St Matthew's West Ham - Insight At St Matthew's

Freedom to ask God any question today! Genesis 18:23-25

Are you asking this question as an observer - in theory or personally - as a someone who is seeking to understand the truth?

When you know where you stand in this question you ask, the answer will benefit you and those who will grasp the truth. This will also affect the way you understand other questions already asked either objectively or subjectively.

I am aware that there are times when all of us wonder why God does, or allows, certain things. Is God still speaking today? Indeed, God invites us to bring such question to him, but to listen as well as speak.

Let's face it: we don't always find God's ways easy to understand. Why he does certain things, but doesn't do other things, is often hard to grasp. However, this has sometimes led people to question his ways, or even to doubt his existence.

God is big enough to cope with these sort of doubts and questions, however; the challenge to us is, are we big enough to listen to his answers?

Genesis 18:1-15 is the best example.

The accounts of Abraham relationship with God are outstandingly brilliant!

In this account of Genesis 18:1-15, the writer tells us that Abraham had three visitors, two angels and the third person, almost certainly the Lord himself who came to tell Abraham that the son they had been promised (Gen. 15:4b) would be with them within the year. Note Abraham's hospitality and generosity. However, as the visitors were about to leave, the Lord resolved not to hide his plans from Abraham. This was clearly stated in (Gen 18:17-21). Is God still speaking today?

Genesis 18:18-19 tells us that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed, and Sodom and Gomorrah, sinful cities that they were (Genesis 13:13), were about to be weighed and judged (Genesis 18:20-21). According to Abraham, his nephew Lot and his family had settled in that area. Abraham knew this was the fact and he was concern. Further more, Abraham had invested interest in God's plan and was quick to share his concerns with the Lord.

This was the heart of the matter. Abraham's concern was not about Lot his nephew, but the Lord. (Genesis 18:22-25). 'How can you think about doing something like this Lord'? He asked.

The men turned away and went towards Sodom and Gomorrah, but Abraham remained before the Lord. 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 with the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?'

Friends, what Abraham was struggling here with were not about his concerns of what was going to happen when the men reached their mission field in Sodom and Gomorrah. He was struggling with how a moral God could do, what to his eyes, seemed such an immoral' thing.

What these men were about to do, 'destroy Sodom and Gomorrah' violated Abraham's sense of right and wrong; and surely 'the Judge of all the earth' had to do what was right. (Genesis 18:25).

Of course he did; however, the problem was, Abraham didn't know the whole story as God did; and so his assessment of what was 'right' differed from God's. However, God agreed with Abraham: if he could find fifty righteous men he would spare the cities.

What follows in (Genesis 18:26-33) is fascinating insight into the intimacy of prayer requests of someone who really knows God. Abraham begins to 'chip away' at the heart of his quest for salvation for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah from fifty to forty five, then forty, thirty, twenty, and ten.

The true story of the three men findings shows how little Abraham knew in comparison to God; for when the angels visited the cities to investigate their renowned ungodliness, they were appalled at what they saw and how rampant immorality and homosexuality had become (Genesis 19:5).

The next morning they struggled to overcome the reluctance of Lot, his wife, and the two daughters out of the danger area before the burning sulphur engulfed the cities. Sadly, the disobedient hesitation of Lot's wife, perhaps looking back on the destruction of their worldly possessions, caused her death (Genesis 19:23-26).

So what can we learn from this story?

Abraham had thought God was less righteous than he should be, however, he discovered that God was far more righteous that he himself was. Abraham would have let nine righteous people suffer judgement as the price of punishing the wicked; however, God wouldn't!

God could ultimately find only four righteous people and one of those didn't make it; however, they were spared, no matter what the number Abraham had set.

God showed that he was more concerned for others than Abraham could ever be.

When we are tempted to question God's morality, we shouldn't be embarrassed about bringing the issues to him in prayer. However, as we do so, we will discover that God alone knows the full picture. It is because he does that he can truly be seen as the Judge of all the earth, who always does what is right.

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