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Genesis 18:25b-26

“Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

I can’t express in a devotional this brief how grateful I am to the Lord for including this dialogue into the biblical record. Here, God’s distinguishable justice isn’t demonstrated in His destruction of the wicked Sodomites alone, but also in the way He tenderly leads Abraham to this mountaintop to strengthen his faith and deepen his understanding. And notice by the way that Abraham doesn’t have recourse to Mosaic laws or Davidic psalms or Pauline epistles as a guide to God’s character here. He only has the imprint of God’s character inscribed on his very heart, and that’s enough.  

Friend, Abraham isn’t being philanthropic here in Genesis 18:25. He doesn’t actually care about fifty hypothetical saints in Sodom. He only cares about Lot and Lot’s family and it’s breaking his heart to think of their demise. But that’s where the epiphany happens. That’s where the light pours in and the truth pours out. That’s the moment he really begins to grasp God’s justice, because he takes it personally.