YES

Have you ever thought about how often God says, “Yes”?

In the last two lessons, we’ve been looking at Genesis 19, where two angels visited Sodom. Though tasked with destroying the wicked city where Lot lived, that wasn’t their only job; they also needed to protect Lot (which may have been easier said than done!)

So far, they’ve drug him to safety twice… once when he was threatened by a violent gang outside of his house and again when, despite being urgently warned to run for his life, Lot hesitated.

We pick up here as the angels whisk Lot, along with his wife and two daughters, safely outside a city on the verge of destruction:

This seems like a good time for Lot to take off running for all he’s worth….

I’m sure I wouldn’t make a very good angel because a big part of me wants to tell Lot that if he wants to keep finding favor in their eyes, he should quit dragging his feet and questioning the efforts they are making to save him. I’m frustrated by what seems like a lack of urgency, responsiveness and cooperation on Lot’s part.

That said, as I reflect on some of my own responses to God’s call in my life, I think my frustration with Lot could more accurately be a frustration with myself.

Considering how tolerant God has been of my insecurities, fears, questions and control issues, I’m ashamed to admit how intolerant of others I so often am. Thankfully God isn’t like that.

Does He never get tired of saying “Yes”?

If He does, we haven’t seen any evidence of it so far. Beginning with the second lesson of this series, “Innocence Lost,” let’s look at just a few incidents highlighting a habit God has demonstrated from the very beginning of time.

When the first people to live in the perfect earth He put in place broke the ONE AND ONLY RULE He put in place for them, we learned this: Even when we have failed Him, God’s love for us is bigger than His disappointment in us. Sin ended perfection and brought consequences, but God stepped in… nurturing, providing comfort, restoring dignity… and life went on. 

In the next lesson, “More Than Anger,” Cain murders his brother then has the audacity to whine about the consequence:

I don’t know which is more astounding … Cain’s complaint (Apparently human life meant more to him when it was his own in question!) or God’s kindness in saying “Yes” to much more mercy for Cain than Cain himself had shown:

Then there’s Noah. When things got so bad that God regretted having made people and decided to wipe them off the earth, He found a way to give humanity a second chance.

YES.

Have you ever gotten in the way of a “Yes” God was trying to give you? I have, and I think we saw something similar in Genesis 16. Sarai’s interference in God’s promise of a child for Abraham brought about a lot of drama and resulted in a pregnant slave abused and on the run. But it didn’t end there; in “The God Who Sees Me,” we again see God saying “YES”… yes to someone in need of rescue from a hole she’d had a hand in digging.

Hagar’s story proves that, no matter how lost we feel, we are not lost to Him.

In “Impossible Prayers,” we saw Abraham boldly pleading on behalf of Sodom, asking God to spare it if 50 righteous people could be found there. And God said “Yes.” But Abraham wasn’t through asking (and God wasn’t through answering). Five times he pushes for more mercy… How about 45 righteous people? 40…30….20…Yes, Yes, Yes. Yes. All the way to 10, and God says “Yes,” agreeing to spare Sodom if only 10 righteous people can be found there. (Genesis 18)

What a great example of honest and open communication with God! Nothing is worse for satan than God’s people boldly praying and tapping into God’s power. From subtle whispers of doubt to innumerable distractions and obstacles satan throws at us in prayer, his messages of “No, No, No” are nothing more than frantic attempts to keep us from remembering what he so desperately needs us to forget:

Even when it looks as though God is saying “No,” He may really be saying “Yes” to something better. This was the case with Lot in the last lesson, “He Who Hesitates.” I thank God for the times He has drug me off a path I didn’t want to leave because He knew where that road was heading and because His mercy was stronger than my resistance.

God’s determination to lead Lot to a place better than the one he was in was Lot’s salvation. That same determined mercy is also ours.

Following His pattern of patient grace, it should come as no surprise that, when Lot threw a wrench in the plan and asked to find refuge in a nearby town instead of running to the mountains as he’s been told, the answer was “Yes.”

After Lot reached Zoar, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were demolished, destroyed…

Early the next morning, Abraham went to the spot where he had bargained on behalf of the wicked cities only to see that, in the end, not even 10 righteous people had been found to save them.

But even in the devastation, God still found a way to say yes to Abraham:

YES.

This is God finding a way.

This is God being Who God is, a theme that runs the length of the Old Testament and keeps right on going. When it comes to loving His children and relentlessly pursuing their good, God’s answer is an absolute and unequivocal YES.

In whatever ways He shouts and whispers it in your life, I hope you recognize and feel blessed by His abundant “Yeses” for you.

How wonderful to be loved by a God Who loves to say Yes!

Until next time, Kim