I am currently
reading through Genesis 18 and wanted to talk about something that really
surprised me and caught my eye. In this chapter God is very angry with a city
that is sinful and has plans to destroy it and clean it out of all wickedness.
Abraham feels a sense of sorrow for the people of this city and he begs the
Lord to show them mercy.
First the Lord says
if there are fifty righteous people at this city then he will not destroy it.
Then Abraham asks if there could be just forty five righteous people in the
city for the Lord to show mercy? The Lord then responded, “I will not destroy
it for forty-five people’s sake. Abraham followed up again and asked the Lord
if there could be only forty righteous at the city to show mercy and the Lord
again said “I will not do it for forty’s sake. Abraham continued to ask, and
this time he asked if the Lord would show mercy if there were only thirty full
of righteousness. The Lord responded and yet again showed mercy saying “ I will
not do it, if I find thirty there.” Abraham asked yet again, “Lord, suppose
there shall be twenty found there?” The Lord, being full of mercy responded to
Abraham telling him “I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.” For one last
time Abraham asked the Lord if he would show mercy to this city if only TEN of
them were righteous. Again, the Lord showed mercy and agreed that if there are
only ten people of the city that are righteous then he will not destroy it.
I had read this
passage before and found myself yet again so surprised by how the Lord showed
infinite mercy to this city. The same way that Abraham continued to beg for
mercy for this city reminded me of how in the film Wings Of Desire the Angels continuously are watching over people
and in a very similar way, begging for mercy so that they will not fall to
brokenness and death. It also reminds me of the incredible power that God has;
that he can literally destroy anything on his own command. However, with all of
that power shows us how merciful and full of love he is too. In today’s
society, who is to say that we are not just as broken? It is a great reminder
that there very well could be angels up there begging the Lord to show mercy to
us and we could very well because some of those righteous who believe in God
that are the reason the Lord agrees to be merciful.
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