Read with Me
Genesis 18:16-22 (HCSB)
The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off. Then the LORD said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham? Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just. This is how the LORD will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him.” Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to Me. If not, I will find out.”
The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.
Listen with Me
At the outset, it must be remembered that Moses was writing this history down as God communicated it to him. Thus, God’s thoughts as recorded here are not mere conjecture but are an accurate report of what He was thinking that led to His decision to share with Abraham what He was in the process of doing.
As they all got up to continue on their mission, God and the two angels who would actually carry out the judgment on the cities of the plain, Abraham, ever the gracious host, saw them on their way to the edge of the cliff. At the bottom lay the five cities of the plain, the largest and most important of which was Sodom. For a moment, they all paused to look down on those cities, and the surrounding grasslands and fields.
It was at this juncture that God had to decide whether or not to tell Abraham what His mission was down below. The largest factor in his decision to go ahead and share with him was the fact that, out of all the people in the world, He had chosen Abraham as the one through whom He would bring forth the nation that would serve to convey the revelation of Himself to the whole world. Choosing this one man was a humble beginning in a world populated even then by millions of people. But it was a beginning, a pinch of yeast and a large amount of dough that would ultimately grow to reach every corner of the globe.
God didn’t share everything with Abraham at once. He began instead with what they both already knew: Sodom and Gomorrah, the two principal cities of the plain, were wicked, an absolute affront to God’s holiness and completely unresponsive to His efforts to move them to repentance.
The thing that caught Abraham’s attention, which God spoke as the two angels moved down the path to the plain, was that He was going to be visiting the city Himself. He would not rely on second-hand reports of the wickedness of the city, but would turn His all-seeing eye on the people who lived there. Then He would know for certain whether or not they had fallen beyond hope.
Pray with Me
Father, when You call a person to serve You, whether that person is a pastor or priest, a president, or a layperson, that calling implies a level of relationship with You that carries with it responsibility as well as privilege. Abraham was required by that calling to raise up his household to know You and to obey Your commands. In that way, he would continue to be eligible to receive the fulfillment of Your promises. That also meant that You were able to share with him the bigger picture You were working on, as well as details about what You were doing right then. That enabled Abraham to do his part, to respond to Your revelation with his own prayers of intercession for the righteous people who might be living in the doomed cities. Without the revelation, the intercession could not have happened. Lord, thank You for both the privileges and the responsibilities that come to me through being in a living relationship with You. Help me to operate well in both of them. Amen.
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