Category: Devotions

Warning! This isn’t a nice story to read. We would most likely not dwell on the verses, seeking some devotion.  

The summary is this:

• Lot, knowing what might happen to the strangers if they remained in the city, persuaded the visitors to stay in his home. It was his rescue mission.
• The men of the city hear of these visitors in Lot’s home and bang on the door, for they want to do what, in effect, is gang-rape.
• Incredulously, Lot offers his virgin daughters to the men in place of the male visitors. How could he do that?
• The visitors (angels) strike the mob with blindness and pull Lot inside to the safety of his home. It was their rescue mission.

“The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. ² “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night, and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” ³ But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. ⁴ Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. ⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” ⁶ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him ⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. ⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” ⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. ¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ¹¹ Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.” (Genesis 19 v 1-11)

This is a story of two rescue missions that mirror the Christmas message:

1. Lot’s failed rescue:

He tries to save the strangers, but only through compromise. Sodom has warped his judgment, and his rescue idea nearly ruined his daughters’ lives. This act to rescue his visitors was obviously evil in itself, but at least it was trying to save them. He realises he cannot save anyone.

2. The angels’ successful rescue:

Just when Lot’s misguided heroism is about to destroy him, divine hands reach out. The angels pull him back inside to safety. They strike the mob with blindness. The rescuer becomes the rescued.

This is the Christmas message: We cannot save ourselves. We need divine intervention.

The problem of living in an evil, corrupt society is that we become stained ourselves—our righteousness watered down, our judgment compromised. We become implicated in the evil culture around us. Are we so stained? Is our judgment so compromised that we’ve actually become part of the culture we live in?

Like Lot, we might have good intentions, we want to protect the innocent, stand up against injustice and do what’s right. But like Lot, our methods are often warped by the darkness we’ve lived in too long.

Christmas offers this hope: Even when we’re morally compromised like Lot, even when we’re surrounded by darkness like Sodom, even when our own rescue efforts fail spectacularly—divine rescue still arrives.

God pulls us toward safety. Light breaks into our darkness. The rescue mission we couldn’t accomplish becomes the rescue mission God completes.

God entered our darkness to pull us to safety—this is the essence of Christmas. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2). We can’t save ourselves; our righteousness is flawed. Let divine hands pull you to safety—the mission is to receive.

In this passage today, we seem to be stepping into an argument between Abraham and God. Foolish as this sounds, it appears to be an invitation from God to step forward and stand in the gap between holy justice and the human need for mercy. As we approach Christmas, when God’s mercy took flesh and entered our world, read this not as if Abraham were trying to convince God to be merciful, as if He weren’t. But Abraham is being led by God into the deepest part of His character to find mercy indeed—the same mercy that would one day be wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.

“The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not sparethe place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 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.” ²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, ²⁸ what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.” ²⁹ Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.” ³⁰ Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.” ³² Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” ³³ When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.” (Genesis 18 v 22 – 33)

This is a powerful example to all intercessors out there. To stand in the gap and to plead for the innocent. Abraham, for some reason, stopped at ten. That wasn’t God’s decision; it was Abraham’s. Could he have kept going, perhaps to even one?

What we do know is that Abraham’s intercession gives Lot and his daughters a chance to escape. Sometimes intercession doesn’t save a wreckage, but it rescues survivors in it.

Intercession is more than ‘bless her, bless me’ prayers. It is to know what it is to hold onto God and contend with Him for someone. It is to wrestle the angel till dawn as Jacob did; it is the widow persistently and annoyingly calling to the judge for justice; it is Abraham, with his own failed story, daring to come to God for the sake of a city.

Here’s the challenge: what type of prayers do you pray? Safe ones? Or do you dare to beg for mercy for others?

At the end of this exchange, God leaves, and Abraham walks home. What was he thinking? He was carrying yet another promise from God. Ten righteous people will be saved. He has managed to save ten. I wonder if he regretted stopping at ten. I wonder if he was concerned that there were not ten righteous people in Sodom.

But what Abraham had done (though he would never have understood this) was give us all a challenge. We all should intercede with more rigour and daring. We can all change things for people by seeking God for their lives.

This Christmas, as we celebrate the most extraordinary intercession of all, God stepping into our world to stand in the gap for humanity, let us be inspired to pray with the same daring hope that marked this ancient argument between God and His man.

Do we have God’s heart this Christmas? Are we bothered about what bothers Him? Do we see what He sees? Can we hear the cries of people like God does?

As we gather in this season of Immanuel—God with us—we’re reminded that Christmas is the ultimate proof that God wants to include us in His concerns. The Incarnation itself is God refusing to hide His plans from humanity, but instead drawing near, making His heart known through a baby in a manger.

We’re going to read a few wonderful verses that show God deliberating whether to include Abraham in His concerns. We see God wondering whether Abraham will care the way He cares—much like we wonder at Christmas whether we’ll truly receive the gift of God’s presence and let it change how we see the world.

“When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” (Genesis 18:16-21)

The visitors have enjoyed Abraham’s hospitality, a theme that echoes through Christmas, where God Himself becomes our guest, and are now leaving. As they look toward Sodom in the distance, God asks the strange question in verse 17. God Almighty is considering whether to let this man, a failure in many ways, come into His thinking about His plans. We have often done this with those closest to us. It reveals Abraham’s position with God. He has become a friend of God.

Let’s pause right there.

Isn’t this what Christmas celebrates? That God would call us friends? That He wouldn’t keep His rescue plan hidden but would announce it to shepherds, reveal it through a star, proclaim it through angels? At Christmas, we see that God’s heart has always been to include us, to draw us near, to share His concerns with us.

God did this not because His friend had earned such a position. That is perhaps why we would let a friend be so close to our thoughts.

• He brought Abraham into His confidence because of what he would become. He will become a great nation. There was a calling on Abraham’s life, but also a promise from God. Just as the Christmas story reminds us: we are called to become part of God’s family, His people—not through our merit, but through His promise.
• Secondly, because of what Abraham would do. He would instruct his children in the way of the Lord. He would teach them righteousness. God has confidence in Abraham. How? He has instilled these values in him. So as we continue to read tomorrow of one of the significant negotiations in the whole of the Bible, we do so because God equipped Abraham to respond the way He did, with compassion.

This Christmas season, as we light candles against the darkness and sing of peace on earth, goodwill to all, we’re living in the answer to God’s question. He didn’t hide His plans. He sent His Son. He gave us His heart wrapped in swaddling clothes.

For Abraham, this was a wonderful invitation, and it still stands for us today.

Will we let God’s heart for justice, righteousness, and compassion become ours?

What question do you think God might ask you today that could help you tap into a deeper well of emotions?

What question would restore you from failure or realign you to His purpose?

Maybe you don’t know the questions, but He does.

⁹ “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said. ¹⁰ Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. ¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” (Genesis 18 v 9-15)

Let’s look at these questions in more detail.

• Where is your Sarah?

25 years previously, Abraham had failed his wife, Sarah, miserably. In a blind panic, he denied she was his wife, saying she was his sister. How could a husband do that, and do it twice? It was a failure, a wound that time hadn’t fully healed.

But God doesn’t abandon our broken places. What is your “Sarah”? What promise have you stopped looking at because the waiting has worn you down? God hasn’t forgotten.

• Why did she laugh?

Sarah laughed to herself. But God heard it. He always does. He exposed what she thought was hidden.

I can imagine God saying this in the question: “A few days ago, on the day of your circumcision, when I was blessing your wife, you laughed to yourself, I saw it! Sarah is copying you. I want to correct you, to realign you, your leadership of her is not good, you have not been a good example with this.”

• Is anything too hard for the Lord?

This is the question that still echoes through every Christmas carol, every nativity scene, every moment we pause to remember Bethlehem.

It’s the ultimate pincer question. Only two possible answers exist:

Yes = Then He is not really Lord at all, is He?

No = Then there is nothing—absolutely nothing—you cannot trust Him for.

A virgin birth? Not too hard. Redemption for all humanity through one humble birth? Not too hard. Hope for the hopeless, sight for the blind, life for the dead? None of it is too hard.

What is it for you?

This Christmas, in a circumstance, a conversation, or even a quiet moment of reflection, you might face a question that spurs you toward great days ahead. Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t hide behind the tent flap or lie about your laughter. Let God ask what He needs to ask.

Because the same God who visited Abraham’s tent visited Mary’s womb, the same voice that asked about Sarah announced to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

The manger answers with a resounding no.

And that changes everything.

Today, you could have an unexpected interruption. A stranger may appear at the door of your life. A random conversation with someone you don’t know or a neighbour who calls for help. Are you ready for the strange? God may be at the centre of what appears strange. Is your heart available and your hands open? Is your voice a welcome sound?

“The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. ³ He said, “If I have found favour in your eyes, my lord,do not pass your servant by. ⁴ Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. ⁵ Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahsof the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.” ⁷ Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” (Genesis 18 v 1-8)

Abraham had known much of the strangeness of God to see that he must be ready for anything. He was resting in the heat of the day, sitting at the entrance. He was ready. Today, watch out for that knock on the door of your life.

Abraham sprang into action. This was not merely a cup of water. This would take hours to prepare, and the strangers would need to wait, but here is a beautiful picture of Abraham, the great man of faith, standing, almost like a waiter, not eating with them, simply on hand for anything that might be needed.

At what point did Abraham know these three men were the Lord? Was it in v3 or before? It would certainly be later when the conversation turns to Sarah. But when did Abraham know? It is impossible to know.

Maybe we should live our lives thinking God is more involved in our lives than we imagine? For that to happen, then we should recognise that:-

• Be open to the inconvenience. Abraham was resting, and he had to abandon that for the Lord.
• Be quick. There was no dragging of feet; there was a quickness to serve.
• Be humble. Abraham stood back. He knew it was okay to stand near but not be the centre of the event. We need to give God that place.

These visitors came to bring Abraham and Sarah news that would bring so much joy to their lives. But it came in the atmosphere of openness, quickness to serve and a humility that worshipped.

Let this image of Abraham under the tree, ready, quickness of heart and with humility be our approach today. For the strangers may indeed be the Lord. Who is coming towards you today as you stand at the entrance of your tent?

Not tomorrow.

“On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, ²⁵ and his son Ishmael was thirteen; ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. ²⁷ And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.” (Genesis 17 v 23-27)

Yesterday, we read how God’s presence lifted from Abraham, having told him that plan A was still on, Isaac would be born.

Then.

“On that very day” That day. Abraham knew what he had to do.

Now we might never have to consider circumcising our household. But as we walk with God, we all know when God speaks, when He waits for our commitment, and it can be said of us, “on that very day.” Can it be said of us? Will it be said?

Is that day today? Is your story waiting for your action?

No hesitation. Abraham had every reason to do so. Yet he moves forward in obedience without compromise.

For a 99-year-old man, this obedience was painful. It was costly, visible, and irreversible.

Maybe you are reading this and know God has spoken to you, and though it will be painful, you know today is the day when obedience is called for.

Your plan B may be great, but God still works with His Plan A.

The following verses show that God will bless what we create, but He still asks us to trust Him for what He will create.

“Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” ²² When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.” (Genesis 17 v 19-22)

God tells Abraham he has been heard. Plan B has been seen, but God still wants plan A.

Suddenly, after years of waiting, the promise is given a timeline, ‘by this time next year’. God has increased the stakes of faith. Everyone can believe in something that will happen in the future, but when a time is given, it brings a challenge. If next year comes and there is no baby, then the promise is false.

God gives a time, and then at the end of v22 we have the hard part – ‘God went up from him’.

No more talking, confirming, negotiating. God has gone. God leaves Abraham with the promise for the next 12 months and then leaves.

This is faith, and where it lives in the waiting and in the silence.

Abraham is 100 years of age, and now he has to wait one more year. How did he wait?

All he had were the words that God said to him.

I will establish …

I will surely bless him;

I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers.

I will make him into a great nation.

I will establish my covenant with Isaac.

Perhaps today all you have is what God said to you, “I will.”

You’re not responsible for making His will work. You are responsible for holding the ‘I will’ of God in situations within your life.

That gap between God’s word and God’s fulfilment of that word is called faith. It can be one of the most difficult times of your life, especially if all that you can see is impossibility.

“God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” (Genesis 17 v 15-18)

Abraham is again on his face. He’s back down on the floor, lying before the presence of God. He is laughing, not out of joy but out of sheer disbelief. He’s 100 years old, and Sarah (God changed her name) is 90 years old. We understand that, don’t we? It is the most ridiculous thought. Abraham probably had many reasons running through his mind, all connected to one big question: how?

Maybe you are asking that simple question today: how?

If you are, then it could be that you are also thinking the same thought that Abraham had next. How can I help God out?

“God, we have sorted it already, we have a boy, he is my son, Ishmael, that was a miracle in itself, let’s work with what we have got.”

Maybe the math doesn’t work for you either? But you have a backup plan. It’s as if God has forgotten. He must be impressed with our wisdom!

Thousands of years later, nothing much has changed, in that we still struggle to live between promise and fulfilment.

And like Abraham, we too wrestle with the impossibility, and we too come up with plan B, C and sometimes the whole alphabet, and yes, our imagination can cause us to disbelieve that we find the whole thing humorous.

God seems very gracious, and we see His response tomorrow.

Perhaps the lesson is that faith isn’t the absence of doubt, the thoughts of trying to get to fulfilment with human wisdom, or even the act of laughter. But faith may be holding those responses, but doing so, face down on the floor, prostrate in worship to God.

That’s the gap of faith. It can be challenging. The way forward is to fall before God and to keep talking to Him. He is patient, and He will speak.

Salvation is purely by grace and cannot be earned through actions. You may not think circumcision contributes to salvation, but neither do practices like baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and church attendance. We must avoid legalistic teachers; they distract from grace. Moses and Jeremiah emphasised the need for a heart change, a view supported by the Apostle Paul, who stated that the Spirit performs true circumcision. I say all that before we read this:

“Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. ¹⁰ This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. ¹³ Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17 v 9-14)

Circumcision was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, a physical mark pointing to the spiritual reality that God declares people righteous before Him. Significantly, Abraham was counted as righteous before he was circumcised, proving that the outward sign didn’t create the inward reality. If circumcision itself made someone righteous, then only men could be righteous, an impossibility. Righteousness comes by faith alone, not by works. It is God’s act, not ours. Circumcision was simply the sign pointing to what God had already done.

Has the Holy Spirit circumcised your heart, the real you? That is the question.

This isn’t about outward performance or public display. It’s a private, personal question: Has the Spirit of God marked you with a genuine encounter? Has He removed something from your life? Have you surrendered something precious? Has He painfully broken you—yet brought healing?

Is your heart truly obedient to God? Do you genuinely desire to walk before Him in faithfulness?

If you can answer yes, then your life becomes the sign—a living testimony to Christ and the new covenant. You embody the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness that comes through faith in Him.

You don’t have to prove you are His, and doing so becomes impossible.

Your best attempts to prove you belong to God are futile.

If those who don’t belong obeyed God’s laws (and no one can be that obedient), they would belong more than those who say they belong to God and try to prove it by their efforts.

The verses we will read will make sense of the question.

“Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham,for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17 v 3-8)

Look again at the position of Abram and let that image sink into your mind. At 99 years of age, he is on his face before God. Things change for characters in the Bible when they’re on their faces.

Moses encountered God at the Burning Bush and hid his face in reverence (Exodus 3:6), setting the stage for his leadership of a nation from slavery.

Joshua fell facedown before the Lord’s army commander (Joshua 5:14), learning that the coming battles were God’s to fight.

Ezekiel repeatedly fell face down in God’s glory (Ezekiel 1:28, 3:23, 43:3), each time being commissioned to deliver difficult messages.

Daniel also fell facedown when the angel Gabriel appeared (Daniel 8:17), receiving strength and insight for exiles.

The Apostle John fell at Jesus’s feet on Patmos (Revelation 1:17) and received visions of hope for the church.

Saul’s blinding encounter on the Damascus road changed him to Paul, a key figure in Christian history (Acts 9:4).

Peter, James, and John fell facedown at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:6), receiving reassurance from Jesus to strengthen them for future challenges.

On each occasion, the position was accompanied by an attitude:

• You are Almighty – I am not.
• You are Holy – I am not.
• You have the best plans – I do not.
• You are the giver – I am the receiver.

There are times when the position of our body helps to create the attitude of the heart. Hands raised, kneeling, sitting, standing and also lying prostrate on the floor. Maybe this is something we should consider in our private moments before God to cultivate humility, reverence, surrender, and readiness for whatever God has for us next.

Again, he’s 99 years of age. This was not a young Abram. He’s elderly, and his body is aching. Getting down is one thing, getting back up another. This position cost him. Almighty God speaks a revelation to an old man on the floor, perhaps aching, maybe struggling to breathe. On the dirt floor, we have a picture of complete surrender. He has come to the end. He is waiting. True worship. The God of gods speaks to this man in that position and gives him a promise; he makes a covenant with Abram. When he eventually gets up, he will never be the same again.

Was it his position on the floor or was it the attitude of his heart?

Maybe it was both.