Post by Woody Williams on Aug 12, 2008 7:58:58 GMT -5
Text for the Day -- Genesis 19:15-29
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When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Get up, take your
wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be
consumed in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered; so the men
seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD
being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside
the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, ‘Flee for
your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to
the hills, or else you will be consumed.’ And Lot said to them, ‘Oh,
no, my lords; your servant has found favour with you, and you have
shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the
hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that
city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape
there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!’ He said to
him, ‘Very well, I grant you this favour too, and will not overthrow
the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do
nothing until you arrive there.’ Therefore the city was called Zoar.
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the
LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain,
and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of
salt.
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood
before the LORD; and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and
towards all the land of the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land
going up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God
remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
Devotional
----------
What a contrast between Lot and Abraham! Abraham remained a wandering
pilgrim, moving by God's call. Lot settled in Sodom and seemed to
lack the spiritual movement of Abraham. God sends angels to rescue
Lot, but Lot seems determined to control his own destiny. In mercy
and grace God gave Lot his own way, but in the end his life is a
disgrace and a loss. We are rescued by God often, far more than we
realize. Our dilemmas have usually been our own choosing. But, God
steps in to rescue and re-direct our lives toward God's purpose and
not toward being squandered by our foolish willfulness.
Prayer
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Open my eyes to your wisdom and guidance for my life, Lord. Amen
----------
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Get up, take your
wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be
consumed in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered; so the men
seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD
being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside
the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, ‘Flee for
your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to
the hills, or else you will be consumed.’ And Lot said to them, ‘Oh,
no, my lords; your servant has found favour with you, and you have
shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the
hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that
city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape
there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!’ He said to
him, ‘Very well, I grant you this favour too, and will not overthrow
the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do
nothing until you arrive there.’ Therefore the city was called Zoar.
The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the
LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain,
and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of
salt.
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood
before the LORD; and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and
towards all the land of the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land
going up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God
remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
Devotional
----------
What a contrast between Lot and Abraham! Abraham remained a wandering
pilgrim, moving by God's call. Lot settled in Sodom and seemed to
lack the spiritual movement of Abraham. God sends angels to rescue
Lot, but Lot seems determined to control his own destiny. In mercy
and grace God gave Lot his own way, but in the end his life is a
disgrace and a loss. We are rescued by God often, far more than we
realize. Our dilemmas have usually been our own choosing. But, God
steps in to rescue and re-direct our lives toward God's purpose and
not toward being squandered by our foolish willfulness.
Prayer
----------
Open my eyes to your wisdom and guidance for my life, Lord. Amen