Genesis chapter 18

There are two things here: firstly there is Sarah and how she did not believe that she could have a baby, and then there is Sodom and what God was planning to do there.

With Sarah, she did not think it was possible she would have a son., After all, here she was a 90 years old, with Abraham even older, being in his 100th year. Whilst even today there are stories of men almost as old as Abraham having children, their wives are never 90, in fact if they are much about 25 that is something and, being completely cynical here, the men usually have pots of money. Bu here we have God telling Abraham that his 90 year old wife will have a baby this time the following year, and without the aid of IVF treatment too and all that entails.

But Sarah's age shows that this is something that could only happen because God took was involved. Even today, for a woman of 90 to have a baby is, as far as I am aware, unheard of. I know there are women in their sixties who go through IVF and stuff to have children, but by the time you are 90, you would be so much older, frailer, with less energy. Chances are, no matter how much you may have wanted children, you just don't have the energy at that point in your life. OF course, since they lived so much longer in those days, I reckon the aging process was delayed as well, but even so, Sarah was well past child bearing age and everyone would have known that. So for her to become pregnant and have a son would be a miracle that everyone would know about, there would be no alternative as it was just not possible for Sarah to have a child under normal circumstances.

God had promised Abraham and Sarah a family, and He had waited all this time so that people would know He was the Lord and that for Him, nothing is impossible.

There are times when it is difficult to believe, to have faith, to really trust God that things will work out. It is easy to sink into a depression, to become some downcast, worried and anxious that it seems like you are in one big black pit that just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Yet God never changes, He is the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. He created the universe, the sun, moon and stars out of nothing. Jesus spoke the world into existence and the Holy Spirit moved across the waters (Genesis 1). If we truly believe in the existence of God, of His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, then we have to realise that a God who can create all that we see around us from nothing is more powerful than we can ever imagine. There is nothing that he cannot do, and nothing can stop him from doing whatever he wants.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is too hard for the Lord.

Then there is the situation regarding Sodom. God told Abraham what he was going to do, how he was going to destroy Sodom so Abraham interceded on behalf of Sodom. He asked God whether is was fair to destroy the good people along with the bad.

Genesis 18:23-24 Then Abraham approached him and said: ‘Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? (NIV)

When God agrees that if He finds 50 righteous people in the city, He will not destroy it, Abraham then asks Him what He will do if there are 5 less only 45 righteous in the city. God agrees that if there were only 45 righteous, He would not destroy Sodom.

Then Abraham goes even further and asks what God would do if there were only 40 good people could be found. What if there were only 30 or 20 or even if there were only 10? Each time God responds by telling Abraham He would not destroy the city for the sake of those righteous people.

Genesis 18:20-21 God continued, "The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense. I'm going down to see for myself, see if what they're doing is as bad as it sounds. Then I'll know. (The Message)

So here we have God coming down from heaven to check out Sodom and Gomorrah, to see if they are really as bad as He has heard and if they are, He will destroy them, yet Abraham has persuaded him not to do this if He can find any good people living there. Abraham interceded on behalf of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah, just as Jesus intercedes for each of us before God. Abraham is an example of what we should be doing for others, interceding with God for our family, our children, our friends our neighbours, our towns and cities our nations, yet how often do we close our eyes and our hearts and tell ourselves that we can't make a difference, that nothing will change so why bother praying?

Yet prayer is one of the most important things we can be doing. It is not a case of "I can only pray", of being a failure if we can't give money, help out in some real, tangible way. Prayer changes things. It saved Lot here and it has saved many, many other people since then.