But What If…

Oh, how I love this reading from the Old Testament. Anyone who thinks God doesn’t have a sense of humor should read it. Every time I even think about it, it makes me smile.

 Let me paint the picture for you. God and Abraham are having a chat. God is disappointed. He is hearing about all the debauchery going on in Sodom. God is personally going to check it out. If what He has heard is true, God will destroy the city.

There is such charming humanness. Doesn’t it sound like dealing with your kids? All kinds of activities are happening in their bedroom, and you can hear the laughter and arguing from downstairs. You next say, “Don’t make me come up there, or you will be sorry!”

God is saying the same thing, ‘Sodom, I am coming, and if what I think is going on is…I am going to destroy your whole city.’ Abraham pleads with God. It is the most heartwarming exchange. Abraham asks, would you, God, who is all love and benevolence, really destroy the city if you found 50 innocent people. God responds; of course, He wouldn’t. Well, Abraham isn’t done negotiating. He keeps pushing God until he has God committing to not destroying the city even if there are just 10 innocent people found there.

I sense that if Abraham kept pushing, he could have gotten God to agree not to destroy the city, even if there was just one innocent person. 

The message for us is simple. It is a delightful story, and the bottom line is essential for us to keep close to our hearts.

Our God is loving. God has no desire to destroy us or to judge us harshly. Therefore, this story should fill us with hope and trust when we think about our relationship with God.

Sadly I have heard people say they fear the final judgment of God. They say,” I am afraid I won’t make it to heaven because I have done some terrible things in my life. I wasn’t a good person.”

Take heart is my message to those who worry about past sins. Hear this story as personal absolution from God. If we make this story our own, it might go something like this.

God says I am going to look at all the wrong you have done, and if your life is as bad as I hear, I will destroy you and damn you to Hell. But God, what if there are just 50 loving and caring things I have done? Would you still condemn me? 

And like the story with Abraham, we get to the point that if there are only 10 good things I have done would you condemn me. And God’s answer is no, I would not condemn you. Just like with Abraham, I bet if he had continued to negotiate with God — Abraham could have gotten him down to just one sound and righteous man, and so too with us. God will not condemn us if there is but one redeeming thing we have done.

It is hard for us to believe in that kind of outrageous love and forgiveness because we cannot be that outrageously loving and forgiving. God wants to find the good in us. God wants to forgive and redeem. Our God is not vengeful. He is a God of absolute love and forgiveness.

At the end of our lives, when we come before God. I am confident He will say, “My daughter or My Son, I saw all the good you did. I saw all the ways you loved. So come to me and rest near my heart.”

I am reasonably sure God has selective memory. He remembers our good and our love.  God forgets the rest. Our simple sorrow is enough to erase any sin from the heart of God.

We believe and live in joy because God is not a vengeful God. On the contrary, God loves us with preposterous and flamboyant love. In His love, we trust and take refuge from fear.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen