Personal Communication
Scripture Reading — Genesis 18:1-25
The Lord said, “. . . I will go down and see. . . . .”
When the Lord and two angels visited Abraham as travelers, God had two purposes in mind: to tell Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, and to see if Sodom and Gomorrah should be destroyed for their wickedness.
Abraham humbly served his guests a meal as they sat in the shade, and the Lord told him that Sarah would have a son in about a year. Then, as they began to leave, God said he was going to see if Sodom was as wicked as he had heard. And Abraham appealed to the Lord not to destroy it if even some of the people were righteous, for his nephew Lot and his family lived there.
Some philosophers have said that stories like this are quaint and primitive. To think that the Creator of the universe would bother to talk with a human being and concern himself with the messy situations we get ourselves into! It just doesn’t make sense, they say.
But God is not distant and uncommunicative. He loves us, as he loved Abraham and Sarah. It is a mark of love and friendship that God comes to communicate with us, and that we open our hearts first of all to God and also to one another. Some find this hard to do, but for all of us it is important to put our thoughts into words. We are not strangers on a bus, sitting stony-faced and silent next to each other until we reach our destination.
Are you open to visiting with others today?
Lord, give us the love, the will, and the words to communicate with others and with you. Amen.
About the author — George Young
George Young, a native New Yorker, worked as a taxi driver in New York City before studying to become a pastor. Then he, his wife Ruth, and their children were missionaries for many years in northeastern Japan. They worked with ministers and believers from the Reformed Church in Japan to spread the good news of salvation in Christ and establish new churches. Now George and Ruth are retired and live in the northeastern United States, nearer to their children and grandchildren.
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