Chapter 18 of Genesis records a conversation between Abraham and the Lord that is really interesting to me.  At the onset of the conversation, the Lord reveals to Abraham that Sarah will have the promised child in her old age and there is laughter because this seems an impossibility....Sarah is secretly eavesdropping on the conversation and finds it funny....then she is called out for laughing and she lies and says, "I didn't laugh...".....thus, ISAAC...meaning laughter....that is a great part of God's story......then, later the Lord reveals to Abraham what He is about to do to destroy Sodom and Gommorah and Abraham ventures to ask the Lord some questions regarding sparing Sodom and Gommorah.....in a series of questions and answers, Abraham asks..."What if there were 50.... 45....30...20 or even 10 righteous people there....would you spare the cities?" It is not clear why Abraham asks, but we can assume he has a vested interest in these cities with his nephew living there and, to me, that the Lord does not lose patience with the questions may be an indication that Abraham's heart was showing compassion and that these questions were somewhat requests for mercy.

I was thinking about this conversation today and what Abraham may have been thinking of to ask these questions of the Lord.  Then, we had a prayer meeting this evening and my husband brought up a really good thought about a new perspective he was gaining from hearing that passage this morning.  I am going to put this in my words now because I am not sure exactly how he phrased it, but I think I got the gist....we often think about the state of our nation or the world and we think or say, "Jesus, come back soon!"....or "Get us outta here, Lord!"  But, here's Abraham...and it's almost like he is saying, "Can we have a little more time, God?"  "How far will your mercy extend?"  "Please be generous with your mercy, God!"....see that difference?  That mindset takes on the responsibility of faithfulness and compassion toward the lost.  It truly is the Lord's attitude toward mankind....

When we cry out for the Lord to return as the ultimate judge over our world, are we truly understanding that the delay we are experiencing is HIS mercy toward us and all of mankind?.... We will have forever with GOD, but we only have this brief moment right now in God's patience allowing more to come to repentance.  Are we being faithful with the time we are being given?