Wednesday 14 Aug 2013

Wednesday Reading: Genesis 13:10-13

Key Verse: Genesis 13:10
10  And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

Devotion:
When we look at the area around Israel now we wonder what people could see in the land because all we see is desert and heat! But the land was not like that in the beginning and changed because of what man was doing, not because it was always like that. Just like much of Egypt was a fertile and prosperous land, much of the land at this time was fertile and prosperous. But as always, there was a thorn in the middle and that was man!

This passage describes the men of Sodom as being wicked and exceedingly bad sinners; yes man has always attributed levels of sin to the laws of God! Whether Lot knew that the men of Sodom were wicked or not is not given to us, but he would have worked that one out quite quickly after he met them – wicked people cannot hide their wickedness from anyone despite what they may think. There are other record available to us which describe the types of sin that were going on and so we know just how wicked they were.

Is it really any wonder then that we find out that God is going to level this area? And yet what we find is that His grace and mercy go out before His wrath! God wanted people to go into the area and give the people the chance of repenting. First He allows Lot to settle in the area and then He sends more people in getting more serious each time. Now if you haven’t worked out that this is what God does in each of our own lives, then let me say it… This is what God does in our lives!

He will send us warnings when we start to go wrong. He will give us a way out. Just because we have temptations around us does not mean we have no escape. Then when we continue to ignore Him we find more changes in our lives until we either stop and realise that God wants us to change, or we find out the hard way that God will not put up with sin when we are not ignorant! He has already given us His Word so let us not ignore it any more!

Points to Ponder:
What do you do with your bible?

Are you listening to God’s Word?