you grasp me?

I have a problem. An Old Testament problem.

The stuff is like crack cocaine. Or Lay's. Betcha can't read just one page.

I love being delighted by the narrative. I love how, with each page, the dots are connecting. "Oh, so that's how they ended up in Egypt," or "That's what led up to the Babylonian captivity." I love the excitement from page to page--will Isaac realize that it's not Esau he's blessing, but Jacob? And what will happen to Esau?

But, I really love these sudden moments of beauty that happen in the Old Testament. Buried in a detail, you'll suddenly come to face with the God of the ages. My God. The one I worship, and love, and submit to. And the sheer hugeness of time sweeps me, as I realize that God knew of me even as He was speaking to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph and Moses. And He has known all of us since long before then. Known, and loved. Sit in that for a minute.

I was reading in Genesis earlier, about Lot. So the Angels tell him to get on up out of there, and he tells some of his family, and they think he's joking. Then the Angels get on him. They tell him to hurry himself up, or he's toast. But Lot seems freaked out, he hesitates. And, "...the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city for the Lord was merciful to them."

If that doesn't get to you, you might be taking all of this for granted. Read it again.

"When he hesitated, the men GRASPED HIS HAND and the hands of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them."

God doesn't just prompt him, or give him a little nudge, or stand off to the side saying, "maybe you oughta kinda, sorta, sometime soon, perhaps, if you think about it...get out of here before I rain down sulfurous fire." He takes Lot by the hand. He physically pulls him away from destruction. He guides him to safety.

Sometimes, I think that we frustrate ourselves with questions of really understanding, of "feeling" God's plan for our lives, or wanting to hear him speak into our hearts. I do, anyway. But, though I have never felt God's hand in mine, or heard Him speak audibly, His presence in my life has been no less real, and no less obvious. He stands at our hearts, and He shouts. He reaches out, and He takes my hand. And hand in hand, we walk away from the fire.

Also...He is merciful to us. I like that Genesis recounts how God's Angels led Lot and his family out of the city, not because Lot was owed something by God, or "deserved" it, in a sense, but because doing so was a display of His tremendous mercy.

He takes my hand, in mercy and in love.