Repeated phrase:
(1) The humble attitude of Abraham towards God
"Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord (although I am but dust and ashes)" v.27,31, "Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak!" v.30,"Finally Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more" 32.
Why was Abraham so afraid and humble? Remember Moses and Isaiah, when they saw God they were tremble and fell on their faces. Abraham knew God is just and he could approached God only because of what God has said in v.21.
v.20-21 So the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. If not, I want to know.”
"...if not," provides a ray of hope and inspires Abraham’s intercession. (NET)
v.22b-23a but Abraham was still standing before the LORD.18:23 Abraham approached and said,
God allowed Abraham to know about His plan for Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham sought the opportunity to plead for them.
Reflection: In front of God we all need to humble and our chance to pray to Him was given to us as a privilege. Why do we not seeking the opportunity to pray more?
"I must go down." The descent to “see” Sodom is a bold anthropomorphism, stressing the careful judgment of God (NET). God heard our outcry and He will take action. He is just. Do not lose heart and trust that He knows what happen to us today.
I do not know if this is related. Minneapolis faced 2 unprecedented challenges: Covid 19 and the George Floyd incident. Are they related? Have the racism injustice been a long term problem and become an outcry to God? Does God take action and use the pandemic to carry out His judgment on the city? If yes, then we should not just pray that the pandemic to go away. We need to examine our city and ourselves to ask for forgiveness of our sins.
(2) The pleading of Abraham v.23-25, 27-28, 29, 30, 31,32.
The rational of Abraham
v.23 Will you sweep away the godly along with the wicked?
v.24b-25 Will you really wipe it out and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty godly people who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?”
1. God is the judge of the whole earth and therefore He should be just
2. For God to be just He should not wipe out the godly people for they did not do anything wrong
3. If God wipe out the city altogether then He would have wiped off by mistake because there were some godly people there. The godly and the wicked should be treated differently.
Note, Abraham reversed the order in his presentation to God.
Reflection: Are the pandemic a wipe off by God? I do see the vast effect of the pandemic, but God did spared some people (including us) from the effect. I thank God for the sparing. If this is a wipe off are you confident that you are the godly and God will spare our city because of your existence?
On the other hand, do you know God like Abraham and know how to pray according to God's character?
(2) Sparing of the city v.26, 28, 29, 30, 31,32
v.26 So the LORD replied, “If I find in the city of Sodom fifty godly people, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
God agreed with the rational of Abraham and promised not to wipe off the city because there were godly people who live there. As a matter of fact, it did not matter what was the number of godly people. No matter it is 50 or 10 God will spare the whole place for their sake.
Reflection: God is just and therefore the outcry compelled Him to take action. We also thank God that He is mercy so that the godly would not got wiped off as a result of others' sins.
Audrey
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