A Heart for People (Genesis 18-19)

There is a lot that could be said about today's chapters. I suppose one temptation is to focus on the comparison between Sodom and Gomorrah's sins and those of our own generation. Reading chapter 19, one is tempted to wonder how long it will be before our Western society slides to the depravity of those two ancient cities. One thinks we are not far away.

But rather than writing about judgment, I want to write about mercy, particularly the mercy of Abraham. In chapter 18, Abraham receives an unusual visit from the Lord. God comes in the form of a man to visit. On the one hand, this visit is a visit meant to announce blessing. God comes to tell Abraham that within a year he will have a son. On the other hand, this visit is a visit meant to announce judgment. The Lord decides in chapter 18 that he must tell Abraham about the destruction that he is going to bring on Sodom and Gomorrah.

If you were Abraham, how would you react to this news? Putting ourselves in his shoes, I think the response of many of us would be twofold. Certainly a part of us would be concerned for the relatives the we had in the city. We would want our nephew Lot and his family to be safe. Our first thoughts would be about their escape. But honestly another part of us might relish the coming destruction. Knowing Sodom to be a wicked place, we might cheer what God was going to do. We might ask for a ringside seat to see the destruction of those pagans in the valley. This is especially true because Sodom and Gomorrah had already been a source of some difficulty for Abraham. He had already had to bail out the kings of that place in a time when they were attacked. These kings had been less than grateful, continuing in their pagan and evil ways. Abraham might have been tempted to not shed many tears for these cities.

But Abraham's response is not what ours might be. Instead of gloating or rejoicing, Abraham pleads for mercy. Boldly, he approaches God asking for a reprieve for the city. If there are fifty or forty-five, or forty, etc, then don't destroy the city Lord. Now, some might suggest that Abraham's plea is really a plea for the righteous. But it is more than that. After all, his plea is not that the fifty or forty five righteous would escape. His plea is that the whole city would be spared. He ultimately intercedes for the sinner as well as the saint.

I think many Christians are ready to draw lines between Sodom and our own society. And in some ways, that exercise might be justified. But if we do that, should we do that to condemn or should we do that to pray? We need to instill the same heart for people that Abraham had because ultimately God's heart is for mercy too.