Day #18 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible. Click here to learn more. You are most welcome to join along at any time.
Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Genesis 19-21.
Were you shocked at the sin we saw in today's reading?
We start off with every man from the town of Sodom attempting to rape the angels, then to Lot's daughters getting him drunk and having intercourse with him, to Abraham once again offering his beautiful wife up to become a concubine to a king.
Abraham! What's your deal? The notes in the ESV Study Bible suggests that this behavior is perhaps conducted more than the episodes that we see here.
If we step back and consider this grave sin we can perhaps see a few things happening:
- First of all, let's not put Abraham on a pedestal. Even though he is God's chosen first patriarch, he too deals with sin in his life everyday.
- I wonder if this isn't Satan's attempt to destroy the womb of the nation of Israel? Surely Satan knows of God's plan to build his people through the lineage of Abraham. Certainly he desires to foil that plan.
- Even though Satan attacks God's plan,and Abraham and Sarah sin with this cuckoldry, God is still in control. Did you see what God said to Abimelech: "it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her."
I can't begin to understand God's sovereignty. I wonder why God didn't give Abraham the dream, and tell him to stop offering up his wife for sex to every king he comes across. As we learned in Job, it is not for us to question the mind of God.
If this is your first journey through the Bible, you are very likely to learn that you didn't know Yahweh at all. You are set on a journey where you will see great sin, mighty works of God, and things that will make your mind spin in confusion.
Yet, in the midst of all of this, God want us to know that he is in control. God uses evil for his purposes!
Here are a couple articles, from my archives, the might help you grasp the mystery of God's sovereignty:
Satan would have us believe that we are unusable by God because of our sin. It is important for us to gaze upon the Biblical men of faith, realize that they too were woefully sinful men, and yet greatly used of God.
