Connecting Scriptures:  Hebrews 13:2, Romans 9:9, Romans 4:19, Hebrews 11:11-12, Job 42:2, Jeremiah 32:17, Matthew 19:26, Luke 1:37, Psalm 25:14, Amos 3:7, Genesis 4:10, Psalm 106:23, James 2:23, Isaiah 41:8, Hebrews 4:16

Can you see scene before us today?  The Lord and two angels, sitting down, feet washed and partaking in a meal, Abraham standing in wait like an eager server at your favorite restaurant.  How amazing that, what must be a christophany (a manifestation of Jesus in the Old Testament), comes to deliver a message that Abrahams time of waiting for a son from Sarah’s womb is up—Time was up for the people of Sodom too.  Two heavy pieces of news, and two different reactions.      

If you remember from Genesis 8, God has already let Abraham know that the child of promise would come from Sarah.  After the sign of circumcision was given, God assured Abraham of this—but, did he tell Sarah?  From her reaction as she listened in her tent to the meeting between Abraham and the visitors, I don’t think he did.  Or, perhaps she was just in that deep of a denial.  The way of women had ceased (she had completed menopause) and she was resigned to never bearing children (as we see in the decision to give Hagar as a child bearer to Abraham in chapter 16).  So, she laughs.  This was a different laughter from Abraham in the earlier chapter.  We know this, because she was corrected and questioned by the LORD Himself.  Hers was a cynical laugh.  One that was born of bitterness and remorse.  One that needed an infusion of hope.  God, in His mercy, gives her what her heart yearned for the most (more than a child to bear).  He gave her the words, “Is anything to hard for the LORD?”.  He also gave her a chance to know Him as Hagar had.  God saw her in her sorrow turned to sin, and He poured grace on her.  He would now, even as an old woman, give her pleasure and purpose in her old age.  Her faithlessness would not nullify the promise.  

Then the curious aside from The Lord, to his traveling angel companions about the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (we will get more into the sin of this place tomorrow).  Because God had chosen to bestow grace and favor on Abraham, and because of Abraham’s faith and obedience in these promises of God, he was considered a friend of God.  It was in Abraham’s keeping of fellowship with God, that God told him of His judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Here is where it gets big picture.  God was calling a family to himself through Abraham, one what would seek righteousness and justice.  Sodom and Gomorrah represented (and literally was) a people completely opposite to this.  The people there were full of selfish deceit and lawlessness.  I think we have a clear contrast given to Abraham (and us) on the effects of following God and the consequences of rejecting God.  

Of course there was another wrench in this whole scene—Lot.  Abraham, as elder of the family, still felt a need to protect and shield Lot (remember his rescue in Chapter 14?).  What proceeds is maybe a manipulation on Abraham’s part (but, can God be manipulated?).  Whatever it was, it was an inch-by-inch ask that makes this point clear—there were none righteous in Sodom, not even really, Lot.  I think Abraham knew this.  It was God’s love for Abraham that Lot was sparred at all, and we will see that in the next chapter.  God is just and good.  Abraham didn’t need to hem-haw the point he was trying to make.  God had already made it clear to him that He would keep promises with him and that there was an authentic relationship between them.  He could have asked outright for God to spare Lot and his family.  Instead, we are given an immense display of God’s patience to Abraham that hopefully granted him peace of mind as the two parted.  

Questions for Reflection:

1.  How does Sarah’s laughter at God’s promise of a son given to her compare to Zechariah’s response to the angle in Luke 1 (we had a similar question like with Abraham and his reaction to God’s promise)?

2.  How have you seen God be gracious to you when you have struggled with doubt and disappointment? 

3.  How confident are you when approaching God with a need?  What does scripture tell us our posture should be when coming to God with a request?