NIV Discover God’s Heart Devotional Bible

God’s Invitation

Genesis 18–20

God’s Story

For 24 years Abraham has walked with God, setting up altars of worship in the land he was promised and seeking God. Now God comes to visit him personally. Mysteriously, he appears in the form of a man and is accompanied by two angels also in the form of men.

Abraham and Sarah scramble to prepare a meal for their mystifying guests, who share, while they’re eating, that Sarah is going to have a baby in about a year. The idea seems ludicrous to Sarah, who is very familiar with her creaking, ancient body. She laughs. But the visitors insist: Sarah’s lifeless womb will make new life because nothing is impossible for God.

The two angels leave to go to Sodom and Gomorrah—where the people are irreversibly wicked. God stays behind with Abraham and tells him his plans to demolish the cities. Abraham pleads with God to spare the cities if there are enough good people in them, and God agrees. But sadly, there aren’t enough good people. The angels graciously rescue Lot and his family before God annihilates the cities and their hopelessly depraved inhabitants.

The King’s Heart

Abraham is a mere man. A short-lived, dust-created, God-sustained mortal. Yet the Sovereign of all existence shares his secret plans with him. Then, even more amazingly, the One who holds the planets in place listens to what Abraham has to say.

Yes, we are finite beings—mere dust given a spark of life. But lowly beings can be elevated if a higher being calls them up. And the King of all life, who makes all decisions about how the universe operates, has chosen to call us up. He has chosen to share his heart with us and listen to what we have to say. He calls us his friends.

We have been extended a mind-boggling invitation. The forever One welcomes us into his counsel. When we’re with him, he can share his heart and we can share ours. We’ve been invited to collaborate with the commander of the angel armies.

Insight

Who were the three mysterious men who visited Abraham and Sarah? Several verses in Genesis 18 (verses 1, 13, 17, 20, 22, 26, 33) make it clear that God was one of the “men,” while Genesis 19:1 clarifies that the other two—who went to Sodom—were angels. Angels are spirits, but sometimes they’re “clothed” as people—and they can appear to be just as physical and real as people. Let Hebrews 13:2 change the way you look at life.