Immorality and Destruction

We read in the scriptures today accounts of homosexuality, incest, and almost an act of adultery on the mother of nations.

First we left off yesterday with Abraham pleading with God to spare the city of Sodom. He asks God, if only fifty righteous people are found there will He not spare the righteous and not destroy the city. He keeps this up until he gets down to ten. He asks God to spare the city for the sake of ten righteous. Remember Lot, Abrahams' nephew and his family are living there. So God says, if there is indeed ten righteous there, He will not destroy the city. God must have known that there were not ten righteous as, He sent angels to move Lot and his family from the city before destruction. They were told to hurry and make haste and not to look back. But Lot's wife couldn't stand it, she had to look back to see what was going on, and she was turned to a pillar of salt. Therefore, only Lot and his two daughters escaped the destruction.

Gen. 19 v 26...But his wife looked back behind him; and she became a pillar of salt....

Jesus warns us of looking back in Luke 17 v 32 where He tells us "remember Lot's wife". He is talking about the end of time, when He comes back and one will be working beside another, and one will be taken and the other left for destruction.

How many times has God told us to move on from something that is not good for us. How many times do we keep trying to look back to see what if? When all we need to do is trust God to lead us out of these dark places.

God is very clear in the word, about what He thinks of homosexuality. He destroyed the entire city and left nothing but ashes of those living there.

Gen. 19 v 5....And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally."......

Gen. 19 v 24-25.....Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.......

Next we have the two daughters of Lot, fearing that their family name would be lost forever because no one is left but them and their father. So they get him drunk on wine and go in and sleep with him and they both conceive. Their sons Moab and Ben-Ammi will be of great trouble to Israel later.

Gen. 19 v 36....Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father....

And then we have Abraham telling the king of Gerar that Sarah was his sister, and so the king sent for Sarah. But that night God came to him in a dream and told him surely you are a dead man if you take this married woman. It scared the bejeevies out of him, and he took her right back to Abraham and wanted to know what was he doing trying to get him killed?

But as we know God had a plan for Abraham and Sarah already in the making, so He did not let this thing happen.

God told Abimelech the king, that He knew he did not know that this was Abraham's wife therefore he kept him from touching her.

Gen. 20 v 6....And God said to him in a dream, "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her"......

We are not going to stop God's plan for us, we may get in the way, and cause a lot of heartache along the way because we do not listen to God, but we will not stop what He says will be.

And then on a happier note, Issac is born to Abraham and Sarah. God's promise comes to light. As the child grew, Sarah becomes resentful of Hagar's son even more, and tells Abraham that Issac is his heir and not Ishmael. She tells Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. So Abraham is grieved over this, as this is his son also, and God tells him not to be grieved but to do as Sarah says, and He will make a nation out of Ishmael as well. So he sends Hagar out of their camp with the boy and she wanders around in the wilderness of Beersheba, where her son cries for water, and God hears him and provides a well of water.

Gen. 21 v 17-18...And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation."...

Gen. 21 v 19...Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.....

Once again we see that God will provide a way out for us when we put our trust in Him.

We do not any of us have to suffer the fire and brimstone if we will live by the word of God and His ways and not the ways of the world. AMEN!

RTB.....Gen. 19-21