The Way of the Lord

"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." (Genesis 18:19)

God knows us - whether we and our children will follow Him. There is the 'way of the Lord' and God is anxious that people should keep to the way of the Lord, for it is the safest. God to be God must obey His own laws. Anybody who formulates laws and does not obey them will be a bad example and no one else will obey them. God's commandments have been formed out of infinite wisdom and infinite love. Hence they should do us the utmost good. God was anxious that Abraham and his children should follow his commandments. Why do you eat what your mother prepares for you and not everything you see sold on the street? Mother knows what to prepare for you. A child who goes into the street and eats anything it likes, will soon get sick. Mother knows it. God knows us. Those who follow God's high laws will not know death. Sodom and Gomorrah knew not God. They followed their own way. Lot went to Sodom and Gomorrah because of the advantage of money. He himself was righteous. But it was the righteousness that resulted from good training. He had lived with Abraham. But it was not the righteousness of faith. Abraham's righteousness was the righteousness of faith. He prayed for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot did not pray for them. He vexed his soul about them, it is said. You may vex your soul about the place but you cannot cooperate with God to make it a better place. Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed. Could not God save them? Had He not a plan to save Lot's family? But he could not save them in spite of His plan. Why? Man is a free-willed being. When he is converted he chooses to do God's will. When Lot and his family were being delivered they did not exercise their own will. It was through the compulsion of angels.