Today's Reading:Genesis 18:16-33
"Abraham Pleads with God"
Focus Verses: Genesis 18:25-26
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."
Insight:
God is both just and righteous. He does not punish the wicked at the expense of the righteous. In fact, he is willing to withhold judgment against the wicked for the sake of the righteous. Abraham interceded for the righteous and trusted God to do what is right.
Response and Action:
Only God is able to be "the Judge of all the earth." Only God can understand the complexities of good and evil, sort out the victims from the perpetrators, and administer justice with righteousness. I need to live with a commitment to righteousness and justice. I need to pray for those who are suffering at the hands of evil. I will appeal to God to set things right. I will trust God to act and intervene in human affairs with justice and compassion.
O Lord, help me to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. Thank you for your mercy and compassion. I trust you, O God, to work in my world to bring about justice and to set things right, and to do it with righteousness. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 2:21-22
"For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it."
New Testament for Today: John 3:17
17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
In Context: John 3:16-21
Resources:
Daring to Draw Near: People in Prayer
by John White
