Unmatched Mercy and Longsuffering

Unmatched mercy and longsuffering.  As we read through Scripture, we will get to know more about the characteristics of God and who He is.  This morning, we get a glimpse into the mercy and longsuffering of God.  God says that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was immense and their sin extremely serious (Genesis 18:20).  Matthew Henry commentates, “Some sins, and the sins of some sinners, cry aloud to heaven for vengeance. The iniquity of Sodom was crying iniquity, that is, it was so very provoking that it even urged God to punish.”  So, the Lord was going to go down to see if what they had done justified the cry that came up to Him (v.21).  Abraham begins to plead with God and begins with a low number of 50 to say if there were 50 righteous, would he spare the land.  God agrees with that and then the number gets lower and lower until Abraham says if there is just 10 righteous there, would God spare the land.  God agrees.  This is amazing, isn’t it?  Think about it.  The sins of the people were so great that this outcry goes up to the Lord, but the Lord does not just act.  He goes to see and then he listens to a man (Abraham) who begins to intercede on behalf of the people.  In all of this, God would not bring devastation upon an entire people if there were just 10 righteous to  be found among them.  We know that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, meaning that there were not even 10 righteous to be found.  We can be sure that this was a righteous judgment and deserved, the account preserved for our good.  We can also be confident that God is full of mercy and longsuffering.  When we feel we have gone too far or someone we love has strayed greatly from the Lord, we can appeal to the mercy and longsuffering of our great God!