Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Information sharing
Genesis 18:17-19
And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
It’s an amazing thing to contemplate, that the very God who made everything from nothing and sustains everything by His sovereign power, would be interested in sharing with mere men the information about what He is going to do.
But yet this is just what the prophet Amos said, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.
However, it seems that this information sharing arrangement has some conditions. God’s information sharing, what we call revelation, is usually particular to a specific context for the fulfilment of God’s purposes and God’s promises.
In keeping with that pattern, God promised Abraham that he would have children, and God promised that all nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s line. In response to the fulfilment of God promises to Abraham, he, Abraham was expected to be a certain kind of father. That the quality of fatherhood would be the basis for information sharing between God and Abraham is remarkable and leaves many lessons for us who are fathering now.
The passage before us today shows that Abraham had chosen to direct his children (and his household) to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This connects to the generational blessing and purpose that God had clearly outlined for Abraham.
Righteousness and justice were going to come to the nations through the children of Abraham. We know that righteousness refers to right living before God in accordance with His word, and justice refers to how society in generally organised and governed for the benefit of all people under God. Abraham got these things right.
The scene before us is a remarkable one. Clearly what was going on in the nearby cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was some pretty vile and ugly stuff. So much so that the God said, “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave.” Genesis 18:20. The Lord had Sodom and Gomorrah in the crosshairs and their destruction was assured.
But God, who had made a covenant with Abraham came to visit on the way to meet out the destruction to Sodom and Gomorrah. After all, Abraham had kept his side of the responsibilities under the covenant, and by his exemplary fatherhood had become a friend of God. One in whom the God of heaven would confide about the things He was going to do.
When Abraham heard what God was going to do he became an intercessor. He was pleading the case of righteous people in general, but he certainly had his relative Lot on his mind. Abraham had been displaying the protecting, and nurturing qualities of a father long before he had children of his own. It was this that God was using as a measuring stick initially because, up to this time, he hadn’t seen Abraham actually do the fathering of his own offspring yet.
Lot was Abraham’s nephew but out there in Canaan, away from their home in Harran, Abraham as head of the family, had taken care of Lot’s wellbeing. Sometime before the events we are focused on today, Lot was taken captive as collateral damage in a war that was not of his business. Abraham, upon hearing of the situation and Lot’ captivity, sprang into action and led a fighting force made up of his staff and servants and freed Lot and his family.
Interceding for Lot’s safe passage out of Sodom and Gomorrah was Abraham focus on justice for the righteous. The apostle Peter, describing those events centuries later said that God, “turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds),”2 Peter 2:6-8.
God, by his relationship with Abraham, and by Abraham’s demonstrated commitment to that relationship and to the cause of the righteous, knew that what kind of father Abraham would turn out to be. He, therefore, embraced Abraham as a friend and shared with him the plans he had for the abominable cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
God is not done with the world. God is still keeping His promises and still working out His purposes. That means that God still has information to share. God must therefore still be looking for friends among men. Men who will distinguish themselves by seeking to know Him, and by commanding their children and their household to keep the way of the Lord, and to do righteousness and justice.
God keeps His promises to such men and shares with them the information about what He is doing in the earth.
Think on these things:
- Is/was your father one who had a relationship with God and who encouraged his children to do the same?
- Does/did your father pay attention to issues of righteousness and justice for others?
- Does your church have any programmes to support men to be better home leaders and advocates for justice?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today for the fathers in our family and our church that they would be able to focus on living righteously, seeking justice for others, and hearing from God.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex