{"id":15820,"date":"2021-05-20T22:00:11","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_19_1-11-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-05-16T17:57:02","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T00:57:02","slug":"genesis_19_12-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_19_12-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Wave after Wave of God\u2019s Mercy and Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 19:12-22\u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 19:12-22.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 19:12-13 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here–sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-13:\u00a0\u00a0In Genesis 18:16-33, Abraham kept asking God to spare the city of Sodom if God found 50, 45, 40, 30, 20 or 10 people who are righteous, and God agreed.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that God still went ahead and destroyed Sodom suggests that God did not find anyone righteous in Sodom.\u00a0\u00a0That is because compared to God\u2019s perfect standard of holiness, \u201cno one is righteous, not even one\u2026all have turned away\u201d (Romans 3:10,12).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?\u00a0Our sin is real and God\u2019s wrath against sin is real.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the people of Sodom,\u00a0none of us can meet God\u2019s standards on our own merit and thus none of us deserves to be spared from God\u2019s wrath against sin.\u00a0\u00a0But because God loves us, Jesus sacrificially stood in the gap and took on God\u2019s wrath for our sin, so that we could be spared.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0What amazing love God has for us!<\/p>\n

Genesis 19:14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the\u00a0LORD\u00a0is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 14:\u00a0\u00a0Lot\u2019s sons-in-law didn\u2019t take Lot seriously when Lot warned them about the coming destruction the Lord was bringing on the city.\u00a0\u00a0They would lose their lives because of their unbelief and mockery.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a reminder that we need to take God seriously.\u00a0\u00a0If we don\u2019t, we can end up with the same fate as Lot\u2019s sons-in-law who didn\u2019t survive God\u2019s wrath.<\/p>\n

Genesis 19:15-16 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was merciful to them.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-16:\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes, as an act of mercy, God will take us out of places that we would hesitate leaving ourselves, because He was protecting us for something greater: a greater plan that God wanted to accomplish and a greater story to write with our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 19:17-22 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please!
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it–it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-22:\u00a0\u00a0Once again God extends mercy, compassion and protection to Lot, allowing Lot\u2019s request that he flee to a nearby town and promising not to overthrow that town (v21).\u00a0\u00a0From pulling Lot back into the house and shutting the door (v10), to grasping his hand and forcibly taking Lot, his wife and daughters out of the house (v16), to agreeing to let them flee to a nearby town (v21), over and over the angels extend mercy, compassion and protection to Lot and his family.\u00a0\u00a0That is the way of God with us as well:\u00a0God\u2019s mercy, compassion and protection on our lives is not a one-time occurrence; rather, like an ocean beating against the tide, we receive wave after wave of God\u2019s mercy, compassion and protection on our lives.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0As John 1:16 says,\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank You Heavenly Father for the mercy, compassion and protection that You extend to me and my family over and over and over again.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for the times when You forced me out of a situation, even when I didn\u2019t want to leave, because You were protecting me for something greater.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 19:12-22.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 19:12-13 (NIV)
\n12\u00a0\u00a0The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here–sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
\n13\u00a0\u00a0because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”<\/p>\n

On verses 12-13:\u00a0\u00a0In Genesis 18:16-33, Abraham kept asking God to spare the city of Sodom if God found 50, 45, 40, 30, 20 or 10 people who are righteous, and God agreed.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that God still went ahead and destroyed Sodom suggests that God did not find anyone righteous in Sodom.\u00a0\u00a0That is because compared to God\u2019s perfect standard of holiness, \u201cno one is righteous, not even one\u2026all have turned away\u201d (Romans 3:10,12).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15821,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820\/revisions\/15821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}