it until the narrator stated that geneticists had discovered that about 5500 to 6000 years ago, the gene pool narrowed drastically to about eight people. I chuckled. My son asked why I was laughing. I said, “Duh! The flood. There were only eight people on the ark.” Of course, that sparked a discussion.
Share this:
LET’S TAKE A CROSS COUNTRY TRIP
Ok then, now, imagine this for a minute. You are seventy-five years old and, so far, your life has been pretty good and you know what your plans are. You have a good life in Harran, then, in the night, God speaks to you and it turns your world upside down. Abram was told to pack up everything he had and go to a place that God would lead him to. God didn’t say where he was going; He said He would lead him there. On top of that, God tells him that he would be the father of nations. So far, his wife, Sarai, had been unable to conceive a child.
Share this:
OK MOVE ‘EM OUT
The population of the earth was growing. People began to move as the population grew. Since there were only eight people to begin with it makes sense that there was only one language. The people congregated between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. They built a city on the plain of Shinar. Between two rivers, the land had to be lush and fertile. The perfect place to put down roots and stay a while.
Share this:
GROWING THE FAMILY TREE
It is interesting to see that some of the names of the sons of Ham are the names of countries. For example, Egypt, Cush, Put and Canaan. We know where Egypt is. Many biblical scholars believe that Cush is what is now Ethiopia. Put is believed to be Liberia. And of course, Canaan is the land of Israel today. In the sons of Japeth, we see Tarshish the city where the apostle Paul was from and Magog which some scholars believe to be Russia.
Share this:
The Colors of a Promise
The first thing Noah did, after leaving the ark, was to build an altar and offer a sacrifice to God in thanksgiving for the deliverance from the flood. Noah and his family were finally out of the ark and the animals had been released to go where God wanted them to be. Now the real work began. They had to start over. Not just a home, but planting and harvesting, and planning for the future. God promised that the world would never again be destroyed by a flood, and He gave a sign that would remind us, and Him, of that covenant. The rainbow.
Share this:
DID YOU FORGET SOMETHING?
The way Genesis 8:1 is written would make you think that God forgot about them but be assured He did not. God knew where they were and what they were doing and thinking. This is what I am thinking. The rain from above and the waters gushing up from below kicked up a lot of debris and mud. Since God does not change the rules of nature, He knew it would take time for all of it to settle down to the bottom of the waters. And the ark may not have arrived yet over the place that God planned for it to settle.
Share this:
SEVEN DAYS WITH NO RAIN
The ark was built, it was covered in pitch, inside and out. The animals had been sent by God to the ark. Noah and his family herded each sets of pairs into their enclosures and made sure the gates were secure. Noah was told by God to go into the ark along with his family and all the animals that God had sent to him to be saved from the flood. God said that in seven days He would send the rain.
Share this:
GONNA BUILD A BOAT IN THE SAND
There he was. Noah, follower of God. I don’t think it took God too long to find him. He was a light in a world full of darkness. His immediate family followed God as Noah did. God told him what He was going to do and that He would save him and his wife, his sons and their wives. So, there were going to be only 4 men and 4 women, chosen by God to save the human race. Eight people!
Share this:
THERE’S HOPE IN THESE NAMES
Now, I know, chapter 5 might seem boring but there’s hidden treasure here. Now, I know, chapter 5 might seem boring but there’s hidden treasure here. It states who begat who and how old Dad was when the son was born. But it is an interesting chapter because it also shows an unbroken line of men who worshipped God. It is the beginning of the lineage of Jesus. Two of the Gospels in the New Testament give the full lineage of Jesus.
