Sodom and Gomorrah

Question of the day:  What is your favorite thing to do in the rain?  (Practical... need an answer -  kind of question...)


Happy Sabbath!  Rain rain go away come again another day!  I heard on the news last night that this has been the wettest fall, winter and now spring in 145 years!  We have had 38 inches! Now that is impressive.

Today we will be studying Genesis 18- 19

We will be looking at this in sections.

The first section is Genesis 18:1-15

The Three Visitors

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.“There, in the tent,” he said.10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” 

We have all heard this story many times.  We can talk about the hospitality, it was note worthy!  We can talk about the fact that our Lord ate veal...hmmm.   What I find interesting here Sarah.  Here she is an old woman in the heat of the day preparing food for a group of strangers, she is listening to their conversation and has the good manners to not say what she is thinking.  She doesn't laugh and say to herself, she just is thinking to herself that this is crazy because she is so old.... but our Lord knows our thoughts. 

Is that comforting or terrifying? Or both?

Interestingly, our Lord, calls her out and Sarah denies it. 

How many times do we deny what we are thinking, or feeling, or even doing to God?  Why do we even try?

Isn't it great how God calls her out and doesn't take her answer?

Our Lord wants to have a relationship with you that is transparent, and open.  He wants you to lay it all out on the line.  Be open with your doubts and fears. 

The next section is also interesting, when it comes to how our Lord works. 

Bargaining

This next section is God and Abraham bargaining.  He is seemingly successful.

Do we bargain with God?

Have you ever made a deal, or tried to make a deal?

What are some takeaways for you in this chapter? 

What does it say about our relationship with God?

What does it say to you about what kind of relationship He wants to have with you?

As we contemplate that question consider this....

God came in person.
God sat and ate the food that Abraham and Sarah prepared.
God accepted their hospitality.
God told them what was getting ready to happen to them.
God read Sarah's thoughts and let her know He had.
God challenged Sarah and called her out.
God bargained with Abraham.

What kind of relationship is this?

God is God, I get it! 
God is mighty and huge, that is true!
God is also real!
God is also desiring to be in relationship with you!
God desires to sit under a tree in the shade of a hot day and eat veal or chopplets. 
God wants to tell you how he is going to bless you. 
God desires to be in an intimate relationship with you.  He wants to be your friend and you Lord.  He desires to be loved by you!

How cool is that!

Sodom and Gomorrah

This is such a disturbing story.  This is one of those stories that we have cleaned up as we tell it.  Is that okay?  Do we loose something in the sanitized version?  Perhaps, but it is also possible that we can get too caught up in the ick and not focus on the point. 

What points are notable?

1. Sodom was an amazingly beautiful place.  It was lush and glorious. 

2. Sodom and Gomorrah were both places of great wealth.  Ellen White writes,

"There is nothing more desired among men than riches and leisure, and yet these gave birth to the sins that brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. Their useless, idle life made them a prey to Satan's temptations, and they defaced the image of God, and became satanic rather than divine. Idleness is the greatest curse that can fall upon man, for vice and crime follow in its train. It enfeebles the mind, perverts the understanding, and debases the soul. Satan lies in ambush, ready to destroy those who are unguarded, whose leisure gives him opportunity to insinuate himself under some attractive disguise. He is never more successful than when he comes to men in their idle hours."

Do we seek after riches and leisure? 
I am not suggesting that we can't be rich and serve God.  After all up in the hills was Abraham.  Very wealthy and yet a servant of God.

What is the difference between those seeking riches and leisure and Abraham?


3. Lot in this passage both impresses me and sickens me! 
He welcomes the travelers and is willing to insist that they stay in his home.  Don't you want to ask the question, did he know who these travelers were?  Did they look different or did Lot welcome everyone who came through the gates?  They must have had a different look about them.  One he recognized as not fitting in, or not coming to partake in the debauchery. 

He is willing to do all he can to protect them, even offering up his two daughters.... (this is the part that sickens me!)  I know, culture....bla bla bla.... Still it is awful!  Perhaps this more than anything answers the question, "how bad was it in Sodom and Gomorrah?"  It was really bad! 

4. God stepped in with his power and blinded those who were trying to do them harm. 

5. Isn't it fascinating that it took so long for Lot and family to be willing to leave?  Can you imagine living in a place where it is so bad, to protect your guests you have to be willing to turn over your daughter to that kind of evil, and yet then when given the chance to leave, you don't jump at it?  How is that possible?

What do you think made Lot and his family hesitant to leave?

What keeps us from jumping up and going when God calls us?

Are those moments any less ridiculous than this?

6. When they finally leave, they are told to not look back and yet Lot's wife does.  What do we learn from this?  What was wrong with the look?  How many times do we want to do what we have been told to do just because we have been told to not do it?  Is that part of what happens here?

Is that reason to not tell me to NOT do something? 

Last weekend I was having a conversation about this very concept and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.  What is in our hearts that makes us do or even want to do the very thing we have been told not to do?

What about the forbidden is attractive?

What can we do to get rid of that desire?  How do we work with our kids to help them resist the urge and desire to do something simply because it is forbidden?  What is the root of that?

Now the end of this chapter and the last section of our lesson.....

Lot and his daughters

This is perhaps the most disturbing of all.  Yet also there is beauty in this passage. 

So basically, Lot and his daughters are now off by themselves and the daughters decide that their line will die unless they get pregnant and have children, so they get their dad drunk use him to conceive a child. Both of them did this and their line continued in fact the Moabites and the Ammonites are the two groups that came from these two babies, born out of incest.  

What do we know about the Moabites and the Ammonites?

Notably who later comes out of the Moabites? 

What does this tell us about our Savior?

When we look at the line of Jesus, he comes from all people.  Not just those who are from a "holy" line.  Why is this important? 

Our Savior came to save all!  

Our Savior is the savior of the world. 

He isn't an exclusive God.

Even today!

Look I am proud to be a Seventh-day Adventist and I believe we have a unique message, but we are not the only people He came to save, or He will save!  Jesus came out of a line of people that included the enemy of His people, that came from incest.  Incest born out of fear.  

What does this say for us today? 

Jesus came to save the lost. He came to save sinners.

"There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (who.... alll!  Jew and Gentile, Baptist and Adventist, ALL!.... but notice there is just a coma after God.... this is not the end of the story....... )  24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22-24. 

Who are justified freely by his grace? 

All!  

I hope that today, no matter where you are, no matter what is going on inside, no matter what you are thinking, or even if you are laughing at God, he sees you, he wants to rescue you, and even when you do the unspeakable, his gift of grace, His redemption is extended to you!  

The question for each of us is simple....

Will you accept?
Will you walk with him, out of the city and to the hills of safety?
Will you not look back but keep your eyes on where He is taking you?

Will you? 

Know Love? 
Live Love?
Share Love?