What I Read Today;
1 Corinthians 3, Matthew 19, Isaiah 19, Job 19, Joshua 19, Genesis 19
Most preachers like to use the Genesis 19 account of Sodom and Gomorrah as a story of judgment and destruction. They love to use the account to denounce homosexuality and sexual immorality. Of course, their design is to get you to repent out of fear of a judgemental God.
However, there is another message to Sodom and Gomorrah’s story if you take the time to look.
When we dig deeper, we see God’s grace towards those of us who are struggling to live in a sin-filled world. Lot struggles to keep his family from being overcome by the sin and depravity of the society around him. He’s sitting in the town square waiting to rescue unsuspecting visitors to the town. Verse 9 shows that he’s been living as an outcast from the community.
We face the same struggle today. We struggle to keep our families Christian. We fight off the ills that society brings each day. Living for Christ is hard when the world is pouring so much hate and anger over the top of our heads that we feel as if we are drowning.
That’s where Lot is when we meet him again.
Yet God leads Lot out of the town. When Lot hesitates, God, in His mercy, pulls him out of the town. God provides him a safe place to run.
Sadly, no matter how hard we try, some will turn back towards the world. People won’t be able to resist. Lot’s wife was one of the people who will fall into that trap. That’s why it’s so important to continually talk about things of the spirit. To keep working on leading others to Christ.
Sodom and Gomorrah’s story is really the story about God’s grace towards Lot and his family. It’s a rescue mission.
The same rescue mission that Jesus would come to the earth to fulfill several hundred years in the future.