This was a long chapter so hopefully I can be a little brief but still share my thoughts. The Lord appeared to Abraham through his three Messengers. Abraham was excited to be in the presence of the Lord! It even States 3 different times that he hurried. And one-time it states his servant hurried. This inspired me to ask these questions. Are we excited to be in the presence of the Lord? Am I excited to come before the Lord in my devotions? Or am I too busy? Am I excited to be in church? Are my thoughts on him throughout the day? Is my excitement contagious so that others are excited to be with the Lord?
My personal time with the Lord is very important to me. Take that away from me and I would struggle. My fellowship with other believers it's something that I've been working on more as we desire to be more involved with our church. I'm not where I feel I should be but I'm taking steps towards that. We are becoming more involved and committed to the church. As far as my everyday life focusing and thinking of the Lord, well, that's where I struggle the most. I want to trust God with every aspect of my life and have him in my mind and thought throughout the day, but I usually get wrapped up in what I'm doing or want to do and I lose focus of what God's trying to do. I certainly could improve in this area more, much more!
We read about Abraham bargaining with God in chapter 18 as we get another glimpse of God’s judgement and God’s mercy. God said that for the sake of ten righteous people, He would not destroy the city, but there weren’t even that many righteous ones to be found in this wicked place! God has a rescue plan for Lot. We’ll see more out about this escape plan for Lot and his family in the next chapter.
Here’s the link for The Voice of Sodom.
https://youtu.be/tqvykca417A
The lyrics aren’t written out in today’s video so here’s a link for those too. http://www.apologetix.com/music/song.php?freebie=true+&song_id=188
I too love my daily time with the Lord. I like to picture it in my mind as a time where I sit at His feet and He speaks to me through His Word. The Spirit spoke to me this morning about a couple of things. V14 – Is anything too hard for the Lord? This makes me think about my prayers. If someone with a bad headache asks me to pray for them, I ask the Lord to bless them; take away the tension and allow them to experience His healing touch. If someone asks for prayer for a malignant tumor, I find myself praying differently, more fervently, etc. It’s the same powerful God and while it’s okay to pray passionately, I shouldn’t do it because I think I need to get God’s attention because of the seriousness of the illness. Is anything too hard for the Lord? No way.
v19 – God gives Abraham an understanding of what’s He’s about to do in Sodom because Abraham is a man who will teach his children about God’s justice and His mercy. That’s a lesson to us all.
v26-33 Did Abraham change God’s mind in this conversation? No, but God changed Abraham’s mind as Abraham learned more about God’s heart – His mercy and His justice.
I would agree with Jeanine. V19 is very convicting. It makes me wonder if God would say that about me. Am I teaching my children in a way that they will keep the way of the Lord?? And I’ve never thought about the end of the chapter that way. I like the thought that while Abraham was interceding for the righteous that may live there, God was using the moment to teach Abraham more about His character.
Reading through this chapter brought a memory into mind. When I was younger I can vividly remember driving from Corry to Erie and seeing huge signs that read, “Fear God” on them. I remember thinking, hmm that can’t be right? Why would anyone ‘fear’ the loving, merciful, understanding God that I know? I remember wondering, what religion are THOSE people?? Because they’re crazy!
As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to understand more that a fear of God has more to do with the choices we make. Do I live in a way that I ‘fear’ God, or walk with Him on a holy path or do I live in a way that feels good for me, full of sin, not worried about my consequences with God? I see Abraham gearing God in this chapter as he hopes to spare the lives of the righteous, even just 10 lives. God reveals himself, both by loving Abraham and promising to save the holy. Fearing God while also understanding He is a loving, merciful, yet just God is the message on my heart today.
We read in chapter 18 about how Abraham is bargaining with God. We see how merciful God is with His willingness to spare the city for only 10 righteous people, but there aren’t even that many there. God’s judgement is coming on this wicked place and we will see how God provides an escape plan for Lot and his family in the next chapter.
Here’s the Voice of Sodom.
https://youtu.be/tqvykca417A
Here are the lyrics for The Voice of Sodom since they weren’t included in the video.
http://www.apologetix.com/music/song.php?freebie=true+&song_id=188