May the mumbling commence!
The Lord had promised never to flood the entire world again, but God still desires to hold people accountable for their actions. When the Lord heard about Sodom and Gomorrah, He knew that destruction must come to these cities.
Because his nephew, Lot, was then living in Sodom, Abraham pleaded with God to save Lot and his family from the destruction (beginning with fifty righteous people and working his way down to ten). Surely the Righteous Judge of the world would not condemn the innocent with the guilty!
Read from Genesis chapter eighteen:
"Should I hide my plan from Abraham?" the Lord asked. "For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised." So the Lord told Abraham, "I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are extremely evil, and that everything they do is wicked. I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true. Then I will know."
The two other men went on toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham for a while. Abraham approached him and said, "Will you destroy both innocent and guilty alike? Suppose you find fifty innocent people there within the city – will you still destroy it, and not spare it for their sakes? Surely you wouldn't do such a thing, destroying the innocent with the guilty. Why, you would be treating the innocent and the guilty exactly the same! Surely you wouldn't do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?"
And the Lord replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake." (Verses 17-26)
Though Abraham did not mention the city of Sodom, the Lord knew what city he was talking about… it was the city where Lot and his family lived. Indeed, the Lord would not treat the innocent and guilty alike. But, who would the Lord find innocent… other than possibly Lot and his family?
The Lord was willing to cleanse and purify a couple of wicked cities through fire… not water. Read from Genesis chapter nineteen:
The sun was rising as Lot reached the village. Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life – people, plants, and animals alike. But Lot's wife looked back as she was following along behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. (Verses 23-26)
God eliminated all life – including plant life through fire and sulfur. God was purging an evil from the earth. We need to separate ourselves from the evil in this world… separate ourselves and never look back… separate ourselves but refuse to judge. Read from Matthew chapter seven:
"Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.” (Verses 1-5)
Let us concern ourselves more with the sins that we struggle with so that we might deal with mercy and grace with those who stumble in similar or different ways… so that we can remember that we, too, are in need of grace and mercy from God and from our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Harsh judgment will surely follow our harsh judgment of other people. It is a sobering thought. Give other people the benefit of the doubt just as liberally as you want that same benefit of the doubt.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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