Has it really been five days since my last post? I feel like this semester is already shaping into a whirlwind that I am barely standing upright in... I don't think I have ever had to read as much as what I have to for my English and History courses this time around. I hit moments where I feel like I'm not going to make it and then I have to stop and say, "Hey, after April you are done. You graduate. Finish strong." As mentioned numerous times before I do talk to myself, so trust me, this conversation does take place!
My sister and I have joined a Bible study that meets Wednesday mornings at 6:30 at one of the McDonald's in town. We spend twenty minutes reading our Bibles (all the same passage), twenty minutes journaling, and twenty minutes discussing what we learned and how it is going to affect/change our lives.
So at 6:15 we are heading to the car only to discover the temperature had dropped overnight and our vehicle was rather frosty. So my sister starts scraping, I start the car, and then I run to the trunk to drop my bags off. All of a sudden Cher singing "Walking in Memphis" starts blasting through the stereo. We both dash back to turn the music down. My sister was successful in this endeavor. Me? I apparently forgot the driveway was pure ice, so I was spending adequate time on my butt (I have a pretty sweet bump on my knee too). Awesome, right?
Nerdy experience aside, I wanted to share with you what I learned at the study today. We were reading Genesis 18, where the Lord shows up, tells Abraham he will have a son a year from then, and then shares about what is going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. I have heard this story more times than I can count, but something new about Abraham petitioning God to spare Sodom caught my attention.
Abraham had a pretty amazing relationship with God. He knew God could work miracles, and He knew that God knew his heart. When he starts asking God to spare the city if there are 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, or even 10 righteous people in there, you know he is getting at not wanting Lot and his family to be destroyed.
But why didn't Abraham just ask God to rescue Lot? He could have.
Why did he ask God to spare the WHOLE city, despite the outcry against it, if there were only 10 righteous people in it?
I don't think I have ever read this story and been so struck by Abraham's compassion.
How many of us, when we see something that seems so wrong, ask God to spare everyone if there are even just a few people who are trying to do what is right?
How many of us have been hurt or wronged and asked God to show compassion on those who have done it for the sake of a few who didn't?
What struck me was first of all Abraham's compassion. The fact that he was willing to beg God to spare all of Sodom. What struck me secondly was God's compassion. Every time Abraham lowered the number God agreed. He agreed to spare Sodom if there were only 10 righteous people in it.
I know that I have been slowly regaining the compassion I seemed to have lost, but it is nowhere near that which I read about today.
So how is what I read going to change me? I want to make a conscientous effort to grow and develop compassion. I want to pray that God will have mercy even when all I want to do is pray for justice. I want to see with His eyes and love with His heart. I know that means that my heart will be wrung and very likely broken, but if Abraham could stand before God petitioning for a city, and if God could be willing to grant his petitions, then who am I to think I don't have to?
Such is the life of a Christian single.
My sister and I have joined a Bible study that meets Wednesday mornings at 6:30 at one of the McDonald's in town. We spend twenty minutes reading our Bibles (all the same passage), twenty minutes journaling, and twenty minutes discussing what we learned and how it is going to affect/change our lives.
So at 6:15 we are heading to the car only to discover the temperature had dropped overnight and our vehicle was rather frosty. So my sister starts scraping, I start the car, and then I run to the trunk to drop my bags off. All of a sudden Cher singing "Walking in Memphis" starts blasting through the stereo. We both dash back to turn the music down. My sister was successful in this endeavor. Me? I apparently forgot the driveway was pure ice, so I was spending adequate time on my butt (I have a pretty sweet bump on my knee too). Awesome, right?
Nerdy experience aside, I wanted to share with you what I learned at the study today. We were reading Genesis 18, where the Lord shows up, tells Abraham he will have a son a year from then, and then shares about what is going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. I have heard this story more times than I can count, but something new about Abraham petitioning God to spare Sodom caught my attention.
Abraham had a pretty amazing relationship with God. He knew God could work miracles, and He knew that God knew his heart. When he starts asking God to spare the city if there are 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, or even 10 righteous people in there, you know he is getting at not wanting Lot and his family to be destroyed.
But why didn't Abraham just ask God to rescue Lot? He could have.
Why did he ask God to spare the WHOLE city, despite the outcry against it, if there were only 10 righteous people in it?
I don't think I have ever read this story and been so struck by Abraham's compassion.
How many of us, when we see something that seems so wrong, ask God to spare everyone if there are even just a few people who are trying to do what is right?
How many of us have been hurt or wronged and asked God to show compassion on those who have done it for the sake of a few who didn't?
What struck me was first of all Abraham's compassion. The fact that he was willing to beg God to spare all of Sodom. What struck me secondly was God's compassion. Every time Abraham lowered the number God agreed. He agreed to spare Sodom if there were only 10 righteous people in it.
I know that I have been slowly regaining the compassion I seemed to have lost, but it is nowhere near that which I read about today.
So how is what I read going to change me? I want to make a conscientous effort to grow and develop compassion. I want to pray that God will have mercy even when all I want to do is pray for justice. I want to see with His eyes and love with His heart. I know that means that my heart will be wrung and very likely broken, but if Abraham could stand before God petitioning for a city, and if God could be willing to grant his petitions, then who am I to think I don't have to?
Such is the life of a Christian single.
I never saw this passage in that light either. The compassion of God and Abraham. I so so want to have more of this. And love. For everyone I know and don't know around me. Like that verse––God's eyes roam the earth to and fro searching for one whose heart seeks his own...to seek to intercede on behalf of others. He needs our words and actions spoken out into this world to activate change. What a huge opportunity for us, seemingly ordinarys to be extraordinary and hugely fruitful with our lives. Just by opening our mouths in prayer. So cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Reading this passage in that light definitely changed the way I view compassion, that's for sure. And it definitely made me want more of that kind of love in my life--to pray that God would show mercy, to have my heart break for others, even others I don't know...
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