One Year Bible Readings and Commentary, Saturday January 8th Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed, Lot's Wife Turns to Stone, Jesus' Sermon on Worry
Abraham Interceded for Sodom
As was customary, Abraham escorted his guests out. As God surveyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, their wickedness was so repulsive, he sent the angels to go there themselves to investigate. As Abraham approaches God in prayer, we see his character.
First, he sought out God through prayer. " Effective prayer speaks knowing who God is, and how God works in a particular situation. Effective prayer doesn’t see itself as a passive spectator in what God does, but effective prayer acts as if it must actually remind God in prayer" (Guzik)
Second, it shows his compassion for the people of Sodom. Though he had plenty of reasons to hate the people of Sodom, he wonders if the Lord might spare the righteous among them. One of the reasons for his concern might be for his nephew Lot and his family.
Then. we see Abraham's cleverness. Having established the fact that God would not destroy all people if there were some righteous among them, he keeps whittling the number down to only 10 people who would need to be righteous to be saved from the judgment. Having affirmed Abraham's logic, God leaves and Abraham returns to his tent. This story is a foreshadowing of Jesus, the Righteous One, who would cause God to have mercy on the unrighteous.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroed
Again, we see that the two angels are physical beings. because Lot meets them at the entrance to the city. Commentators think there were only two angels because the Lord was one of them and he had left. Lot seems to know these visitors are important, because he invites them to his home to be guests for the night, as was the custom in his culture. Lot was insistent they stay at his home, rather than the town square. His insistence and urgency should be noted. (Guzik)
In the middle of the night, the depravity of the town rears its ugly head, and will help us to understand why God was rained fire down on this city. Lot calls them brother indicating he knew them well. The fact there were both young and old, and they came from all over the town, shows the extent of the perversity in the city. The intent was to "sodomize" and "rape" the two men in Lot's home.
What Lot says next is equally disturbing. He offers his two virgin daughters to all the men.
"Lot’s offer to the mob was horrible and cannot be justified. The men of Sodom showed a shocking demonstration of depravity, but we are just as shocked at the willingness of Lot to give up his daughters to the mob as we are at the sinful desire of the mob itself." (Guzik)
The men are not satisifed with this. They want the two men. When they go to break the door, the 2 angels show their supernatural power by pulling Lot back inside, bolting the door, and blinding all the men. They warn Lot to get all of his relatives out of the city, before the Lord completely destroyed it. As Lot tried to warn his daughter's fiances, they thought he was joking and stayed behind to their peril.
Who's left? Lot's wife and two daughters. When they hesitate, the two angels pull all four of them out of the city. The angel warns them to not look back and go to the mountains, as the Lord unleashed his fury on this wicked nation.
For some reason, Lot is afraid to go to the mountains, so he bargains with the angels to go to a small village named "Zoar", which means "little place". The angel concedes and explains that he can do nothing until Lot is safe. This points to God's justice and the angel's adherence to God's promise to not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
We see the sad ending to the story. Although Lot and his daughters were spared from the destruction, Lot's wife looked back in disobedience to the angel's instruction. Instantly she turned into a pillar of salt. Though we don't know why she looked back, the fact she did shows the state of her heart.
"Her looking back likely showed a love for Sodom and regret for its destruction." (Guzik)
Lot and His Daughters
Unfortunately, the perversity of Sodom and Gomorrah still resided in Lot's two daughters. They reasoned that since they were in a remote location, they would never have husbands or continue their father's bloodline. Knowing their father would not approve of what they are about to do, they get him drunk and have sex with him on successive nights. In the morning Lot is unaware somehow of what happened. When both daughters get pregnant, their sons are named Moab and Ben-Ammi. There descendants became the Ammonites and Moabites, who became separate nations located near Israel.
The Moabites were on somewhat friendly terms with them. Ruth, was a Moabitess, and became the great-grandmother of King David. The Ammonites had a similar relationship with Israel throughout its history. At times going to war with them, and at times being allied with them. Perhaps faithfulness to Lot through Abraham permitted these two nations not be utterly destroyed when Israel took the Promised Land.
Do Not Worry
Previously Jesus taught the disciples that they could not have two masters. Today he starts by teaching on the futility of worrying. When Jesus is your Lord, there is a lot less to worry about. It's important to point out that there is difference in being responsible to the things you need to get done, and worrying about things you can't control.
"We are to be concerned with the right things; the ultimate issues of life – and we then leave the management (and the worry) over material things with our heavenly Father." (Guzik)
But here's the bottom line. Worry doesn't change anything. All it does is raise your stress and anxiety level. The key thing is realizing that God cares for us. Jesus uses the example of how the flowers of the field are clothed. When we stay connected and rooted in God, He will give clothes us with everything we NEED!
So what can we do? Matthew 6:33 says it all, and this is a verse you should memorize,
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
As we seek God and put him first in everything, we don't to worry. Let God do it for you.
Judging Others
Jesus sees how judgmental the Jewish leaders are. He doesn't like it at all. In the Lord's Prayer, he just taught the disciples, he says, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Basically he is saying, when you realize how much God has forgiven you, you can't in good conscience hold a grudge against someone.
Similarly when you judge someone else, be prepared to have the same standard used for you. He uses hyperbole to show how silly it is to be a judgmental person. Judgmental people are "nit picky" and point out minor faults in other's lives, when their life is a mess. The most critical, judgmental, people are often very unhappy with themselves. Jesus calls this hypocrisy, which is still very much prevalent in the church. In fact, when you ask many people why they don't attend church they often says, "The church is full of hypocrites".
Ask, Seek, Knock
Finally, Jesus teaches on the progressive nature of prayer. He uses the terms "ask", 'seek", and "knock". Each one represents a deeper commitment to getting an answer. Jesus concludes that when you ask, seek, and knock, you will be rewarded for your diligence.
Where does this principle come from? It comes from the idea that God loves to give good gitts to his chiildren, just like an earthly parent does. He is not miserly. Does that mean God gives us everything we ask for? Does every parent give their children everything they ask for? I hope not. God gives "good gifts" to those who ask him.
Many times we wonder about "unanswered prayer", just like a child wonders why they can't have something. Many times a child has to grow up before they are able to have that gift. Many times that gift would not be good for them. I.e. A child playing with firecrackers. Sometime parent is calling on their child to trust him in a deeper way by not getting what they want right away. God is better than the best parent and he uses the same principles with us.
The Narrow and Wide Gates
Finally, Jesus reminds the disciples that following him will not be easy. Following Jesus will often call us to make decisions that are difficult to make. Sometimes we are called to go on as M. Scott Peck calls, "The Road Less Traveled". As Romans 12:2 says, "Don't not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' Though following Jesus isn't easy, the consequences of not following him are not easy either.
This verse is one my favorite verses in the pslams.
"When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?"
When you like about the infinite, awesome, majestic, loving, and creative nature of God, it is mind blowing to think of the fact that he cares about us. The God who made every single thing around you. Every tree, every mountain, and every sunset thinks about you and delights in you.
I can never quite fathom this truth!
"For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity."
People seek wisdom in all sorts of places and in all sorts of people. The problem is the wisdom of the world is just that, the wisdom of the world. Yet, God grants us His wisdom. With God's wisdom, we can know and understand. He grants us wisdom not only in matters that are complicated, but sometimes he gives us plain old common sense, which is certainly lacking today!
"What Now" Study Questions:
Abraham’s interaction with God concerning Sodom and Gomorrah points to the value of praying for others. Who needs your intercessional prayer today?
'So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.' ~ Matthew 6:34 (NLT) Biblical Truth: It serves no purpose to be preoccupied with what might happen, so don’t worry about tomorrow; let God be God in your life today
Comments
Post a Comment