Genesis 19:27-29 God Makes Good

Genesis 19:27-29: Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of he valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

We leave Lot abruptly in verse 26. His wife had just turned into a pillar of salt. And the scene shifts quickly back to our current main character, Abraham. The first thing we notice is that he arose early in the morning. Perhaps this was a habit of Abraham’s. There was nothing slothful about him. He was probably one of the first recorded “early to bed, early to rise” men in civilization. But he did not just get up early – he got up early with a purpose. Although we do not know if this was a habit of his, we know that this day he went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Does it not make sense that when one knows God he/she wants to keep going back to the place where he/she last saw God or where they had the greatest interchange or experience with God? Oh, that it would be our desire each day to go where we have best experienced God and meet Him there.

Abraham looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the rest of the cities in the valley that God had overthrown the day before. And the smoke was still rising as if the fire was still burning. What a sign for Abraham. God had said He was going to do something and once again He did it. Although the text says that “God remembered Abraham” in all of this by seeing to it that He saved Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and his family before He destroyed the valley, I think that Abraham also remembered God in a different way that day.

As I write these words, I can share with you that today was a particularly difficult day for me on two counts – one personal and one family-related. But I take great strength in the fact that God does what He says He will do. And I delight in meeting with Him alone daily. No matter what I am or will go through, I know He is there. Today as I listened to my medical specialist he reported that in my particular situation there were three things that determined whether a doctor recommends option A or B, and two of those indicated I should follow option B. When I got home my wife and I reviewed the mathematics a little differently. We calculated that one factor plus God indicates option A. That is what faith is all about. And Abraham was all about faith.

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