The truth of the Torah can be as effective as Alli in the task of stripping away excuses and rationalizations and revealing the sin undernearth. Here’s the final part of my commentary on Va Yera. Or listen to it!
Now, here in this passage, the theme of the nature of God’s mercy is stated clearly for us. “But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction.”
This should answer a key question many of us ask ourselves about God at one point or another: while bad things do happen, even to those who follow Adonai; while we all sin and fall short of Adonai’s perfect standard of righteousness; does He, ultimately, judge the righteous along with the wicked? That is the very question Avraham put to Adonai when negotiating for Him to spare S’dom and ‘Amora.
Genesis 18:23, 25 (CJB)
Avraham approached and said, “Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is right?”
In the life of faith, many of us face trials. Somewhere along the way, we picked up the false idea that, rather than our trials and difficulties being the natural result of our bad choices, or perhaps the consequences of living in a world where so few people obey Adonai and openly violate His will – somewhere we got the idea that we were suffering the judgment or wrath of God for some sin we committed. And yet the Torah couldn’t be more clear: that’s not how Adonai works!
Yes, God will correct us. Yes, God will allow ha-Satan to test us at time … the book of Job proves that. Indeed, it rains on the righteous and the wicked alike. We all lose loved ones. Sometimes we fall victims to accidents or disease. Sometimes we are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we can perish when an earthquake hits, or a volcano erupts or a bridge collapses.
But that is a separate issue from suffering the wrath of God. While we as believers can endure sometimes unbelievable suffering and even the horrors of a Holocaust, the Torah is clear that Adonai does not judge the righteous and the wicked alike. The Holocaust was an act of man against the people of God, but it was not God’s judgment and wrath. When God prepares to pour out His wrath – be it the flood, on S’dom and Gomorrah, upon Egypt to free the Jewish people, or in the future at the time of Jacob’s troubles – He always provides rescue for those who trust in Adonai, obey His commands, and place their hope in His promised messiah – Messiah Yeshua. He is our salvation.
Shabbat Shalom.