Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
January 07, 2023: SOAP #4783: Genesis 18-19; Psalm 3; Luke 7

(mostly a repeat from 2012)

SCRIPTURE:  Genesis (NIV) 19:15 [The LORD was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah] With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” 16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

OBSERVATION:  Lot was hesitant and dragging his feet.  There was so much that they would have liked to take with them.  They were literally being pulled by their hands out of their home and out of the city of Sodom.   The impatience of those pulling them from their home was really an expression of mercy in saving them from the judgment that was fast approaching!  

Lot was unaware of the magnitude of the disaster coming. The forest ranger with news of an approaching forest fire; the police officer with the news of a fast-moving hurricane; the doctor with information about a fast-growing cancer; each has a message of mercy that can come across in a very impatient manner.  Patience is not the virtue needed in urgent situations.

APPLICATION: The conviction of the Holy Spirit is an urgent matter.  He is saying, “Now is the time!”  The enemy of our soul is present to say, “You have plenty of time.  Do it tomorrow.”  Our eternal destiny lies in the balance.  Heaven or hell. 

When God brings me into a place of urgency and demands instant obedience, it is not because He is impatient, but because He is merciful.  It is to my harm when I ignore the urgency of the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER:  Holy Spirit, as I grow in you, help me to respond quickly to your direction for my life.  Amen.

Pastor Leon
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