Just how patient is God? (part 2)
At dawn the angels tried to make Lot hurry. ‘Quick!’ they said. ‘Take your wife and your two daughters and get out, so that you will not lose your lives when the city is destroyed.’ Lot hesitated. The LORD, however, had pity on him; so the men took him, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. Then one of the angels said, ‘Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop in the valley. Run to the hills, so that you won’t be killed.’ (verses 15-17)
What stubborn fools we human beings can be! Let’s not look at the destruction, but instead let’s look at how God rescues us in spite of our best efforts to hinder him.
Lot didn’t want to leave. When he realised he had to, he was reluctant to set out. When the angels showed him the urgency of the situation by dragging him and his family out, he still complained that the hills they were to run to were too far away. They’d surely get caught up in the destruction and get destroyed too.
And God still rescued him. Only Lot’s wife, who looked back, was not saved. Once again we must ask, ‘Just how patient is God?’
We sing about God’s amazing grace. Just how amazing it is is seen in the lives of people like Lot. But also in the lives of people like you and me. Even when we don’t fully trust God’s promises, even when we tell god we have a ‘better plan’, even when we are disobedient, God still loves us, forgives us and points us in the right direction. Not looking back but confidently facing the future. His future.
When I think of the times I frustrate you, Father, I can only thank and praise you that you still love me and have saved me. Amen.
by Bob Turnbull, in ‘God’s Promises for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1999)
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