So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company – Genesis 13:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 4, 2018): Genesis 13

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” The words belong to Dutch watchmaker and Nazi Resistor Corrie ten Boom. During World War II, ten Boom hid Jews in a closet trying to help them escape the reach of the Nazi police who wanted their extermination. The future was definitely unknown. And the time came when she and her family members were betrayed, and many of the family members were arrested and some even killed in the hands of their Nazi oppressors. Ten Boom herself spent time in jail, and it was there that the watchmaker received the messages that “the watches hidden in the closet are safe.” The watches were the Jews that she was trying to help. They had not been found and arrested on the day that she sacrificed her freedom. Now they were safe. Ten Boom lived through the ordeal and every moment reminded herself of the one truth on which she had based her life, even during these horrible days. “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

Abram and Lot had come to a place where it became necessary to part ways. One would go one way, and the other would head off in the opposite direction. Lot looked with his eyes and saw that the choice was between a fertile valley and the harsh wilderness. His eyes told him there was only one way to go, and his uncle Abram had given him a choice. Lot chose the fertile valley. Abram would be banished into the harsh wilderness.

It may have actually been a little of an unfair choice. Looking back at the story, we have to at least suspect that Abram already knew which way Lot would choose to go. He had already examined the choice himself. But the unfair part is that it was Abram who was following the call of God. He was the one who God had asked to leave his home and move into this land just east of the Mediterranean Sea. God had made himself known to him. And God had made a promise to him. There was nothing that Lot could do that would break the promise.

In this moment, there was no doubt that the future was unknown for both Lot and Abram. And it seemed that all Lot had was what his eyes revealed, but Abram had something else. Abram knew that he could trust his unknown future into the hands of a known God. In fact, given the situation that Abram found himself in and the hands that had guided him this far, it would have been insane for Abram not to trust his future in the hands of that God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 14

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