December 24

GENESIS 21

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. ² And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. ⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” – Genesis 21:1-7

GENESIS 21 THE BIRTH OF ISAAC

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

When the Lord visited Sarah, he was to fulfill his promise

So, Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in her nineties

Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old

The Lord God made the impossible possible by giving them Isaac.

The birth of Abraham’s son Isaac is the start of God’s promise

A covenant between Abraham and God for man’s rescue

Abraham’s lineage will bring forth the promised Savior

God did what man isn’t able to do, He gave his Son to save us.

The birth of Isaac is a clear manifestation of the beginnings of salvation history. After the fall of Adam and Eve, we hear the account of man’s inability to resist sin and wickedness. Time and time again, humans have fallen into sin. The Lord God never failed to provide all the ways that man can follow his Spirit and walk the path he planned for humans. Yet, mankind proved to be very weak and carnal.

The Lord God designed a plan so that man will be able to fight his sinful nature and bring forth deliverance through the seed of Abraham. Because Abraham believed, it was counted as righteousness for him. Even though he is still sinful in nature, God chose to make a covenant promise with him. Isaac’s birth marks the beginning of the covenant promise God made after he destroyed mankind during the flood.

REFLECTION

• How is Isaac’s birth significant in salvation history and not Ishmael’s?

December 23

GENESIS 20

¹⁴ Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. ¹⁵ And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of allwho are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. – Genesis 20:14-17

GENESIS 20 WHEN ABRAHAM PRAYED FOR ABIMELECH

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

To protect Sarah from being touched by Abimelech, he became sick

God also caused the women in Abimelech’s household to become barren

But Abimelech heeded the warning of God and gave back Sarah to Abraham

He also gave him sheep and oxen, much wealth and many servants.

After Abimelech rebuked Abraham, he prayed for the king to be healed

And God answered his prayer and healed King Abimelech

The Lord God also opened the closed wombs of their women

This is how God faithfully protected Sarah from being taken.

What a faithful God we witness in this account when Abraham prayed for Abimelech to be healed! He responded right away even though he could have punished Abraham for lying to the king of Gerar. I think it also was a revelation for Abraham to see how he can fail in keeping his faith constantly strong and trusting God more despite his fears.

We watch how Abimelech got healed including the women in his household whose wombs were closed by God earlier and now, the curse was lifted. The account cannot stress more clearly how important prayers are. Abraham interceded for Abimelech and God granted that prayer right away.

REFLECTION

• How could this incident have gone wrong if Abimelech didn’t follow God’s warning not to touch Sarah and if Abraham didn’t intercede with prayers?

December 22

GENESIS 20

⁸ So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ ¹² Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³ And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” – Genesis 20:8-13

GENESIS 20 ABIMELECH REBUKES ABRAHAM

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

When God warned Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham

Abimelech followed God’s warning and told all his servants

The household of Abimelech were scared of what might happen

So, Abimelech rebuked Abraham for his lie about Sarah.

Instead of asking for forgiveness to Abimelech for his sin

He continued to justify his lying about Sarah as his sister

What things we do as humans to hide from our sinfulness!

Though he believed God, Abraham was still a sinner like all of us.

We get another glimpse of Abraham’s humanity and sinfulness in this second time that he uses Sarah as a shield to protect himself from being harmed. Once again, instead of submitting and surrendering his fears to God and letting God be his shield, he fell into the sin of lying once again. Abimelech, who is a pagan knew the consequence of adultery. What an irony to see Abraham who was a man of faith forgetting the importance of doing what is right just so he can protect himself and Abimelech confronting a man of faith.

REFLECTION

• What is Abraham’s weakness as shown in this similar incident in Egypt?

December 20

GENESIS 19

³⁰ Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹ And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she arose.³⁴ The next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also. Then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ The younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day. – Genesis 19:30-38

GENESIS 19 AFTERMATH OF LOT’S DAUGHTERS’ INCEST

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

After losing his wife during Sodom’s destruction

Lot and his daughters went up to Zoar and lived in the hills

Maybe they feared that if they went out, they too would perish

So, they hid and lived in the cave and were isolated from the world.

As time passed by, the two daughters became desperate to have children

They thought that there were no other men except their father

They conceived a plan: to bear their own children so they can repopulate

Since Lot was the only man they saw, they got him drunk & slept with him.

In verses 4-8 in this same chapter, we witness Lot trying to appease the men to lay off their hands on the two guests he had. Lot volunteered his own daughters to be their sexual object instead of his visitors. I thought that didn’t sound right. In these following verses Lot was the one who was sexually abused by his own daughters because of their desire to have their urges met. They became desperate when they were isolated in the cave and targeted their own father to fulfill that need. It is appalling what they did and I think that this is still an offshoot of the curse on the Sodomites, who were all perverts.

REFLECTION

·       What was the result of their incestuous relationships as mentioned in v.37-38?

December 19

GENESIS 19

²³ The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. ²⁵ And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷ And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸ And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹ So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. – Genesis 19:23-29

GENESIS 19 THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

A poem inspired by these verses by ILMA

When Lot had reached Zoar, a neighboring area, and God saw he was safe

The Lord rained sulfur and fire from out of heaven over Sodom & Gomorrah

All that was left in the cities, including all that grew on the ground was wiped out

The Lord God was so angry at the wickedness and evil that lurked there.

Then God remembered Abraham and his nephew Lot, so he pulled him out

He honored his covenant promise with Abraham and saved his beloved Lot

As Lot, his wife and daughters were fleeing those damned cities

His wife looked back at the destruction and turned into a pillar of salt.

It must have been tragic for Lot to witness his wife turned into salt. Even though there were no specific details as with regards to his reaction, I am sure he grieved losing her. She didn’t follow the instruction not to look back and that made her lose her life. There’s always a consequence to disobedience.

In this account, we witness the wrath of God over sin and evil and yet we also see his mercy on those whom he made a covenant promise with. God is faithful to keep his word and to hear Abraham’s request to save the righteous in those wicked cities. The Lord kept his word and snatched Lot and his family out of that place.

REFLECTION

• Share a time in your life that you suffered the consequence of disobedience.

December 18

GENESIS 19

¹² Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. ¹³ For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.¹⁵ As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he lingered. So, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” ¹⁸ And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords. ¹⁹ Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. ²⁰ Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one? —and my life will be saved!” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²² Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there.” Therefore, the name of the city was called Zoar.

                                                                    – Genesis 19:12-22

GENESIS 19 LOT ESCAPES TO ZOAR

After the Sodomites tried to seize the two guests of Lot who happened to be angelic beings, they asked Lot to save anyone he wanted to bring with him. His future sons-in-law didn’t take him seriously and Lot was stalling too, so, in God’s mercy, the angels grabbed him, his wife and daughters before the city of Sodom was going to go into ruins. They had to wait for Lot to find a place to seek refuge before they were to follow God’s order to destroy this wicked city. Zoar was a nearby city and so Lot chose to go there to seek safety. The angels ensured that the city of Zoar won’t be affected by Sodom’s destruction which was nearby.

We witness another faithful, loving character of God who seized Lot even when he was dilly-dallying to go in haste before God’s wrath was to be poured in Sodom.

REFLECTION

·       Why do you think Lot was spared when he also led a compromise life?

December 17

GENESIS 19

The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth ² and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” ³ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.⁴ But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. ⁵ And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” ⁶ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, ⁷ and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸ Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. ¹⁰ But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. ¹¹ And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door

                                                               Genesis 19:1-11

GENESIS 19 SHAMELESS ACTS OF THE SODOMITES

Without Lot’s knowledge, two angels came to Sodom while he was standing by the city gate. These two went ahead of God when the three men visited Abraham to announce the promised offspring. Previous to this event, God confided to Abrahm the destruction that was going to be the fate of Sodom. In this account, we witness the reason why God wanted to destroy this city. The place was infested with homosexuals who wanted to get a piece from the two men who were guests of Lot. There was violence manifested as they panted for lust to have those two guests be the object of their sexual perversions. We also witness Lot’s hospitality with these two strangers and how he is probably the only one left righteous in that place. No wonder God wanted to destroy this wicked place.

REFLECTION

• What other bible verses mention about homosexuality?