Genesis 18,19 ~ Matthew 6

GENESIS 18,19

God and two Angels appear to Abraham.  They actually meet and converse with him as men.  Abraham has Sarah make them a meal.  While they are talking, God tells him he will return in a year and Sarah will have a son. Sarah laughs at this and God calls her on it.

Then the Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord?

God then tells Abraham that he will destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham pleads with him and God agrees that if he finds 10 righteous people he will spare the city.  The two Angels head to Sodom and are met by Lot, who puts them up for the night.  The men of the city, hear they are there and come calling to have sex with the men. Lot refuses and offers his daughters instead. The two Angels pull him inside and instruct him to leave the city because of its imminent destruction.  Lot leaves in haste in the middle of the night with only his two daughters and wife.

As the cities are being destroyed Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. His two daughters realizing that they no longer have any prospects of marriage get their father  drunk and sleep with him and both conceive.

MATTHEW 6

Chapter six continues with the living out of Kingdom Life...

• So when you give to the needy...do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.
• When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites...to be seen by men.
• But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
• ...when you Fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting...
• Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...
• No one can serve two masters...You cannot serve both God and Money.
• Do not worry about your life...Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?For  the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them...Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well.

JOURNAL

Trust...that is the word that strikes me when reading this morning.  What do I really trust in?  Again, I fail at all these things.I doubt God's provision and goodness, I look back with regret and longing. I worry, boast, want credit, hold grudges, hoard and am consumed with my own needs.   What a mess!  

I do realize it is not just me...I see my boys do it daily.  I know more and more that as human's we all are infected with the disease of sin. It is relentless in all the ways it poisons our minds and hearts. Jesus knows this, I think it is why 3 of the 27 chapters of Matthew are devoted to this one sermon.  

First of all I think it reveals that we are all sinners, secondly it reveals the character and love of God and thirdly it puts the focus on daily trusting, following and obeying God.  To seek first God's Kingdom and his righteousness, means that it is not my kingdom or my righteousness...it is God's.  The only way I can seek and receive is to truly give all my hopes, dreams, wants and desires to God.  In order to do that...I have to trust him. 

“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” 

~ Ernest Hemingway