Genesis 18:16-19:29

Genesis 18:16-19:29

God -could- hide His ways from us. But, He doesn't!
His ways are so much higher than our ways. We cannot even fathom the ways of God. We cannot even fathom how God begins to work. God is SOVEREIGN!! He can do anything! He is SOVEREIGN! Look at this part of the passage:

17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18:17-19)

God chose not to hide from Abraham what He was about to do! God was getting ready to go see in person the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, which would be brought to destruction, because of the great evil. He is choosing not to hide from Abraham a way in which He will work and act with justice!

Some things about this encounter with God for Abraham:
Before the beginning of the world, God chose us. Just as He chose me, He chose you. Just as He chose us, He chose Abraham! 

He chose to reveal to Abraham His plan for Sodom and Gomorrah!
God chose Abraham to be used by Him.

He knew Abraham's heart.

This passage reminded me of the privilege God gives me. It is not a right to be able to join Him where He is working. It is definitely not a right to know WHAT God is about to do. It is such a blessing to see how God is  working, and to know how He is going to work! (Isaiah 40:10-31 reminds us HE IS SOVEREIGN! He can do whatever He wants. He is GOD!!) God chose to allow Abraham to know what was about to happen, so Abraham could intercede on the behalf of the righteous in these cities.. There is great POWER in interceding before God for others! Abraham interceded, so God would save Lot and his family from the destruction that was coming, because of the sin in these cities.

About God's Sovereignty: Nothing is mandatory. God doesn't HAVE to reveal what He is doing. We are in God's hands! He is our Creator. We are in HIS hands, and NOT the other way around! So often we focus on what we want God to do. We don't realize that He is sovereign. We need to remember the truth: God is ABOVE ALL! 

Abraham knew who God was and is, and chose to submit to Him. He also knew the power of prayer as he intercedes for the righteous! He knew God acts with justice, and would save his family! Abraham chose to be obedient and follow God, and follow His ways: being an example to those in his household. He showed them the truth, and they lived what they believed! This is what it looks like to recognize who God really is. It isn't about us. It is about Him. The more we realize who God is, the more we will want to wholly follow Him! We will leave self-centeredness, sin, our wants, and everything behind, so that we will seek Him and what His will is!

Also in chapter 19, it adds to the depth of realizing it is about Him and not us. It adds to what kind of relationship with God we could have. It changes our focus as we realize who He is... There is the significance of not looking back at the past. Lot's wife (when spared from Sodom and Gomorrah's great judgment) looked back at the cities when God told them to keep looking ahead and not to look back. Notice it was the woman. (Again, it was the woman.) Maybe it is the women who struggle more with letting go of our pasts. Maybe, we are more plagued and bothered by our pasts than men. Lot didn't look back. It was the wife. Our pasts get in the way of focusing on God. Reminding ourselves of our pasts like this brings destruction on my minds and spirits. The devil will use our pasts to bring upon us destruction!

God has brought us to freedom. Check it out: God had given Lot and his family freedom, and they were on their way to a new town to live a very new life. So often as God takes me on this journey of my new life, I look back. I look back at past mistakes. Those recaps of my past come up in my mind repeatedly and beating myself up again, it gets in the way of God's will for me. He has redeemed me from my past! Looking back gets in the way of where God has me in my NEW life. He has set me free. Just as He has set Lot's family free, He has set me free. I cannot let myself keep looking back and missing blessings in the process!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary includes this about the passage:

19:1-29 "Lot was good, but there was not one more of the same character in the city. All the people of Sodom were very wicked and vile. Care was therefore taken for saving Lot and his family. Lot lingered; he trifled. Thus many who are under convictions about their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, defer that needful work. The salvation of the most righteous men is of God's mercy, not by their own merit. We are saved by grace. God's power also must be acknowledged in bringing souls out of a sinful state If God had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin. Lot must flee for his life. He must not hanker after Sodom. Such commands as these are given to those who, through grace, are delivered out of a sinful state and condition. Return not to sin and Satan. Rest not in self and the world. Reach toward Christ and heaven, for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not stop. Concerning this destruction, observe that it is a revelation of the wrath of God against sin and sinners of all ages. Let us learn from hence the evil of sin, and its hurtful nature; it leads to ruin."