Blaze of Glory
Deuteronomy 2:8-9
“So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber. And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. And the LORD said to me, ‘Do no harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.’”
When we last encountered Lot back in Genesis 19, it wasn’t a pretty picture. Due, no doubt, to the PTSD he experienced upon watching his wife morph into a pillar of salt and his city crumble into a pile of sulfuric rubble, he clearly became despondent in life. The last place we saw him was a place of woe, a place where the solace of the proverbial bottle was the only salve for his crushed spirit. Unlike that category of saints who leave the biblical stage in a blaze of glory, like Elijah and Enoch and even Abraham, Lot’s life burns out like the embers of a late-night campfire—the sort we don’t stick around for. Lot’s meaning to the biblical story, and to history on the whole, is scattered in the ashes of a forgotten hill on the outskirts of Sodom.
That’s why I find this mention of God’s provision for Lot’s offspring so endearing. Lot has been off the radar for half a millennium, and I can’t imagine his name has been spoken all that much over those five hundred years. Who in Ar even remembers his exploits at this point? Who even cares about promises God might’ve made to him in ages past? Better yet, is anyone even remotely walking in the footsteps of his example? Even if stories had been passed down to them of Lot’s decision to leave his homeland with Abram and venture deeper into the uncharted territory of God’s will, were the stories enough to inspire them to do likewise? Well, that’s just it, friend. Regardless of the answers to these questions, God’s promises don’t burn out—they blaze on.
Even when generations come and go, even when no one remembers the vows spoken, even when there’s no one knocking on Heaven’s door holding Him to it, God remains faithful.