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January 18th
Our Bible reading for today is Genesis 19,20,21.
when I read the Bible, I'm always looking for “God activity”....” what God is doing,” in the text.
That revelation of God’ s activity not only adds to my knowledge of the magnificent will of God....
but it also teaches me His ways so that I can relate what is happening in the world around me to Him....to His divine rhyme and reason..... that fulfills His ultimate purposes for me, mine, and the world at large.
So what is God doing in this part of the story? He is doing what He does so often...He is rescuing His own. And should that rescue benefit others, to God be the glory.
In today’s reading, God rescues Lot and his family from the judgment of God upon Sodom.
Sounds a lot like a rescue mission that God pulled off for Noah and his family in the midst of a “flood” of judgment.
The Bible says that a great outcry against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah rose to heaven. Where did that outcry come from?
Remember the scripture that revealed the outcry of the blood of righteous Abel after he was murdered by his brother Cain?...and how that cry rose to God’s attention?
Remember the scriptures that described the outcries of God’s people living in Egypt as they were terrorized and brutalized by the Egyptian authorities and Egyptian people? And how those cries rose up to God?
Moses said that the sin of the Sodomite people was great...indicating that there was more than sodomy that oppressed the ever-widening community for years. And the cries of the innocent in and around Sodom and Gomorrah rose to heaven.
So Like God telling Abraham that the sin of the Amorite was not over yet, implying that there would come a day of judgment but not now.
God was saying that the day of Sodom’s sinning was over. God was going to destroy those cities, their entire populations, and the surrounding peoples that made their living from the wicked Sodomites.
No telling how many times prophets of God came to the city gates and cried out against the rampant wickedness. The text today says that Lot was sitting in “the city gates” of Sodom when the two angelic messengers from heaven came to rescue him.
What was Lot doing there? Well, many did business there. Maybe Lot was doing business there. City leaders made speeches there. Maybe Lot had become one of the city leaders, because of his great wealth.
I can't help but remember the prophet Amos, the doomsday prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. He prophesied the coming judgment of God. And he did this in their city gates. Amos was rebuffed and rejected by city leaders.
I wonder if Lot heard the prophets in the city gates of Sodom. I wonder if Lot was one of the leaders that turned away prophets from the gates. I wonder if his conscience burned at their message to repent. I wonder...“what in the world was Lot doing there in the first place”.
Answer: Getting ready to be rescued.
After doing some of the things I did in shadowy places in High School and College, You might very well ask, “What in the world was he doing there in the first place?” Lot’s answer fits me too...”Getting ready to be rescued by Jesus Christ...even when I was not looking for Him He was seeking after me! Good News indeed!
