A Work in Progress….

Genesis 21:1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 

Commentary says it took 25 years for God’s promise of a child for Abraham and Sarah to be fulfilled. That is a very long time. And though 2 Peter 3:8 does say “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” the pain of a dream deferred for 25 years is deep.

Genesis 21:2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 

Commentary also says that God did not fulfill His promise because of Abraham’s perfect obedience–We know that’s not true.–but because of God’s perfect faithfulness. Abraham didn’t earn the promise, but God was still faithful to fulfill it because HE is faithful, which brings to mind Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—”

Genesis 21:3-4 Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for using this scripture to remind me that You are faithful–Always,– that once we claim You as our Savior, we are always Yours–even when our fleshly humanity gets in the way,–that time in Your presence doesn’t work according to our human notion of time. Help me, daily, to draw closer to You. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Genesis 21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 20:6a Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me.  

Today’s verses brought to mind a quote by Maya Angelou: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”  But I must admit, I still have so many questions about why Abraham acted the way that he did in this situation.

Genesis 20:6b That is why I did not let you touch her.

If I were Abimelek, I would be angry, frustrated, maybe bitter–emotions that I’m sadly far too familiar with. If I were him, I’d have a hard time letting go of the why–Why me? Why this? Why now?–questions that would plague me but would ultimately not be important in the now or in the grand scheme of things.

Genesis 20:7a Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. 

Precious Savior, Thank You for showing me, through this scripture, that I still have work to do. I get fixated on the Why, on why people act the way they do, why they put others into unnecessary situations. By fixating on the why, I’m taking my eyes off you, I’m not doing better because I know better, I’m following down a rabbit hole and moving in the wrong direction. Forgive me. Help me. Amen.

Genesis 20:7b But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 19:33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

I have many thoughts swirling around about today’s scripture, but preeminent among them is the fact that 2 Peter 2:8 calls Lot a righteous man. This Lot. That thought brings me back to a billboard I saw years ago that read, “Just love everyone. I’ll sort them out later. ~God” Why? Because after reading Genesis 19, I would have filed Lot away in the “not worth saving” category.

Genesis 19:34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” 

But God doesn’t give up on us so easily. He doesn’t see hopeless, unsavable, beyond repair the way we do. He knows our hearts. He knows our souls. He knows eternity. I think my biggest lesson from Genesis 19, a chapter that I am so very glad to be leaving behind, is that there is hope for all of us, that even at our worst, God knows our hearts. He loves us. He wants us to be restored to Him. Thank You, Jesus.

Genesis 19:35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

Precious Savior, This has been a difficult chapter for me because there is so much here that just feels icky. Thank You for the ability to read this chapter and see Your love, Your compassion, Your desire for us to be reconciled to You. If Lot can be considered righteous after all that occurs in this chapter, maybe there is hope for me yet. Thank You. Amen.

Genesis 19:36-38 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

The expression “out of the frying pan and into the fire” comes to mind as I read today’s verses. Lot separated from Abraham because their herds were so big there were disputes over grazing land. This led him to Sodom, where he became an elder with some influence (shown by his sitting at the gates). God still sees him as a righteous man as witnessed by the angels not destroying Sodom until he and his family had fled to Zoar, a small town chosen by Lot.

Genesis 19:30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 

Now they have left Zoar out of fear (Of what? Of whom?) and settled in a cave in the mountains. And now the daughters are plotting ways to ensure their family line in the absence of men for husbands. How do they think this is a good plan? Why do they think this is a good plan? What is going on with this family? How is Lot preserved in the Bible as a righteous man?

Genesis 19:31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. 

Precious Savior, There is so much I do not understand about Your word. Thank You for the ability to read, to study, to wonder, to ask questions, to seek answers. Thank You that I can still draw closer to You even when I have no answers, only additional questions. Amen.

Genesis 19:32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

Have a blessed day.

Genesis 19:25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 

Lot’s wife, who is given no name in the Bible, looks back as she is fleeing from Sodom, and because of that (the angels tell her not to, it’s true), she is turned to a pillar of salt. Because she is such a widely used cautionary tale, it bothers me that she has no name. Because I, too, have the propensity for looking back, it bothers me that she was turned to salt for that reason.

Genesis 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Commentary says she was turned to salt because looking back indicated something about the state of her heart, that she had a heart for Sodom, its people, and its ways. But those of us who have a hard time with change look back even at the difficult situations, sort of an acknowledgment of what was and what we learned as we move to what’s next.

Genesis 19:27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

Precious Savior, You know I don’t love change. You know I look back as I process and move forward. I know that You are not mean or spiteful. There’s more to what happened with Lot’s wife than I understand because You would not destroy her if her looking back was a step in her moving forward. Thank You that I understand Your character enough to know I must be missing something. Thank You for Your love and compassion. Amen.

Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

Have a blessed day.