Sometimes I wonder if we put off God’s blessings by our delayed response or our arrogant disobedience.  Abram and Sarai wanted a son so badly that Sarai came up with a plan to help God’s plan be executed sooner rather than later.  After all, her biological clock is past ticking!  Abram agreed with the plan to sleep with Hagar the servant so a son could be produced—but it was not the son God promised to give them—according to His timing.  Misery followed the human response to God’s promise of taking the matter into their own hands.  But then God shows up…

God shows His unfailing, compassionate love by cleaning up the mess Abram and Sarai made along with the relationship between Hagar and Sarai.  God was faithful to His Chosen Abram and Sarai, even in their unfaithfulness.  On this new day, with new names and restored relationships with God, learning from the mistakes of the past, Abraham is found by the Lord who is ready to fulfill His promise. 

This conversation between the Lord and Abraham is precious to me and touches my heart deeply.  We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God! I’ve messed up from time to time, gone my own way while thinking I was helping God out. This only served to postponed what God wanted to do in and through me.  But there is a Way back to God.  God forgives with power given to us to change our ways in Jesus Name.  He resumes the work of turning ashes of defeat caused by arrogance into the beauty of loving and serving Him once more. 

Yes, this powerful, loving, informative conversation between Abraham and His Lord demonstrates God’s compassionate, merciful nature toward all who bow down before Him and serve Him with gladness.   

Genesis 18

The Three Visitors

18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³ He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. ⁴ Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

⁷ Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

⁹ “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

¹⁶ When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. ¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹ that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

²² The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, ²⁸ what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰ Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?”

He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?”

He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³² Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?”

He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

³³ When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The relationship between Abraham and his Lord—prompted by Lord as He appeared to Him—seems to be in restoration mode.  Abraham has learned a valuable lesson—He is not God.  Only God is God.  We bow down before Him.  We demonstrate our love for Him by serving Him.  We show our faith with believing and obeying what He says is best in His timing!

Speaking of timing; Abraham wasted no time in serving the Lord and the visitors with Him.  “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”  Was Abraham missing the communion of relationship with the Lord?  Did Abraham feel like he was in “time out” for misbehaving badly?  I know how I feel when a loved one we haven’t seen for a while comes to visit—we are giddy with excitement.  We pull food from the cabinets and fridge to serve them.  We put out fresh towels in the bathroom.  We do this naturally because of our love for them.  We have missed them and we want to know it as we show it!

Did Abraham’s response to quickly serve with obedience pleasing to the Lord?  Apparently so such so that the Lord warmed up to Abraham’s love and service and let him in on what He had planned—with a birth announcement!!  What a treat to be back in communion with the Lord and to be shown His favor and blessing once more.  Abraham walking faithfully with the Lord again. He went back to His tent a happy man.

This passage serves as reminders to us:

There is NOTHING we have done that God will not forgive in Jesus Name. 

There is NOTHING too hard for the Lord. 

There is NOTHING that God does not already know. 

Upon repenting of all our sins to God; There is NOTHING that stands in the way of a loving, growing, intimate relationship with God, the Father through Jesus, His Son.

There is NO ONE who can come to the Father, except through Jesus our Lord and Savior who died in our place for our sins then rose again to give us hope of eternal life with Him in relationship to Him—forever! 

So, there’s NOTHING better than a relationship with God!

All because of JESUS who truly turns “Graves into Gardens,” from ashes to beauty.  This is the relationship we all seek—unfailing, relentless, unconditional, unchanging love.  Let’s pause to bow down and praise Him…

… I searched the world
But it couldn’t fill me
Man’s empty praise
And treasures that fade
Are never enough

… Then You came along
And put me back together
And every desire
Is now satisfied
Here in Your love

… Oh, there’s nothing better than You
There’s nothing better than You
Lord, there’s nothing
Nothing is better than You

… I’m not afraid
To show You my weakness
My failures and flaws
Lord, You’ve seen ’em all
And You still call me friend

… ‘Cause the God of the mountain
Is the God of the valley
There’s not a place
Your mercy and grace
Won’t find me again

… Oh, there’s nothing better than You
There’s nothing better than You
Lord, there’s nothing
Nothing is better than You

… You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You’re the only one who can

… You turn graves into garden
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You’re the only one who can
You’re the only one who can

… Oh, there’s nothing better than You
There’s nothing better than You…

(Graves Into Gardens, Brandon Lake, Elevation Worship, Songwriters: Christopher Joel Brown / Steven Furtick / Brandon Lake / Tiffany Hammer)

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole again.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen