When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.
Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.
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 the 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?”
The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”
“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”
Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”
He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”
He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”
Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”
When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Genesis 18:16-33
There are so many things that are very interesting about this conversation. Let's look at a few of them:
- Do you know why the United States of America has been a successful nation? it has nothing to do with how "good" we are, or what we all invented here, or how hard we worked to build it. God has blessed the United States for 1 simple reason: we provided a safe haven for His chosen people. The first time God says it is right here: "...all nations of the earth will be blessed through him." We have protected the Jews when they needed it. That's is. That's all there is to it. We are blessed for that simple reason. So, by definition, as soon as we stop supporting God's chosen people, the nation of Israel, that's when God stops blessing our nation, and it all falls apart.
- Abraham hung out with God and 2 angels, like it was no big deal. Could you imagine that? God and 2 of His angels literally just showed up for dinner and spent the evening talking with Abraham. They even went for a walk afterwards! I have to say: that would be the coolest thing I could imagine ever doing in my life.
- Sometimes God thinks out loud. I find this intriguing. Out loud, He has a discussion with His angels asking: I'm thinking I should probably tell Abraham what I'm about to do to these 2 cities, right? First, it's a sign that sometimes God has not fully made up His mind about some things, and that He can be swayed one way or the other by us. That must be how much He values us. Now, Abraham is standing right there while God is saying that, so he can clearly hear it. Could you imagine that? I'd be like: ummm, excuse me....God...what is it you're about to do again? you know I have family there, right?
- God is very patient with us. This is the guy who just previously had a kid with the maid, completely against what God had planned for his life. Yes God still liked him enough to reason with him about destroying this city. This is the most intriguing to me. Reading the stories in the Bible, you can quickly learn that God doesn't choose who He likes and dislikes by the same standards we do.
He favored Abraham after he just had a kid with the maid. He favored David after he just killed a woman's husband just so he could have her. He favored Solomon even though he married 300 times. He favored Peter even after he openly denied Jesus 3 times. He favored Paul after the horrible stoning of Stephen to death.
It's just another sign that God does not think the way our culture thinks.
Today, let's think on this. Let's think about our relationship with God. Let's think about what God really wants from us today. Let's make sure we're living our life the way God wants us to live it, and not the way our culture says that a Christian is supposed to be.
