The Holy Q&A

“Should I hide my plan from Abraham?’ the Lord said. ‘For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.” [Gen. 18:17-19 (NLT)]

At this time, the Lord was planning on destroying the city of Sodom. He sent men (or angles?) to see how wicked the city was. In this passage, you’ll notice that God actually QUESTIONS whether or not he should tell Abraham of this plan. This news would certainly upset Abraham, seeing as his nephew, Lot, was living in or around Sodom at that time. So why does God end up telling him? Well if you ask me, God wanted Abraham to know something. (Well, Duh.) Something other than just his plan, something about him.

“Abraham approached him and said, ‘Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city-will you sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes? Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all earth do what is right?’

And the Lord replied, ‘If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake.” [Gen. 18:23-26 (NLT)]

Abraham keeps apologizing for questioning God, then he keeps asking more “what if” questions with smaller numbers of supposed righteous people every time. Until… “Finally, Abraham said, ‘Lord, please don’t be angry with me if I speak one more time. Suppose only ten are found there?’

And the Lord replied, ‘Then I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

[Gen. 18:32 (NLT)]

God said earlier in this piece of scripture that Abraham was the one whom he chose to bless, and use his descendants for his plan; he said that Abraham would be the one to “direct”, or teach his sons about God and his righteousness. So it only makes sense that God would use the destroying of Sodom as an example for how God will not punish the righteous with the wicked.

If you ask me, Christians, I think God wants us to know EVERYTHING about him, even if he doesn’t want us to know it just now. He wants us to feel him out, to see what he’s like, and to seek him. I think God didn’t just go ahead and destroy Sodom without telling Abraham because he didn’t want Abraham to be confused about him. So he ALLOWS THE QUESTIONING.

Christians, how many times do we say we are “lost” when God does something we do not agree with? How many times do we say we are “lost” when we want something from God that he just won’t give us? The truth is, we shouldn’t be lost. God had already given us the answer that he did not give Abraham. Don’t believe me? Where was Abraham’s Bible? Where was his preacher?

Christians, did you ever think of how EASY God has made living for him, I’m not saying it isn’t hard at times. But think about it. Not only has God made it easy with his infinite mercy and forgiveness, but also over thousands of years he had people WRITE DOWN the events, happenings, and teachings of God, just so it could be put into a book to be used by us at our disposal.

The bible, I can guarantee covers EVERY question we may have; God has made this even easier. God has called people to be TEACHERS OF THE GOSPEL in case you may find it hard to find the answers for yourself. So when in doubt, ASK A PREACHER!

And in the end, Christians, it all comes down to us. If you are to truly live in Christ, do not seek the answers you WANT to find. Instead seek the answers HE'S GIVEN YOU, even if it’s not what you would have to hear.

May the Lord’s guidance be with you all,