Yeah, good morning and welcome. This is pastor lucy painter with your daily insights. It's a happy friday, wow. You know, kids have very fact scintillating memory. Um, there is a nice cream parlor near my place And when I promised my kids that when we come from school we're gonna pass by and they get ice cream. They have particularly selective memories they tend to remember and they will make sure to remind me before they hope into the car. Uh, if you promise them that they will have maybe a play date over the weekend, it will be the first thing that that come out of their mouth when they wake up. And you know, if you're a parent, we make those promises with the best intentions in mind.

You want your kids to have fun. You want to give them the best. You want to teach them that they can trust you. You want to model their personal integrity. You want them to know that they are important to you, that they are valued. You want to establish a relationship with them a relationship that is built on trust. And then or you're listening to me and you're a parent, you can be a witness that those promises we make to kids. They go their selective memories. They don't forget. And they and you've had that voice here. But mom or dad, you promised. All right. So the story we are going to read today. Okada. Short while after the events of Genesis 1721 where God said Sarah would give birth a year later in the story we are about to read. Sarah is not pregnant yet. So it could only have been a few months after that promise.

So, genesis 18 was 1 to 22 says. Then the Lord appeared to him by the tele build trees of Mom lee As he was sitting in the 10th door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked and behold! Three men was standing by him. And when he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them and about himself to the ground and said, My Lord, if I have now found favor in your sight, do not pass on by your sovereign, please let a little water be brought and wash your feet and rest yourself under the tree, and I'll bring Mosul of bread that you may refresh your heart. After that you may pass by. Inasmuch as you have come to your servant, they say, do as you have said. So Abraham hurried into the 10th to Sarah and quickly made and and say quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal needed, and make kicks and Abraham ran to the heart took a tender and a good cough.

Give it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. So he took banner and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and said before them, and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. Then they said to him, Where is Sarah? Your wife? So he said here in the tent and he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life. And behold Sarah! Your wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening In the 10th door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old now well advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Then Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I have grown old, Shall I have pleasure? My Lord being old also! And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh saying, shall I surely be a child since I'm old?

Is there anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life. And Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh, she was afraid. But he said no, but you did love. Then The men rose from there and looked towards Sodom and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm doing since Abraham shall surely become a great and my nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have known him and in order that he may command his Children and his household after him. That they keep the ways of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. and the Lord said Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because they are seeing is very grave.

I will go now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to me and if not, I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went out towards Sodom, but perhaps stood still before the Lord Amen. You know, I told you that one of the things that I love about this daily insight is that we get a good dose of the word of God are good reading of the word of God. And I appreciate the feedback that many of you have been enjoying these daily readings. We get to know their stories and this story is a little different from the others that we have looked at Abraham and God seems to have established a familiarity and there's less grandeur. This visitation seemed to be a common occurrence in genesis. Like we see God working in the garden of Aden looking for Adam, we see God paying people impromptu visits.

We see him responding flexibly to the needs of the people. And in this story, we've seen Abraham sitting under a tree in the heat of the day, under the tent, in the heat of the day, perhaps wondering if they really will have a child because God had already given him a promise that is yet to be fulfilled. And by this time when we are reading this story, Abraham has fulfilled his part of the covenant. He has already circumcised his household, including himself. And then here are strangers appearing out of nowhere. I imagine he could have seen them approaching. And if they had been regular visitors, I don't know whether he could have had the same reaction. But Abraham seems to notice immediately that these are no regular visitors because he runs to meet them and says, My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass on by your servant.

Abraham had had two encounters with the Lord before he had to have known their special. This visitation was special and we see this even from the urgency and the great sense of hospitality that he extends to them. And then, and even after this hospitality, it got to the time for Abraham to know the purpose of this visitation. And the bible says that they asked him where is Sarah, your wife. I don't know if you notice that they called Sarah by the name she had been given not so long ago. They didn't ask for her name, but they already knew it because maybe I'm just thinking out loud. This was not their first visit. This was maybe a second visit. They had come to reconfirm they had come to re a farm. The promise of the Lord, the promise of regeneration that Sarah would have a child.

You see it had not been long since the first promise was made. But the Lord chose to remind them that he had not forgotten his words. After waiting for so long. They were bound to question if it was really going to happen. And we even see Sarah laughing when she hears the same words repeated. How was it going to be after so many years that after she was well past the age of childbearing that she was to have hope again. And we can identify with Sarah. I know many of us can you know, sometimes we pray for something for so long. We get a revelation that the Lord is going to do something great for us and we wait. We wait for so long. We endure discouragement Along the way. We fight doubts. But right. When it's almost time for the breakthrough we give up.

We look back at the ears, We've waited. We look at what we had to endure and we laugh within ourselves and we let doubt crop in But seven. But 2nd Timothy 2 3 says, even when we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. He knows when we need to be reminded that his word is yes and amen. And so even when it seems like he has taken too long, the Lord is true to his word. The Lord loved Abraham this much. Ob Rahamim was such a vital part in law in the Lord's plan that the Lord asked, shall I hide from the law from Abraham what I'm about to do. That was the kind of favor that Abraham had found in the eyes of the Lord. That he would reveal his plan for Sodom and Gomorrah. You see Abraham had received this promise twice, but he trusted the Lord to fulfill his world.

Even when his wife handed out the person who shared in that promise with him, he did not give up and I pray that we may trust the Lord this much that we may have absolute trust in the Lord. I pray that we may look up to the Lord. Even when we feel like it's taking too long. I pray that we may get reaffirmation that the Lord may give us a sign when we feel like giving up, May we get a second and even at that visitation and experienced a chance for our faith to be renewed. When we find favor in the eyes of the Lord May, we be found worth of being called the Lord's friends. Until the Lord can say, shall I shall not let another night pass without reminding this man without reminding this woman without reminding my child what I intend to do. I shall not let another day pass without reminding this lady that I shall fulfill what I promised because the Lord remembers it's my prayer for you shall um this is Pastor lucy painter with your daily insights and this is Divine Experience.

day 18 Shalom.