Day 17

“Then Abraham approached him and said, ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 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 fifty righteous people in it?’”   — GENESIS 18:23-24

The LORD answered Abraham. “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham lowered the number to forty-five, then to forty, thirty, twenty, and finally to ten righteous people. And the LORD said, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” But in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah not one righteous person could be found.

In both the Old and New Testaments, Sodom and Gomorrah became a benchmark of wickedness, yet through this story of a debauched city, there is a glimmer of hope. 

With his two feet in the quicksand of Sodom, Lot hosts two angels of the Lord in his home, appearing in human form, and unknown to Lot as angels. Later one night, the men of the city surround his house, demanding his two visitors be released to them for the purpose of engaging in homosexual activity. Lot resists, and incredibly offers his two virgin daughters instead. The men refuse and demand Lot’s guests be handed over to them. At this, the two angels struck the mob of men with blindness. They then urged Lot to gather all the members of his family together and flee the city before the Lord destroyed it. 

Where is the glimmer of hope in the city of Sodom? Genesis 19:29 says, “So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.” Abraham’s relationship with God provided a channel for the grace of God to flow to the ungodly life of Lot, and he became a beneficiary of Abraham’s righteousness. No one can be saved on the coattails of someone else, but it is often through the presence of a believer in the life of a non-believer that the grace of God reaches to them and often leads to their salvation.

In a world filled with moral and spiritual detachment from God, we may be encouraged that our presence may be used by God to provide a pathway for the Holy Spirit to bring Christ into the lives of those around us. We are placed as ‘salt’ in the earth, and as ‘light’ in the world, through which the work of God may be done. The angels had taken Lot and his family by the hand and faced them in the right direction. Sometimes that’s all we can do - face people in the right direction— and God, in His grace, will draw them to Himself. 

PRAYER: Dear Father, I want to thank You for the great mercy and compassion You show in bringing people who are lost in their ways to see the light there is in You. I am so grateful You did that for me, and ask that You use me to bring others to Yourself. Thank You, Lord. 

TO REFLECT UPON: In what ways am I a light for Christ to those who have not yet found Him?