Reading My Wife's Mind in Sodom and Gomorrah

Suggested Reading: Genesis 18:20-33,19:27-29 (or read the entire story Genesis 18-19)

I can read my wife's mind. Not all the time. But in a very specific set of circumstances, she doesn't have to finish speaking because I know exactly what she is thinking. See, she says, "Honey..." which is not unusual in terms of addressing me. But there are times when she says it that I know she wants ice cream. Every time she wants ice cream, I can't explain it, but I know she does. I don't know if it is the way she calls me or the expression on her face but I can tell she wants ice cream. I can tell exactly what she is asking even though she never actually asks. Normally she just confirms my guess with a sheepish grin and a big nod.

In Genesis 18-19, we see an example of God doing the same kind of thing with Abraham. God had let Abraham know of his intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham began questioning God, concerned that God would destroy the righteous people along with the unrighteous. Abraham began negotiating with God to spare the city if so many righteous people could be found within it, starting with 50 and working his way down to 10. Now Abraham probably was actually concerned about righteous people being killed alongside the unrighteous, but he was probably mostly concerned about his nephew Lot and Lot's family, who had recently moved to Sodom. Abraham never specifically mentioned Lot's name but after God had sent angels to rescue Lot and then destroyed the city, the scriptures state, "So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when He demolished the cities where Lot had lived" (Genesis 19:29, HCSB). Even though Abraham never specifically mentioned Lot, God knew exactly what Abraham was asking. The New Testament talks about the same mysterious dynamic this way: "In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings" (Romans 8:26, HCSB).

We may not always know how to pray for what we want or need. Sometimes, we may not even know what it is that we want or need. In each of those cases, God is capable of reading our minds. Whether through God's unique ability to see inside our thought process or simply because God knows us so well, God knows exactly what we mean, even if we don't know exactly what we mean. Never be afraid to pour your heart out to God even if you don't have a clue what you're saying. While people are only capable of going by what you say, God is capable of going by what you mean.

If you are in a difficult situation and you don't know how to pray or what to pray for, just pour your heart out to God. God knows exactly what you mean and exactly what you need. Trust him and, like Abraham, God will know what you're really asking.

Four Kings and a Fearful Android

Suggested Reading: Genesis 14:1-16

In Star Trek: Generations, the android Data finally got to put in an emotion chip and experienced the full-range of human emotions that he had always wanted. Data had always been the smartest guy in any room, the strongest guy in any room, and the most ethical guy in any room, but he had always wanted to be human and experience the same emotions everybody else experienced. But the emotion chip overloaded his artificial system at just the wrong moment. While the villain of the movie was taking his best friend hostage, this incredibly powerful android who could easily have saved the day and stopped the villain was frozen by fear. When I watched the movie the night before the official release I sat there stunned. What in the world was Data afraid of? He should have been wiping the floors with the villain! Instead he was paralyzed and acted like a little baby because his fears got the best of him.

Last time, we talked about how scared Abram was of the Egyptians, going so far as to give up his wife to save his own skin. Well, after God saved Sarai from Pharaoh and Abram was banished from Egypt, he returned to the Promised Land with Sarai and his nephew Lot. Lot was captured by four kings who had come in to conquer the Land, wiping out all of their rivals in the process.  The next thing we know, Abram "assembled his 318 trained men, born in his household, and they went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he and his servants deployed against them by night, attacked them, and pursued them as far as Hobah to the north of Damascus. He brought back all of the goods and also his relative Lot, as well as the women and the other people" (Genesis 14:14-16, NLT). I read that passage, how Abram had conquered an entire alliance of kings who had wiped out all of the local kings, and how he did it with only 318 men, and I thought, If he could do that, why was he so afraid in Egypt?

Fear is one of those things that can sneak up on us. Much of the time, fear is not rational. And often fear loses its power if we can stop and think about the situation or if we simply focus on what needs to be done rather then why it scares us. Don't get me wrong, fear can be a good thing when it causes us to be cautious in circumstances where we might hurt ourselves by simply rushing in. But we must use fear as a tool, helping us to recognize situations that require a little more thought, determination, or prayer. We must never allow fear to dictate our actions.  2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, "God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment" (NLT).  Those three things - power, love and sound judgment - can transform fear from something that drives you into a tool at your disposal.

Don't allow fear to paralyze you. Use fear as an indicator of where sound judgment, love and God's power are required. Then apply them to the task.