September 8, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Then Abraham approached the Lord and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What 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? Far 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?’” (Genesis 18.23-25)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Paul writes to the Christ followers in Rome, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” (Romans 11.34) How many times has God’s mercy been extended over Abraham by this time? Did such “familiarity” empower him and entitle him to speak to God as if he knew better than God what should be done in this situation? Did God anticipate these questions from Abraham as He shared with the “two” who were going before Him into Sodom whether Abraham should be informed? Of course, God knew that Abraham would seek to bargain an impossible situation as it has always been his modus operandi. Still, God is a teacher and wants Abraham to learn more and more about himself. God knows the more Abraham knows about himself the more he will know of God. Abraham tests the limits of such knowledge. It gives him a sense of stability and safety. Yet, Abraham, like each one of us, must know what we do not know. We also must confess that what we know so often cannot be changed. What can change? Each one of us! Who can change us? Only God can truly change us and transform us into who and what we are intended to be. What is our part? Our part is to know our limitations and walk in the presence of God accordingly. Our part is never to assume we know more than God in all we say and do. Our part is to, as Solomon decreed, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean no on your own understanding.“

What was known? It would be ludicrous to think that an all-knowing God did not have any idea of what was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah. the height and depth and breadth of the sin of those two cities were not a fragrant offering rising up to the nostrils of God. It was not pleasing. Even if we were to assume that the question was raised in the Court of Heaven by Satan as we can read similarly in the story of Job, it would not be to inform God of anything. So why would God, as three in one, have any desire to “see how bad things really are in Sodom and Gomorrah” if He already knew how bad it was?

This is what we know of God. He is just and merciful. He has demonstrated both in full force from the moment of creation. He is a God of transformation. He spoke into the chaos of unorder matter that was as good as nothing and it responded perfectly to become what it could become. God saw it for what it was…an opportunity. Matter submitted and life began: structure, function, purpose, meaning and truth were all born at the Master’s voice and the works of His hand. God knew the depth of depravity. Did Sodom and Gomorrah knew the mercy and love of God that could transform them into something beautiful? The answer would be “no.” Had they ever heard of God before? I am not speaking of the gods of their own making as they served their baser needs in perverted and distorted ways transforming what was beautiful into something ugly. I am speaking of the knowledge of the Sovereign God, maker of Heaven and earth. How would they have heard of God? Wasn’t Lot, Abraham’s nephew, living there? Did Lot not know of God and the wonders of His mercy and grace over him and Abraham and all that belonged to them? Did Lot act as “salt and light” in Sodom where he lived and in Gomorrah where he would have traded? Did Lot bear witness to them of God? Did Lot simply exist in their midst to do business and be successful as if their lives meant nothing more than money and trade? He knew of their depravity and traded upon it. Where were the righteous men? Did God desire to explore their depravity and see if any would be transformed when He stood in the midst of them? If they would, would he not save them? Abraham had to know God would.

Yet, Abraham persisted to bargain. He knew the vastness of sin in Sodom and Gomorrah. If there were any righteous people there, it would have only been his nephew and family. Not fifty, not twenty, not ten. Abraham knew the desperate situation. He may have even counseled Lot to leave but Lot had too much invested. It had become his home. Giving all of that up would mean he had chosen unwisely from the beginning. Did those cities already have a reputation for decadence and that is really why Lot chose to be there? Was he seduced by the opportunities that appealed to him? We do not know and can only tell the facets of a story untold. What we know is that Abraham knew Lot and his family was there. Perhaps the number of fifty was the total of all who were connected to Lot as family and servants. Abraham wanted mercy and deliverance for them. Would God listen? Abraham had to know He would. He bargained with God because of his love for them and prayed God would show mercy in love for them, too.

And what of us, mighty ones of God? Do we find ourselves in impossible situations such as Lot? Are we willing to compromise our righteousness to make a living? Are we daring enough to be God’s ambassadors of mercy and justice being witnesses of the way and the truth and the life even at the expense of our own? Will we stand the gap for those lost ones in our own families and make our appeal on their behalf becoming intercessors? These are the things we can consider as we pray and think up todays lesson and wonder for ourselves “whom we shall serve and how”

TODAYS’ PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness endeavor, but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.