The Unfortunate Reality of Loss

“And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.” (Ge 18:33 AV)

Abraham pled with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot lived among these cities.  Abraham began with fifty.  If there were fifty righteous with in the cities, would God spare them?  The LORD said He would.  Then it was 45.  If there were 45 righteous, the LORD would spare the city.  Then thirty, twenty, and ten.  Each time Abraham attempted to spare the city for the sake of a small minority, God said there weren’t that many.  It is not out of the ordinary for a writer to assume Abraham stopped at ten because it is believed that was the number in Lot’s extended household.  I don’t think the Bible explicitly states how many were in Lot’s household, but if ten it was, then Abraham had to deal with a hard reality.  I wonder how he felt when he realized his extended family no longer loved the LORD.  Abraham used the argument that God would not judge the righteous with the wicked.  He knew by faith that the LORD would, more than likely, not include any of Lot’s household that were righteous.  Therefore, then Abraham stopped at ten, and was assured there weren’t ten righteous. It must have been a heartbreaking truth.  All that Abraham had done for Lot and the majority of Lot’s family was lost.

One of the hardest situations to assist is a family whose children have walked away from the LORD.  There have been a few along the way.  Parents are crushed when just one of their children abandons the LORD.  But when they all do, that is a burden often too hard to bear.  One child may walk away from God.  But when most of them do, it is hard not to take that personally.  More times than not, parents give up on God, too.  They figure there is nothing left to lose, so why try?  Hope is lost.  Often, the key to resurrecting this family is to give the parents hope.  As long as there is breath in their longs, their children can return to the LORD.  The key is to not give up hope.  If they begin to blame themselves to the point, they think their family is lost forever, there is no incentive to follow on with God.  These are very hard cases indeed.

Abraham had to have walked away from his prayer meeting over Lot, deeply disturbed by what he learned.  Lot was his brother’s son.  He cared for lot at the death of his father.  Lot was raised in the home of Abraham.  He could see much of what the LORD did for them.  Lot’s uncle walked with God.  Lot had every chance to learn what it was like to raise a godly family.  Somewhere along the line, Lot failed.  Peter tells us how.  Lot decided to set up house too close to the world.  His children were led away of the people of the plains.  Now, Abraham must deal with the heartache that his nephew and grandnieces and grandnephews would not make it out of Sodom alive.  The thought of Abraham walking away from that prayer meeting with God is in my heart.  The thought of knowing his extended family was doomed because they refused to love the LORD must have been a hard pill to swallow.  Abraham went on with the LORD.  He didn’t allow the holiness of God or his own sense of failure to keep him from loving the LORD.  He may have had to process a hard reality, but when it was all said and done, Abraham followed the LORD. That takes immense character on his part.  What a man of God Abraham was!