Word Surprises

In  Genesis 18  the Lord visits Abraham and Sarah to announce that they will have a child within a year and also let Abraham know that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah had reached a level that God had come down to 'see for himself'.  Obviously God knew what was happening but He purposefully orchestrated a discussion with Abraham that prompted Abraham to plead for the lives of the righteous who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah.  In verse 17 the Lord quizzically asks "shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do since he's getting all the blessing anyhow and why should it matter to him?" (paraphrased). Of course God is inviting a response, and pleasingly, when Abraham hears God's question he doesn't blithely wander back home content in the knowledge that God had promised him great things, but rather he comes before the Lord and and asks: “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You ...

Spiritual bias Until recently I had never read the story of Hagar in its own right and in the past generally skipped across the detail focusing on Abraham and his faith. This  changed recently as I slowly read through  Genesis 16  and realized just how much God loved Hagar and her son. It's an amazing story about a son of promise (Ishmael) but not "the son of promise" (Isaac).  I skipped this detail because I carried a negative image of Hagar into the story each time because  my thinking has been shaped by St Paul's use of  the story of Sarah and Hagar and their sons Ishmael and Isaac to illustrate the differences between the bondage of the Old Testament Law (Hagar representing being born into slavery) and t he Gospel (Sarah representing being born into freedom).   This chapter graphically displays how God works in the midst of human failure to show His love and mercy to all people no matter who they are. Hard work Genesi...