Sarah, Smile
There's a song by the 80's band Hall & Oates about a woman named Sarah who needed to smile. I like this song, so I posted it here. Sarah from the Bible had a hard time believing that God could help her conceive. She was probably still bitter about the whole ordeal with Hagar. And at this point, would God really give her a child and use her in his redemptive history? Well, God visits her to answer this question. In what some take as a pre-figuration of Christ, he along with two of his angels visits Abraham's residence. They are given a choice meal and then God begins to speak with Abraham. He confirms his covenant with him stating that surely he will give him a child by the next year. Abraham believes, but Sarah sarcastically laughs thinking that it's a preposterous and perhaps grandiose offer. But God retorts, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Of course, this would be hard for anyone to believe, but this is God, Creator of the heavens and the earth. God is gracious to Sarah, but he also points out her sarcastic laughter. He wanted her to respond in faith to his promise. Soon she would, and would name her son 'he laughs'. She would finally have a reason to smile out of a joyful heart.
When we look at God's offer of redemption, restoration and inheritance of his kingdom, how do we respond? We can laugh sarcastically like Sarah; this sarcasm actually comes from fatalism. When we look at our limitations we despair because we are limited in many ways. But the more we look at God, the more we come to realize that nothing is impossible for Him. All of his promises or 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ (2 Cor 2:10). It's a Sarah-like struggle to believe this at times. But I implore us to come to the word of God each day in faith. Instead of resting on what we can do for ourselves by our own efforts and striving, let us instead rest on the work of Christ in us (John 6:29, Matt 11:28-30). In the face of what God has promised and is currently doing in us, let us simply smile.
Not even Ten Righteous Men
In this passage, we see the development of Abraham and God's relationship. God let's him in on his plans for Sodom and Gomorrah and allows Abraham to act as a kind of mediator. These cities were absolutely morally terrible. Romans 1:18-31 details how far-gone their depravity in sin had become. They had turned away from God and were thus given over to deeper and more far-gone depraved acts. Abraham knew this, but he wanted to save Lot, who had established his home there. God allows Abraham to plead for Lot's life. When we see the situation in Sodom, we wonder how Lot could have got involved in such a place. Many look at Lot as the quintessential 'compromising Christian'. But the apostle Peter describes Lot as a righteous man (2 Pet 2:7). His reprehensible behavior towards his daughters in chapter 19 is shown for what it is. But then again as Christians, we do some pretty reprehensible things as well, yet God is not ashamed to be called our God, provided we bear our hearts before him in repentance (Heb 11:16, 1 John 2:28). We can learn many things from Lot's life, apart from the obvious (such as don't offer your daughters to homosexual rapists, flee when atomic bomb-scale destruction is befalling your city and don't have incestuous relations with your daughters because it will produce a nation of peoples who will be forever hostile to the people of God.) Yeah, Lot made a lot of mistakes. And he paid dearly for them. His life is sort of a warning to us; God's grace is sufficient to make us righteous, but in the same light we're only shooting ourselves in the foot if we live morally compromised lives; we're not experiencing the full blessing of that righteous bestowal. God's judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is a foreshadow of his eventual destruction of all that is evil (2 Pet 2:5-6). In the Bible, God gives us foreshadows of his final judgment. This being the case, then today, let us examine the offer of salvation and life that he gives us. I pray that today we may all renew our trust in His plan of salvation.
There's a song by the 80's band Hall & Oates about a woman named Sarah who needed to smile. I like this song, so I posted it here. Sarah from the Bible had a hard time believing that God could help her conceive. She was probably still bitter about the whole ordeal with Hagar. And at this point, would God really give her a child and use her in his redemptive history? Well, God visits her to answer this question. In what some take as a pre-figuration of Christ, he along with two of his angels visits Abraham's residence. They are given a choice meal and then God begins to speak with Abraham. He confirms his covenant with him stating that surely he will give him a child by the next year. Abraham believes, but Sarah sarcastically laughs thinking that it's a preposterous and perhaps grandiose offer. But God retorts, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Of course, this would be hard for anyone to believe, but this is God, Creator of the heavens and the earth. God is gracious to Sarah, but he also points out her sarcastic laughter. He wanted her to respond in faith to his promise. Soon she would, and would name her son 'he laughs'. She would finally have a reason to smile out of a joyful heart.
When we look at God's offer of redemption, restoration and inheritance of his kingdom, how do we respond? We can laugh sarcastically like Sarah; this sarcasm actually comes from fatalism. When we look at our limitations we despair because we are limited in many ways. But the more we look at God, the more we come to realize that nothing is impossible for Him. All of his promises or 'yes' and 'amen' in Christ (2 Cor 2:10). It's a Sarah-like struggle to believe this at times. But I implore us to come to the word of God each day in faith. Instead of resting on what we can do for ourselves by our own efforts and striving, let us instead rest on the work of Christ in us (John 6:29, Matt 11:28-30). In the face of what God has promised and is currently doing in us, let us simply smile.
Not even Ten Righteous Men
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| God saves us from the fate of Lot's wife |
Not much information is given about Lot's wife but I learn a lot from her. God allows her to flee with Lot, so God is a merciful God that forgave her everything and allowed her to live. But God is not only a merciful God, He is a just God, and his mercy has limits. When Lot's wife looked back at the city she had lived in and at the life she had there she became a pillar of salt. A side note: Salt is essential for animal life however too much will kill life. In the Ancient times salt was very imporatant and proved to be an advatageous resource to have both for population health and growth and as a financial advantage used in trading. We see salt being used in the Bible when Jesus says that We are the salt of the earth meaning that we give the earth value and purpose because land without salt is useless.
ReplyDeleteWhat is God trying to tell us through Lot's wife?
After we are forgiven by God and after the help of his grace are healed and we still look back and desire the lifestyle we had we will be punished. When God punishes Lot's wife for looking back he did not only punish her but he tranformed her into a useful commodity. Naturally I expected her to be burned up in sulfur like the reidents of Sodom but instead God chose to find a use for her. Maybe after the whole Sodom plain was burned up and all the vegetation in it, there was a demand for salt. Or maybe God's forgiveness and grace that was given to Lot's wife had value and when God punished her he transformed the only good thing in her (God's grace) into a life giving and life sustaining material. It is fun to speculate, but the bottom line is that whatever we have done in the past God is ready to forgive us and we will be saved as long as we leave the sinful life and not desire to be in a sinful life.
very interesting thoughts, stan. I've often wondered about the meaning of Lot's wife becoming a pillar of salt. At some point, I stopped thinking about it because it seemed somewhat gruesome. I'd be heart-broken if someone I loved was judged in that way. It take her situation to represent God's judgment for her hard-heartedness of rejecting God's salvation. It seems as though it's a precursor to and warning of his final judgment. But you interpretation could be valid as well. It is fun to speculate because I think that the Bible can be looked at from many different angles. It really allows us to use the creative aspect of our nature. I learned a lot about salt from you in this post :)
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest part of this passage that stuck out to me was Father Abe and God's relationship. Their was mutual respect and love for one another, clearly. And clearly their relationship was very close and personal. It's interesting how Abe interacted with God and it seems as if Abe even made God change his mind and plans. It's kinda strange to think that a man could have that much influence on God. I wonder how Abe communicated with God (prayer?, vision/dream?, pondering thought?,...)
ReplyDeleteThis question is directed to someone that can really articulate their relationship with God. In our times, how do you personally keep up with a relationship with God? What does it Feel like? Look like? I dunno, Smell like or Taste like? Sound like? How would you describe the experience?