Genesis 18&19 -- Yeah, He's A REAL Bargainer

Much is made of Abraham’s bargaining with God – getting God to agree not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if 50 righteous people were living there, then working God down to a bid of only 10 righteous people.  The point is:  God is absolutely sovereign and all-knowing.  He knew before He began to talk to Abraham that only 4 people in the city would be found righteous enough to merit saving, and He moved them out before carrying out the sentence He’d already pronounced.  Since He knew that already, it sure seems that He wasn’t really giving anything up as He negotiated with Abraham.  Abraham wasn’t the sharp trader that he thought he was.  And since the cities were destroyed, Abraham couldn’t go around bragging that he’d accomplished his task of getting God to relent.

Lot, one of the four God had elected to save, had placed himself in danger by his continued choices, as he continued to move away from God’s chosen patriarch, Abraham, and toward the sin and temptation of the area around Sodom and Gomorrah.  In fact, he was living right in the middle of it, and it was only by the skin of his teeth and by God’s love and grace that he survived his foolhardiness, but it cost him his wife.

Father, there are powerful lessons to remember here.  Anything You allow in my life has nothing to do with my bargaining with You.  Your sovereignty will always trump my supposed intellect.  I also know that I have to be on guard and keep myself away from areas of temptation to sin, for Your warnings are for good cause.  You know me better than I know myself and You use Your knowledge of me to save me not only from Satan’s arrows, but from myself as well.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford