September 9, 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:

“Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham is called in Judaism, the “father of faith.” He is called that not because he founded faith like it was something new. He didn’t “discover” faith as if it was a product to be consumed. He literally was a man who became a father of a son, a nation, a people, a hope, a legacy and a way of life because he put his faith in God alone. It did not mean he was perfect. We know from our studies in this Genesis series that he wasn’t. In Genesis 15.6, we read, “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” In the beginning, God had done nothing for Abraham that Abraham knew of except to call him to believe, trust, obey and follow. And in the midst of many options available to him in his world, Abraham felt the call and was faithful to it. How did Abraham become the “father of faith”? Abraham chose God. He dared to believe. He dared to trust. He dared to follow. He dared to fail. He dared to learn. He dared to be remade and renewed. He put his faith in the God he could not see and found the man that God saw and believed in Himself.

The God Abraham encountered was only the tip of the iceberg of the God Abraham came to know. Yes, it started with a single word such as “Abraham.” We do not know what that first word from God to Abraham was. It might have been God calling him by name “Abram.” It might have been a temple experience, undocumented I know, such as that given to Isaiah. It may have been some beyond imagination, beyond natural experience as that which Moses came upon on Mount Sinai. It may have been the presence of coming alongside of him and stopping to share a vision. I have a feeling that whatever it was, it showed that God listened and heard Abram. What did God hear in Abram that was worth listening to? Whatever it was, God would credit it to him as righteousness. God would believe in Abram who saw the need for something different in his life, the life of his family and the world he lived in. God would believe the intention of his heart, mind and soul that would reach far beyond himself and include the others in his life. God could see the heart of a man who understood justice and believe it should be honored and protected. God could see in Abram a search for meaning that could not be bound in laws, opinions and hardened expectations. It could be all or none of those things that moved Abram to put his faith in God. Whatever it was, I have no doubt Abram believed in the God who believed in him.

And the evidence presents itself in the scripture from yesterday which spills over into today. As God reveals, or confirms, what everyone knew about Sodom and Gomorrah, Abram reveals and confirms what he wants everyone to know about God.

“Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

God is righteous, just and merciful. Centuries later, a prophet in Judah would declare “He has shown you, man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6.8) Mighty ones of God, know that God will not ask of us more than we are capable of being, becoming or bearing (read 1 Corinthians 10 for reference). The God in whose image we were and have been created shared His very nature, character and essence with us. We should not consider ourselves so dissimilar from God that we overlook the truth about who and whose we are. We know what is right and good, even if we attempt to deny it, because God has breathed His spirit of life into us. This is such a calling for us as well as a tremendous accountability. I think that those whose desire is to deny God would ultimately confess the fear of calling and accountability is the reason. The hope and desire to be unique and self-determining is not wrong at all. God created both to be a part of who we are in our nature and in our character. What becomes wrong is when we reform both to separate ourselves from the very love of God that brought us into being before God even created the heavens and the earth. Mighty ones of God, we may believe that we can recreate ourselves apart from God but “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.38-39) It is a fool’s effort to believe otherwise. Why and how? It is because of those three important elements mentioned above (righteousness- to walk humbly before God; justice- to act according to the design for authentic living; and mercy- to abide by the truth that without forgiveness there is only death) that we can truly know love and love- God, others and self. Abram spoke to God about Sodom and Gomorrah based on that and that alone. He knew the very nature of God that He would act with righteousness, justice and mercy and not simply a “one size fits all” response. What Abram didn’t know, we do. God always had a “one size fits all” response. That response was grace, the critical element of tough love which we know and experience in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God has moved gracefully across the passing of time and the pages of history to demonstrate so great a love as He is. With that in mind, Abraham petitioned God to be just, merciful and righteous. It was his plea for the life of Lot and his family whom he did not want to be counted among the transgressors. What did Abraham receive, and by extension- Lot? They received grace; God’s unmerited and unearned divine favor. Nothing could separate Lot and his family from God’s love. Nothing and no one because God’s love and grace is just (His will falls equally on the just and the unjust), merciful (God’s justice covers those who trust and obey God’s word and will) and righteous (God does not act for Himself but for the good of all creation.)

As God is, so, too, should we be.

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.