God Remembers

Gen 19:29 "And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt."

Abraham was obviously a favored guy in God's eyes. Before He destroyed Sodom what did God do? He consulted Abraham. Now why would He do that? I mean, God did not need Abraham's permission to do what He was about to do, yet He came to him and told Abraham what He was going to do…and God permitted Abraham to negotiate with him. (Chapter 18:16-32) I wonder why?

And now this. Lot was Abraham's nephew. I am thinking that Abraham loved Lot a lot. (A little pun.) God knew this and God considered Abraham's heart. So God sent two angels to Lot to warn him, who actually took him by the hand when "he lingered" about leaving and basically pulled him out of the city to protect Lot, his wife and his two daughters. Unfortunately, Lot did not have a whole lot of credibility with his sons in law and they ignored his warning to get out of the city because they thought he was joking. I am wondering exactly how righteous Lot may have been? Here is a guy who was not believed by other family members and who was willing to give up his two daughters so the men of the town could have sex with them. Quite a dad! But somehow, someway, God sent His angels to Lot to rescue him. Why? I think it was because of Abraham. "God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow...". When God was getting ready to destroy it all, God thought about Abraham. He thought about what Abraham was concerned about and in his grace He rescued Lot.

God's grace is like that. He considers those who care about Him and He remembers them. He listens to their hearts and He rescues those we love. I think that we actually got to see and experience this yesterday. My friends, Jill and Dave Wible have been praying for their daughter Anna for a long time. She went through some pretty tough stuff this last year as her home and all that she owned burned in a fire. At that time the Christian community rallied around and showed her the love of Christ. Because of this, she agreed to go on a women's spiritual retreat that happened this last weekend. God looked at Dave and Jill's heart and He remembered them. He, in His grace, reached down and touched Anna's heart and she accepted Christ as her personal Rescuer. It was no longer a Dave and Jill thing. It was now her own. Why? God's grace. God thought about Jill and Dave and He "…sent Anna out of the midst of the overthrow…".

I know that many are praying about people in their lives that they love. Keep praying and keep living God honoring lives. I believe that God will remember and rescue.