Bible in a Year… Day 29 (Genesis 16-19)

Week 5 begins back in Genesis. In looking over the reading plan, it appears I covered some of this last week, so today’s entry may be a bit shorter than it would otherwise.

Today’s notes:

Genesis 18:10-14 (NIV)
¹⁰Then the LORD 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. ¹¹Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”

This exchange cracks me up a bit. God promises that Abraham and Sarah will have a son. She overhears, and laughs to herself (a pretty reasonable response). God overhears, and basically says, “Well I’ll show you.”

Genesis 18:20-26 (NIV)
²⁰Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

²²The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. ²³Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing — to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Here we learn of God’s decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah due to the depth of their sin. We also learn that God is merciful, as he notes in response to Abraham’s plea that he will spare the city if there are even fifty righteous people living there.

Genesis 18:32 (NIV)
³²Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”
    He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

After further pleas from Abraham, we’re left with an even bigger understanding of the depth of God’s mercy… out of an entire city that deserves destruction, He agrees to spare everyone if only ten of the citizens are righteous.

Genesis 19:12-17 (NIV)
¹²The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here — sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, ¹³because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

¹⁶When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. ¹⁷As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

Again, in the midst of God enacting justice, we find a clear example of the depth of His mercy.

We’ve all experienced God’s mercy at one point or another… how has God most clearly shown mercy to you recently?

(Note: In case you’re new here, or even if you have been following along for just a little while, the yearly reading plan I’m using can be found here. Today is week five, day one.)