This morning our reading is Genesis 16-19

If you followed yesterday, you learned that God told Abram that his seed would be multiplied and that his descendants would inherit the land in which he dwelt as far as the eye could see. The Bible told us in chapter 15:6 that Abram believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

But, today we will learn that the influence of others can cause us to doubt God.
Just as Eve convinced Adam that he should eat of the fruit in the garden that God had forbidden, Sarai will convince Abram that God's plan is not working quickly enough and will cause him to doubt God.
In chapter 16 we read that Sarai gives her handmaid, Hagar, to Abram to be his wife and she conceives and has a son. But, the news is not good. Because of their disobedience to God, their son, Ishmael will live a life of anger and strife.
(16:11-12) When we jump ahead of God instead of trusting Him to do what He says He will do, we make a mess of things.

Chapter 17-gives the sign of the covenant, through the birth of a son to Abram and Sarai, just as God had told them it would be. Abram was ninety-nine years old when the Lord came to him and told him that Sarai would bear a son.
In this chapter God changes his name from Abram to Abraham. As a sign of the keeping of the covenant, the male descendants of Abraham were to be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth.Then in verse 15, God told Abraham that Sarai would now be named Sarah. And she would be blessed and the mother of many nations. Isn't God wonderful, even when we disobey Him, he is still merciful to us and causes His plan to be fulfilled through us and sometimes in spite of us. Praise His name for his mercy and grace toward us.
For a moment, Abraham gets a little laugh out of the fact that God is telling him that at 100 years of age he will father a child being born by a woman who is ninety-nine years old. Abraham tells God that he desired in his heart that Ishmael would also follow the Lord. In verse 19, God makes it very clear that Sarah will have a son and they will name him Isaac and the nations will be established through his descendants. But, God also assures Abraham that He has heard the desires he has for Ishmael. Verse 20, God hears Abraham's desire for Ishmael and promises to bless him as well. So, that day, all the men in Abraham's household were circumcised as God had commanded them to be, and the sign of the covenant was completed.

In chapter 18 three men approached Abraham. He ran to meet them and offered them water, food and rest. They accepted his hospitality. The men reassure Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son.

The three men start to walk toward Sodom and the Lord gives Abraham a warning about the sin taking place there and that He will judge them because of their sin. But Abraham starts to bargain with the Lord "what if there are 50 righteous in the city, would you still destroy it? He continues to bargain, I suppose because he knows the city if very wicked and fears that the Lord will be unable to find many righteous there so he continues what if there were 45, or 40 perhaps 30, or 20, or 10? And the Lord said, "I will not destroy it for the sake of 10." Then the Lord went to search the city. Of course the Lord knew the totality of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, he was only giving Abraham the benefit of the doubt. The rest of the chapter speaks of the depravity of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Even to the point that they tried to break down Lot's door to get to the two angels that were in his house. The two angels saved Lot from the men of the city by striking them with blindness so that they could not get in.

In verses 12-Lot leaves the city and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. Lots lineage was secured by the two daughters who came up with a plan to get their father drunk and conceive children with him, because all the men in Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. One daughter becomes the mother of Moab (the father of the people of the Moabites) and the other the mother of Ben-Ammi (the father of the people of Ammon).

They had some really strange customs back then. Didn't they?
I'm glad those days are in the past!! Read your passage for tomorrow Genesis chapters 20-22. See you in the morning!