31 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 19:1-29

Genesis 19:1-29
"The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah"

Here we have God protecting Lot, Abraham's nephew. While Abraham did not expressly ask God to spare Lot in the previous passage, it can be said that this was the intent of his bargaining with God.

After spending so much time with God-loving Abraham, we see a few contrasts, however, with Lot.

• While both Abraham and Lot had invited the messengers to stay with them, Lot badgered the messengers to go against their intentions and stay with him whereas Abraham applied no such force.
• While Lot extended his protection over his guests when the townsmen wanted to have their way with them, he attempted to divert their attention and appease them by offering them his virgin daughters. (I have no comparison to Abraham that comes immediately to mind)
• When commanded to leave Sodom, Lot hesitated, not following God's command immediately as Abraham did in other situations (i.e. leaving Ur).
• While both Abraham and Lot argued with God, Lot argued out of a self-serving complaint whereas Abraham argued for the sake of others.

Not to condemn Lot outright, but he did not have the same degree of faith in God that Abraham had. It is very evident that Lot knew of God and how God worked; what is unfortunate, then, is that he did not take this knowledge to a personal level. Lot knew about God's messengers, God's punishment, God's attitude towards sin and God's mercy. At the same time, he did not know God. 

You can see this through his hesitation when leaving Sodom, his attitude and actions to the townsfolk, his complaints about the distance to which he had to run to flee God's wrath and by the manner in which the messengers were brought to his household.

Marvelously, though, God keeps compassion and mercy for Lot and a extends a great detail of patience towards him. This can be seen particularly in the messengers grabbing Lot when he hesitated, God not abandoning Lot when he offered his daughters to the townsmen and when God dealt with Lot's request for a closer safe place to go, respectively.

If God can show such great love, compassion, mercy, and patience towards a man who misses the mark repeatedly, sometimes spectacularly, then we should take courage and heart in the reminder that God extends the very same to us, the many imperfect people of the world.

30 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 18:16-33

Genesis 18:16-33
"Abraham's Plea for Sodom"

First, remember that Lot, Abraham's nephew, lived in Sodom.

Now, God announced to Abraham His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, it was more like His plan to investigate the outcry against the two cities due to their sin and then, if the outcry was just, destroy the cities. Remember, though, that God is all-knowing. God already knew whether the outcry was just; this, to my fallible understanding, was another test for Abraham.

Abraham then did two things: he argued with God and he bargained with God. Abraham argued with God about the justness of God's actions in destroying Sodom, in killing both the righteous and the unrighteous. From that point, Abraham drew his plea, asking God to spare the city if 50 righteous people were found there. After God said yes, Abraham asked to presume to ask the same outcome for only 45, 40, 30, 20 and eventually 10 righteous people. God, already knowing the number of righteous people and the punishment set for the city, agreed to 10. As it turns out, God honored that request, but there weren't even 10 righteous individuals in the city.

Abraham stood before God and argued with Him. God does not shirk from argument, not does He shrink away from the angry words of man. He is bigger than that. In fact, God invites us to question our beliefs and to seek answers from Him. That is, after all, how we learn.

Additionally, God invites us to make requests of Him. Let me clarify, though, that God does not answer every request "yes" or every question with the desired answer, if an answer at all. What God does do, however, is keep His word. We can trust Him at His word but looking through the Bible at past occurrences where God made a commitment, promise or statement of action, we can see that He followed His word on a vastly large number of times.

29 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 18:9-15

Genesis 18:9-15
"Sarah Laughs"

This is a continuation from yesterday's passage. Here we see the three messengers speaking to Abraham about Sarah bearing a son within the year. Meanwhile, Sarah was listening.

To put this into perspective, there was no physical chance of Sarah bearing a child. For one, she was barren (Genesis 11:30). Additionally, she was around 90 years old (Genesis 17:17), far beyond her childbearing years.

This being said, Sarah laughed, commenting sarcastically, "After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?" Sarah, wittingly or no, expressed a lack of faith and even disdain towards God. God, then, called her out on this. After all, is there anything God cannot do? (a point He makes in speaking to Abraham.

Sarah then compounds her error by denying her words when confronted by God, who calls her out once again.

Two quick lessons that can be learned here:

1. God is all-powerful. He is capable of anything and is able to do far more than our human imaginations can comprehend.
2. God is all-knowing. He know the very number of stars in the universe and the number of hairs on your head. He also knows the inward, private thoughts of your mind.

Why then do we resist God? Why do we scorn Him or show Him derision? Instead, we should be acting on God's word with full energy because we know that He knows every outcome and is perfectly able to enable us to accomplish the task. It is through His strength and His knowledge that we stand victorious over sin and death, successful in our work for Him, and righteous in our standing with Him.

He is God and we should be and are His obedient servants.

28 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 18:1-8

Genesis 18:1-8
"Abraham's Three Visitors"

This passage opens up with "Then the Lord appeared to Abraham..." This indicates that the three visitors Abraham receives, then, are not merely three strangers, but messengers of God. Looking at this passage with that context in mind, we can look at Abraham's actions in more light than that of mere hospitality.

Abraham honored God through he way he treated His servants. We can see evidence of this through the way in which Abraham lowered himself in servitude to exalt God.

• Abraham moved from his tent and went to meet the messengers instead of waiting for them to come.
• Abraham bowed to the messengers when they would most likely have bowed to him, the owner of the tent.
• Abraham requested that they stay; they did not request his permission to stay.
• Abraham offered water and food to the messengers instead of the messengers requesting it.
• Abraham had fresh bread made and a prime calf slaughtered specifically for the messengers instead of bringing food from what he already had prepared.

Abraham sought to honor God by serving His servants. He gave the best of what he had and he treated them as ones of higher station. This, then, models how we should treat God in our daily lives:

• We should move to Him, not have Him come to us.
• We should offer reverence to Him, not have Him glorify us.
• We should ask Him to remain with us, not have Him ask permission to stay.
• We should be proactive in serving Him, not serving Him in reactively.
• We should give Him the best of what we have, not serve Him what is convenient.

This is the model Abraham has set for us, to serve and glorify God. to revere him as the highest above all and therefore give our very best.

27 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 17:1-27

Genesis 17:1-27
"Covenant Circumcision"

So, This passage is a covenant of multiple parts. Once again, God mentions and further fleshes out the promises to make Abram the "father of many nations" (physically: Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites and Midianites; spiritually: every believer of the Christian faith) and to give to the descendants of Abram the land in which he was residing.

Additionally, God changed the name of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, made a covenant to be Abraham's God and the God of his offspring and declared a reciprocal covenant between Abraham and his descendants and God - Circumcision. This was to be a means by which any descendant of Abraham or member of a household of such (extending to slaves and servants of any type) showed that he is under the covenant between Abraham and God.

Also, God revealed to Abraham that it would be through his future son by Sarah, Isaac, that God would do His work. Interestingly, Abraham pleaded for God's blessing on Ishmael's behalf and it was granted (see yesterday for extra info on Ishmael).

This is the final iteration of God's covenant with Abraham. not only that, but it was sealed by both the word of God and through the formation of a reciprocal covenant between Abraham and God. This covenant would be carried out physically through the birth and death of Christ. Afterwards, the covenant was readministered to those who were Abraham's spiritual descendants - those believing in and remaining faithful to Christ. Note though, that in the Pauline letters and other epistles that circumcision is no longer necessary as we, as Christians, have been freed from the subjugating nature of the law (this being the Mosaic Law. We should still obey the national and other laws placed above us).

This covenant, made between God and Abraham was and is the defining, creating moment for the Israelite people. This formed their identity and set them as "children of the promise".

After the covenant was made, it must be noted that Abraham went and fulfilled his part of the covenant. He and every man in his household was circumcised.

26 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 16:1-16

Genesis 16:1-16
"Hagar and Ishmael"

Here in this passage, In an attempt to bring about God's promise, Abram makes a foolish step. It was common custom, then, for a barren wife to offer her servant or slave as a surrogate, which is what Sarai did. She brought forth her servant, Hagar, to sleep with Abram and bear his son.

In essence, Abram and Sarai were discontent with God's plans and God's timing. They gave up on Sarai conceiving and essentially said that even God could not bring her to bear a child. Thus, they showed discontent with His plans in the act of using Hagar as a surrogate. Discontent with God's timing, additionally, falls under the using of Hagar, but in this case it has to do with the other aspect of Abram and Sarai's attitude. essentially, they said "We're not getting any younger and we want our heir now." God had a different time frame that He was working in and had a different time at which He would grant them a son.

Let's look at some to the repercussions of Abram and Sarai's rashness, now.

• Hagar became pretentious and boastful, leading to Sarai's mistreatment of Hagar
• Hagar's son, Ishmael, would father a people opposed to that descended from Abram's promised Son.

Let's take a closer look at the latter. 

The Angel of the Lord comes to Hagar, delivering a message, while she is running away from Sarai. He speaks to Hagar regarding her son, saying about his nature and future 

"This man will be like a wild donkey.
His hand will be against everyone. and everyone's hand will be against him;
he will live at odds with all his brothers." Genesis 16:12

To put this into further perspective, the descendants of Ishmael, the Ishmaelites, appear multiple times throughout the Old Testament histories, in opposition to the Israelites. Also, the Ishmaelites gave rise to the Arab peoples and from them came Islam and Islamic thought. It is interesting that one of the core Islamic teachings was to eliminate the Jews and Christians.

Abram and Sarai's decision to be discontent with God's plan and timing had vast, far-reaching consequences that neither of them could have forseen. This being said, we need to keep in mind that God has a specific plan for our lives as well and that we should follow God's plan and not try to make our own plan. After all, it could have some dire consequences that we could never have forseen.

25 Dec. 2011 - Genesis 15:1-21

Genesis 15:1-21
"The Abrahamic Covenant"

Once again, we have a covenant from God towards Abram. The main difference between this one and the past ones, though, is the formality of the covenant. That being said, the covenant made to Abram consisted of 2 elements:

• That Abram, husband of a barren wife, would receive an heir of his own flesh and from that heir would descend a multitudinous people.
• That Abram and his descendants would possess "this land", being the whole of Israel as previously promised.

Additionally, God foretold that Abram's descendants would be enslaved in a foreign country for 400 years before truly inheriting the land given to them. Interestingly enough, you can look ahead (spoiler alert) and see that every word God spoke came true.

Also, I mentioned above that this covenant was more formally stated. It was. After hearing God's promise about possessing the land, Abram asked for surety of this latter covenant. So, God had Abram make a very specific, fairly large sacrifice and then affirmed to him in a vision this covenant with the specific details about the inheritance of Abram's offspring.

The passage ends with a formal acknowledgement of this covenant, stating in verses 18-21:

"On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, 'I give this land to your offspring, from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River: the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.'"

God made a formal covenant that day and not only did He do that, but He honored and kept it, too. After all, our God is a God of truth and honesty. He is trustworthy and faithful..