{"id":4081,"date":"2022-07-05T06:39:52","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T11:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4081"},"modified":"2022-07-05T06:39:52","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T11:39:52","slug":"devotional-on-genesis-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-genesis-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Genesis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-VWXOTpOJ5yI\/XMX5JT4QFoI\/AAAAAAAA66Q\/rojYHlvK2JUMZtaNBe4qCc7QSA-bmGtRwCKgBGAs\/s1600\/100_3157.JPG\" width=\"1600\" height=\"901\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 -Along California 101 &#8211; smoke from forest fire<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Road to ruin<br \/>\nGenesis 19: God was so merciful to them!<br \/>\nI really dislike the story of the destruction of the wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. There\u2019s almost nothing uplifting in it. Years earlier, Lot and his family had taken up residence in the vicinity of Sodom. Now, in spite of its reputation for sexual wickedness, we find him at home there. When the messengers of God warn him to take his family and flee he doesn\u2019t want to go. His wife can\u2019t bear leaving and his daughters have a warped view of morality. Even when he\u2019s convinced to run he can\u2019t bring himself to leave the area and, even though he later changes his mind about it, strikes a bargain to move to a smaller town in the area. I squirm a bit as I read all this and then, even though I\u2019ve read the story many times, I want to turn my head as the fire and brimstone falls in judgment. I come away from this passage thinking I\u2019d better be careful about the choices I make&#8230;that they may have more impact on me and those I love than I realize. I\u2019m also reminded that I must never underestimate the seriousness of sin. As does Abraham, once in a while I need to glance out over the plain and see the smoke rising from the destruction and remember that Judgment is real and sure and serious. And, as I see Lot and his family being ushered away prior to that Judgment, I had better be reminded of God\u2019s mercy. That was their only hope and it\u2019s also my only hope.<br \/>\nTake away: I\u2019d better be careful about the choices I make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Road to ruin Genesis 19: God was so merciful to them! I really dislike the story of the destruction of the wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrah. There\u2019s almost nothing uplifting in it. Years earlier, Lot and his family had taken up residence in the vicinity of Sodom. Now, in spite of its reputation for sexual [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1497,7],"tags":[127,174,245,421,643],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4081"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4081"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13716,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4081\/revisions\/13716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}