How Good Do you Think God is?
“What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.” Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.” (Genesis 18:24-33 WEB)
How good do you think God is?
Abraham was afraid to ask the Lord to spare the whole city for the sake of his nephew Lot.
He treaded carefully and bargained the number down from 50, to 45, 40, 30, 20, then finally 10 righteous persons. Abraham stopped there and probably thought that 10 should be enough to spare the cities.
What happened in the end? Sodom and Gomorrah were still burnt to ashes because Abraham did not ask for the cities to be spared even if there was only 1 righteous person.
Do you have a mindset like this: “A wretched sinner like me should not be too greedy. I will just ask God for a small morsel of blessings and hope that He would be merciful towards me.”
Such thoughts indicate a lack of revelation. God’s immeasurable blessings will abound in your life not based on your obedience and good works, but because Jesus’ blood that was shed at the cross is a massive overpayment for your sin debt. You are now counted so righteous that God can be generous towards you.
To act as though you have to beg God to bless you a little bit just shows that you don’t believe that God has completely forgiven you. It makes you unable to benefit from Jesus’ finished work at the cross because you don’t believe in the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Instead, you are hopping that your works and obedience are enough to merit you some blessings.
“Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing. Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:1-4 WEB)
How awful it is to be alienated from Christ and be unable to profit from His finished work at the cross. Your trust in law-keeping and works to justify yourself chokes the supply of grace.
The result? It is like living in a dry desert, seemingly cut off from God’s goodness. You will feel stressed, burnt out, angry, and bitter.
It is so much better to rely on God’s grace. Believe that He is infinitely good towards you because Jesus has overpaid your sin debt. Expect God’s favor in every situation, and confidently ask for good things to happen for you. When you see people with a need, pray for them, expecting God to help them because your prayers are effective. This is the type of faith that honors Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross!
Keep studying God’s word and growing in your understanding of His ways. Our Patreon community is currently on a Bible study series called “My Faith Declarations” which looks at the Spirit-inspired utterances of the authors of the Psalms. They wrote about the trials and tribulations they experienced, so the book of Psalms is very relatable.
By turning their faith declarations into our own, we can learn how to overcome similar circumstances in life through faith in the Lord! Become a “God Every Morning” tier or above patron on Patreon to receive this reward, daily devotionals by email, and also all my eBooks. Thanks for being a blessing to this ministry: http://Patreon.com/miltongohblog
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