Genesis 18:25 …Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right
We can all get a little goofy and vague when we talk about faith. This gets even more pronounced when it is the secular world without God talking about faith. We hear things like, “Just believe. If you can conceive it in your mind and believe it in your heart, you can achieve it.” That may be true, unless you think you can fly and jump off a high rise saying, “I believe I can fly.” You can believe whatever you want. You are not a bird, and you will drop like a brick. We have sweatshirts that say, “Believe.” I don’t object to that, but believe what and who? What if I had a sweatshirt that said, “Ketchup”? What does that mean? We have songs about the wonderful things that will happen if we just believe. Believe what?
In Genesis 18 we are reminded of a family of faith. This story is of Abraham, Sarah, their family, the tribe and the nation, and the Messiah God would send. It is the story of a family of faith because it really is a story of a God of promise. God had made a very specific promise. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness,” the Bible says. Abraham wasn’t just believing; he was believing a person and what that person had said. I am encouraged that Abraham’s faith in God was justified. Your faith in God is justified. Your faith is not just a feeling. When God says something and you believe Him, that faith is justified.
In the first place, God is powerful. In Genesis 18:14 the Lord says to Abraham that He was going to give him and Sarah a son that was part His promise and plan. In verse 14 He says, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” Timing was a big part of this promise. I have come to believe that if I can’t trust God with timing, I can’t trust God with anything.
In Genesis 17:21 God says, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.” This promise involved people and a set time. In Genesis 18:10 he said, “I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.” If you can trust what God has said, then you can trust God with the timing of it. There is the faith to act and there is also the faith to wait. The faith to wait was what Abraham was called to have.
Sometimes we need the faith to act and sometimes we need the faith to wait, but your faith in God is justified because God is powerful. If you believe “in the beginning God created,” then everything else flows from that. If God can create the universe, He can create anything He wishes. When God gives a promise, He is powerful. Whether you believe in evolution or some sort of creation, everyone believes in a miracle of origin. Some believe in an impersonal miracle; others believe in the true and living God. There is a God. God is powerful.
Second, God is discerning. After the Lord left Abraham, He announced His intention to destroy wicked Sodom. Abraham stood before God and asked, “God, are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked? Lot is there and there must be some other good people in Sodom. Will you spare this city if…” He basically wished to bargain with God. In verse 25 he says, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” This was a rhetorical question. The answer is yes, nothing is too hard for God, and, yes, the righteous judge of the earth will do right.
The theme of this part of the chapter is justice. There is no justice if there is no truth. There is no truth without holiness and there is no mercy without a God of holiness and truth. So, God, the Judge of the earth, will do right. He can discern between the righteous and the wicked.
Now, God was discerning, but Lot was not. Lot was there in Sodom with no discernment or wisdom whatever. Let me encourage you. Don’t focus on your faith; focus on God’s character, His faithfulness. Don’t focus on your love for God; focus on God’s love for you. Sometimes we think, “Do I love God the way I should?” The honest answer is that I am so inept, a sinner, that, no, I don’t love God the way I should, but God loves me the way only God can. We love Him because He first loved us. When I focus on my faith and my love, I am focusing on the wrong thing. When I focus on God’s faithfulness and love, that produces faith in and love for God.
Sometimes we talk about men or women as great saints of faith. Abraham and Sarah were people of faith, but their faith was in Almighty God, a God of power. If my neighbor tells me that his grandma’s name is Ethel and you ask me, “What is your neighbor’s grandma’s name?” I will reply, “Ethel.” You ask, “How do you know?” I say, “My neighbor told me.” Would you reply, “Wow, what a man of faith you are! What an amazing ability you have to believe!” No, the amazing thing is not my faith. The thing in question is the integrity and rationality of my neighbor. If my neighbor is rational and honest and says his grandma’s name is Ethel, then I can take that to the bank.
God is powerful and His judgment is good. Sometimes we pray based on some specific promise God has given us in His Word. We can do that with confidence. Other times we pray not knowing what God wishes, but knowing that God’s judgment is right and He will make the right decision. How wonderful that I can pray in faith in God’s promises and His judgment. That is faith in God’s character, honesty, and discernment. I can trust God, not my feelings. If faith seems blind, nothing can be further from the truth if your faith is in God. Abraham’s faith in God was justified by God’s power and God’s discernment. Your faith in God is justified in the same way today.