For forty years I led you through the desert … yet your sandals did not wear out." Duet. 29:5
“When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand… and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.”
It would seem there wasn’t much worth saving where Lot and his family were concerned. Lot had made his home in Sodom, and had found a way to coexist with people who were unspeakably wicked.
Even when judgment was imminent, and Lot was commanded to leave the city, he hesitated to obey.
And yet, the Lord was merciful.
“Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
A vital faith would respond by saying “absolutely not”. But what does it mean to have a vital faith??
Abraham pleaded with God Almighty concerning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God listened to him.
One man, but one man with a vital faith.
“Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief.”
Doesn’t this picture speak volumes? Isn’t it easy to relate? Abraham bowed down; he was not just going through the motions. He truly reverenced this God who had promised so much to him. The Almighty God, El-Shaddai.
“The angel of the LORD found Hagar in the wilderness…” Hagar was so mistreated by her mistress Sarai that, even though she was pregnant with Abram’s child, she ran away.
But the LORD took notice of her, and a messenger from heaven was sent to comfort her.
From then on, Hagar began to refer to the LORD as El-Roi, “The God who sees me.”
The Lord of the past, the Lord of the present, and the Lord of the future.
“Count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have… And Abram believed the LORD, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
It is the LORD’s desire to bless his people, but he has a long-term view. That’ where faith comes in.
This is the first time God is referred to as God Most High .
Abram proves himself to be courageous in rescuing his nephew from the kings of the plain.
Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I solemnly swear to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth…”
There is the source of all true courage.
“Abram… built the altar, and there he worshiped the Lord.”
He worshiped . Abram is the first man of whom it is written that he worshiped the Lord.
As he stood before the altar and the burning sacrifice in this strange, new land, what thoughts must have flooded his mind…
The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I will make you into a great nation… I will give this land [of Canaan] to your descendants.”
But then a famine struck the land; Abram journeyed down to Egypt to find food. Fearing that Pharoah’s coveteousness might lead to violence, he directed his wife to lie and say, “I am his sister. I am not his wife”.
Why was this necessary? Had he forgotten what the Lord had promised? “I will give this land [of Caanan]to your descendants “.
God’s sovereign will might mean suffering and hardship for a time – Job learned that – but it might mean blessing and protection even in very dangerous circumstances.
Suffering may be a means to an end, but blessing
is the end.
And Job said, “[Now] I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you…I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me…I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
Only a short time ago Job boasted that he was ready to face God. “Let the Almighty answer me… I would come before him like a prince.” What happened? “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”
It is impossible to imagine (let alone prepare for) such an encounter with the Almighty, the Righteous Judge of all men — which makes it all the more difficult to understand why He should turn to Eliphaz and say, “I will not treat you as [your sins] deserve”.
Who is this God?
If the behemoth and the leviathan – creatures that I have made – are terrifying, “Who then can stand up to me?”
God is not a monster, but he is not a teddy bear either. His eternal power and divine nature are revealed in creation, as much in the behemoth as in the butterfly.
