Readings for today: Genesis 19-21, Psalm 6
God is the most patient being in the universe. He has to be if He’s going to stay in relationship with us. We are fickle creatures. One day we are strong and growing and humble in our faith. The next we are weak and struggling and full of doubts and fears. One day we are willing to take extraordinary steps of faith and the next, we try to manage life on our own. Through all of these ups and downs, God is with us. He works with us and through us and in us to bend every single decision and action - good, bad, or otherwise - to His perfect will.
Lot and Abraham serve as great examples for us. Their lives are case studies that reveal the gentle but relentless patience of God as He works to implement His salvation plan on earth as it is in heaven. Consider the case of Lot. Lot is a deeply compromised man. He lives in a corrupt city among a corrupt people. Their lives are marked not only by sexual violence and abuse and immorality but, according to the prophet Ezekiel, pride, greed, injustice, and terrible neglect of the poor in their midst. Some try to suggest that it was the latter sins rather than the former that called down God’s wrath but that’s parsing things too thin. The reality is Sodom was full of all kinds of sin and deserved her fate and it begs the question why a man like Lot would choose to live there with his family? Not only that but when the angels come to rescue him, he hesitates. He resists. He asks for all kinds of accommodations. Even then, the Lord has mercy. Genesis 19:16, “But Lot hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. They brought him out and left him outside the city.”
Abraham is no paragon of virtue. Chapter twenty finds him once again acting out of fear and potentially putting the promise of God in jeopardy. He repeats the mistakes of his past as he tries to manage through a difficult situation with Abimelech. Rather than trust in the Lord, he trusts in his own ideas, his own wisdom, his own plans and the result is almost a disaster. Thankfully, the pagan Abimelech is more righteous than Abraham in this story and he returns Sarah unharmed and untouched thereby preserving the sanctity of her marriage. (The fact that he finds an almost 100 year old woman attractive enough to put in his harem is another story for another day.) Abraham’s actions put so much at risk. The promise of God. The inheritance of his clan and tribe. The future of his family. Thankfully, the Lord has mercy. Genesis 20:6-7, “Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. I have also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I have not let you touch her. Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”
What about you? How has the Lord preserved you even in the face of doubt and fear and hesitation in following His will for your life? How has the Lord protected you even in the face of sinful and difficult choices you made along the way? Rest assured, God is faithful. He promises to use all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. All means all. The good, bad, and ugly of our lives. God takes it all and uses it all to make us more in the image of Christ.
Readings for tomorrow: Genesis 22-24, Psalm 7 (No devotionals on Sundays)