justice, mercy, and love
Still sick, plus slightly incoherent. So forgive anything that may not make sense—it made sense in my head.
Day 4: Genesis 15-20
-God’s covenant with Abram/Abraham
-Hagar & Ishmael
-Changing of names (Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah)
-Angels’ visit to Abraham and Lot
-Destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah
-Lot & his daughters
-Abimelech
Wow, so these six chapters had a lot of stuff going on! Many different things got me thinking, so I don’t even know which ones to bring up.
First of all, I think Sarai/Sarah is an interesting character; I’m not entirely sure what to make of her. With the whole Hagar issue, she was the one who gave her servant to Abraham (it was common practice at the time, and true, he didn’t refuse it). Also, she laughed when the angels came and said she would have a child within the next year—then lied about laughing. (Is it just me that thinks it’s kind of funny that Sarah goes, “I did not laugh,” and God immediately responds, “Yes you did laugh”?) But I think with both Abraham and Sarah, I see that despite being righteous and followers of God, they were clearly human. They both made mistakes, and they both had times when their faith flickered. This just shows no matter how strong in faith a person is, he/she is still human. Only God is perfect.
Just because I talked about the Pharaoh story a little before, the Abimelech story stood out to me. Abraham made Sarah use the same “he is my brother” trick from before, which again shows how human he is. I never really noticed this before, but while I was reading, I realized that God was actually very merciful towards Abimelech. Abimelech would have committed adultery with Sarah, but God warned him in a dream that Sarah was married. Poor Abimelech was so confused. Anyway, God could have just let that go, and Abimelech would have had to suffer the consequences, but His actions are ever just and merciful (being just AND merciful doesn’t sound like it would work, but God makes it work). This reminded me that a sin is a sin, regardless of whether you know it is or not. But, like God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, God is just—He lets us make our own choices but those choices won’t be blind.
Above all, reading these chapters made me see how much love God poured on Abraham. When Abraham asked God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of ten righteous people (though obviously not even ten were found), God listened and agreed. When Abraham asked God to bless Lot, He saved Lot’s family alone from Sodom and Gomorrah (though of course Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt). These were just a couple instances; in these chapters, God is constantly showing His love for Abraham. I said this before, but I’ll say it again: how good is it to be on God’s side?
