READ: Genesis 18:1
CHALLENGE: Meet God in the Ordinary Details of Life
This scene of God showing up in the form of a man is extraordinary! However, many aspects of this scene are super ordinary. God shows up in the ordinary aspects of life.
- SEEING GOD (vv1-2)
V1 – The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. V2 – Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
We will see that God shows up in normal life … right where we live. THE LORD APPEARED. Whenever you see the word, LORD, in the OT, it’s the name Yahweh. This is the name that God shared with Moses when Moses encountered him at the burning bush. Yahweh is the verb for existence and being. It reminds us that life comes from God. The one who created us shows up to meet with Abraham.
This is incredibly powerful, the God of heaven and earth pays a visit to Abraham. He physically entered into our world so that Abraham can encounter Him in reality. The word “appeared” comes from a word that means to “see”. When God showed up, He was seen so He revealed himself openly.
I’m sure God was with Abraham and Sarah all the time but at this special juncture, God literally became visible to Abraham’s eyeballs. I wonder … did God walk there? One moment there was no one in sight. The next moment, God was there. I picture God just suddenly standing there as if an invisible door from another world had just opened. He was there in person. Visible!
If God hiked in from elsewhere, did He need a Garmin to find Abraham? Did he need to ask people for directions? Or did he know exactly where Abraham would be at every moment of the day?
What would you do if God just showed up? And would we want to be doing the wrong thing and suddenly he’s there.
Let’s make some observations
- God’s Work Is Sudden and Unexpected
I’ll guarantee that Abraham didn’t know God was going to show up because he had to hurry around to get food ready for his important guests. In a moment that Abraham did not expect, he got a surprise visit.
Jesus often talked about the need to be ready. He warned us that He’s going to return at a time when we don’t expect. Jesus said to always be on our guard because his return will be as unexpected as a thief in the night. He mused, will I find faith on the earth?
God showing up personally was beyond amazing! Where is the Lord showing up these days? For us, it might be in an opportunity to help someone. God may place someone in your path to encourage them through you. These seemingly random chance encounters can have God’s name written all over them.
I’ve heard it called a Divine Appointment when God puts you in someone’s path at the exact moment when He wants you to be. Be open to it. It adds a certain dynamic to life because you don’t know when a special opportunity might arise. Or when God is orchestrating something beyond your view.
I was getting ready to kayak one night and ran into someone on the beach and had a deep spiritual conversation. I encouraged them back to a walk with God. It seemed so random for us to be at the same place at the same time, but I took it from God.
It wasn’t long afterward that my wife was talking to someone from Pittsburgh who just happened to be in the same place as we were. She talked a lot of spiritual things. I love it when you get those opportunities to build into someone just being out and about. It’s sudden.
This is how God works. Remember, God doesn’t call ahead for appointments. He surprises us. As with Abraham, we suddenly have a glimpse of his presence.
In Matthew 25, Jesus said that we’ve seen him when we encounter the those sick or in prison or hungry. As much as you’ve done it unto these least brothers of mine, you’ve done it for me. We get encounter God in these situations.
- God Is Working in the Ordinary
? Where is Abraham when God shows up? Abraham is sitting in the door of his tent escaping the heat of the day. I imagine that he’s at the door because it’s hot inside! It’s a normal day as opposed to a special day. It’s as regular as the 9th of June. There’s nothing special about the day other than that God decides to show up right then. And God showing up is what makes the day special.
Let’s note that it’s not a time of worship. It’s not within the boundaries of stained glass. It’s not in a place with a steeple on it. It’s not at an altar. It’s a regular moment in a regular day.
Later Jacob will build an altar to God where he encountered God. But he did not encounter God because he built an altar. He built the altar because he had already encountered God. Moses encountered God in a burning bush. The place became holy because God was there. David encountered God where they later built the temple in Jerusalem. It was a threshing floor but became a holy spot after the angel of the Lord was encountered. It’s God’s presence and work that makes a place or moment holy.
God shows up in ordinary places. It could be hay fields, in businesses, in homes, on boats and planes, and all kinds of places. I’ve heard people say many times that they don’t need to go to church because they can go out into the woods and worship or encounter God. It begs the question, why can’t God be on your back deck? Or on your front porch? Or in your garden? Doesn’t this thinking assume that God is not going to be in your daily world and that you must go elsewhere to encounter Him? Jesus said, pray in your closet. It’s a regular place that can become a special place when we encounter God.
I believe church is super important and it’s biblical. I do not believe it’s the only place that God works. He’s in our ordinary world as well.
? What is Abraham doing?
What are Abraham’s actions at the moment of God showing up? He’s siting down. He’s not singing worship songs. He’s not praying. He’s not reading anything. Not to belittle any of those important acts – I just appreciate that God shows up while Abraham is doing a daily thing. GOD MEETS US WHERE WE ARE. He comes right to his home and this is amazingly beautiful.
What were the shepherds doing when they encountered God at Christ’s birth? Watching over their sheep by night.
Judges 6:11 – The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
When God got information to Gideon, he ws threshing wheat. He was working and doing normal things. It wasn’t in the sacred, it was in the every day.
We don’t read that Abraham is in the process of doing anything “spiritual” at all. He’s sitting in his doorway and there’s nothing especially holy about sitting.
It’s not ethereal. Sometimes we envision God in some layer of space that just beyond us and it’s a cloudy mist of spiritual feeling! And if you talk all spiritual, you’ll feel spiritual. I remind you of this, people talking spiritual doesn’t mean they are spiritual! The devil can masquerade as an angel of light. You’ll know the tree by it’s fruit!
An aura of spirituality can be easily faked. And the more you try to act like you have it, the more I wonder about it. It’s kind of like acting cool. When I was in high school, I often wondered why you had to act cool if you were cool. A “cool” person never had to pretend! Or talk it. They just walked it. The same is true spiritually, we don’t need to “act spiritual” for God to show up.
Let’s note that Abraham is doing all normal things. He doesn’t say, “Whoa, God, let’s kick it into the heavenly language gear. No religious or church jargon. It’s just the normal every day talk. That’s how we relate to God and how we relate to other people as well. You don’t need to break out words from the ultra holy dictionary. Normal talk is good.
God will talk to Abraham like a friend. That’s how we talk to God and that’s how we talk to each other. Jesus talked about the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. He talked about normal things and he also very much met people where they were at.
Abraham is living life and God is right there with him and that’s all I want really.
- God’s Working is Obvious
Abraham runs over, bows down. You lay face down, prostate. How God is described is not as a burning firepot or anything so dramatic. It says that there were 3 men standing there. They look normal and every day. One of them is the LORD in all caps looking like a human.
However, Abraham must note something divinely extraordinary because He’s bowing down. There is no evidence that he bowed to Melchizedek, a priest of God. However, he does bow his face to the ground here before these three. It reminds me of the scene of the wisemen once they found Jesus. They bowed down and worshipped. Abraham bowing down and worshiping God is so appropriate.
Who would you bow to? Not to people, right?! Not to the world. Not peer pressure. We bow to God and God alone. And we will submit to His ways!
If God is truly working, it will be obvious right? God will bless and it will be obvious that He is in it. You’ll see extraordinary things happening. The evidence of God’s encounter here is the miraculous conception and later birth of Isaac.
Sometimes we’ll say, God told me to go see someone and I did but they weren’t home. There must have been another reason he sent me…. Like what? I would assume it wasn’t God, right? There is nothing remarkable about it. Or you say that God tells you to speak with someone but they clearly didn’t want to talk with you. Where’s the evidence that it was God outside of your feelings? This impact changed the physical circumstances of Abraham and Sarah, not just is emotions.
- RESPONDING TO GOD
Vv3-5 – He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
Abraham is humble about it. He addresses him as a “lord” and also bows down.
- Make a Move Toward God
It’s interesting that God did not come right to the tent door and say, “Hi Abe”. Abraham had to get up and run over to him. It’s wise to make a move toward God. Are there any steps you’re taking in your relationship with the Lord?
In the story of the Prodigal Son, he comes home to his dad and his dad runs to him. But he made the move to repent and confess his sins. We make a move in our spiritual walk as well. We repent and we make a move toward God.
James 4:7 – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Like Abraham, it’s good for us to put effort into seeking God. We make the time to pray. We open a Bible and we read. I’ve been enjoying reading my Bible through in a year.
- Pleasing God
He says, “If I have found favor in your eyes”. He wants to find favor with God. Meaning that he wants God to be happy with him. It’s in God’s eyes rather than the eyes of anyone else. And if he could gain favor in God’s eyes, it means that God has been watching. Abraham lived for that. I want to hear well done thou good and faithful servant. You have to live for it!
Whose favor do we seek to win? The world? Are we living to be the “cool kids”? Are we worried about what our friends think? Family? A boyfriend or girlfriend, or God? And that’s going to be critical. I need to make God happy and then my wife and then Zeke! LOL!
But it’s favor in God’s eyes.
Romans 14:4 – Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
There are plenty of things people do that are not black or white in the Bible and perhaps questionable. It’s not for me to criticize on debatable matters. Why is that? We all have our opportunity to please God and we will all stand before him some day to give an account.
V10 – You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
I’m not standing before you. I’m standing before God and this has helped me a lot in life. The critics around me are not the ones to judge me and I’m not seeking their favor so losing it would be of no consequence. Let’s make sure we’re seeking to please the right person in this life and that’s God.
- Make the Time
He says, don’t pass your servant by. I love that phrase SO much. Please don’t keep going. God, stop right here and do a work. Abraham wants that time with the Lord.
The word pass by comes from a word that denotes motion. Things are going and passing us by. Moments of all kinds. God is there not just to see Abraham. He’s there to pay Sodom and Gomorrah and visit and ultimately annihilate the cities because of their great wickedness. They are in motion but Abraham wants them to have a meal with them first thus, “Don’t pass me by”.
When I’m photographing another kayak from my kayak in the wind, it’s so hard to line everything up with let’s say the lighthouse and the sun. You’re moving because you paddled. The wind is moving you. I’m going this way and Jeri is moving another. We’re constantly correcting our position in the water when taking pictures. It’s a challenge. Constant motion in capturing a moment.
I have felt that way on certain beautiful days – you didn’t want it to end. You know it will, but you want to enjoy it as much as possible. Everything is moving. Don’t pass me by, don’t keep moving, but God will move.
We’re all moving. Our family. Our children. Sports. But when we get those opportunities, let’s maximize it. We need to stop moving and hear from God. We need to focus on those moments. Perhaps it’s a moment to talk to someone. It’s a moment to pray. It’s a moment to read the word. Perhaps it’s a moment to listen to and encourage our children. Focus. Don’t pass by it and don’t allow it to pass by.
He embraces the opportunity. Is that our attitude? God, don’t pass me by. Be here with my family. He desired to take advantage of the moment. It reminds me of Jacob wrestling with the angel – don’t pass me by. He’s holding on in prayer. I’m not letting go.
- Serve God
Vv6-7 – So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
What does he ask Sarah to do? Bake bread. Again, these are people who just do normal things. It’s a daily thing, the making of bread. He doesn’t ask her to do anything out of the ordinary. And in the baking of bread is service to God. Everything we do should be for his glory.
He brings them regular food and they ate and he stood and watched. God is here eating food and that’s amazing. I love how common all of the actions are.
God works in the every day. I think of the disciples with the great catch of fish. It was a normal thing … fishing. And this is where God showed up and spoke to them. They saw that something was out of the ordinary.
Let’s look for God in the world that we normally live in. Let’s look for encounters there. It could be in your garden or on the way to work or at work or in school. Just look for God to be moving and don’t let him pass by.