July 16, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.” (Genesis 13.5-6)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

If we remember, what seems a lifetime ago already, the first verses of chapter 12, God tells Abram that he will be blessed to be a blessing. Now, after a journey into Canaan and into Egypt and back, we see a part of the promise unfolding. Lot, Abram’s nephew, was blessed in the process by his association with his uncle. Soon they had flocks and herds and tents (for a growing family, workers and storage) in such number that the land could not support them. Literally, because of all their possessions there had to be a distance between them. There was no enmity or malice there. It was just a volume that kept them apart creating natural conflicts of territorialism. How they balanced the “yours, mine and ours” grew increasingly difficult. It did so until we will find they had to separate. Of course, that would lead to becoming more of a nation, a confederation. What would it be that kept them together when they were apart and experiencing separation? I would go back to yesterday’s reflection on “staying centered.”

This is the challenge for all of us as we seek to maintain our personal, vocational and avocational alliances and communities. What keeps us together? What does it mean to focus on what is most important for us and for others in our “circle of life”? As mighty ones of God, we know the scripture to “love with our heart, mind and soul.” We know that without love, we are nothing of true substance. We are told “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” All of these are “centering” messages. When we take our eye off the goal, our mission and objective, we wander in our thoughts and actions. We lose focus on what is right, true and good. Abram experienced that when he was confronted with Pharaoh. Without God’s intervention, all would have been lost. Would the same become true for Lot as he encountered challenges to stay on task and in focus? Of course, we know the answer is yes in the story that is coming up about Sodom and Gomorrah.

It is an alert to us all to be centered on Christ. The image of the cross will not mislead us. As we look at the cross today, we know that it is empty. The Jesus of Nazareth who took up His cross and carried it to Calvary on Golgatha’s hill died there. He was taken lovingly from the cross and buried in the Garden tomb. It would do us well to remember that centering word “garden.” It was the place where Adam and Eve walked with God. It was the place where they also lost sight of God and fell into temptation. We find Jesus in the Garden walking and talking with God. It was also the place where temptation made its greatest call. Remember at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He was tempted three times and at His weakest having fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. He did not flinch. He rebuked Satan and Satan had to flee. In the Garden of Gethsemane, however, temptation made its most poignant call. It was the call of the cross, the call of true love, to consider the consequences of laying down one’s own life for the sake of another or others. Jesus didn’t hesitate in the wilderness. He did give pause to reflect in the Garden. Where is the Garden in our lives? It is where we walk the most with God and talk with Him. It is where our weakness may show itself as we rely solely on God for our own meaning and purpose. It doesn’t mean we are weak. Jesus certainly wasn’t. And God isn’t. But as mortal people we have those gaps and lapses between the breathing in and breathing out. This is why we need to be covered by the blood of Jesus. The cross shows us that Jesus is the center of our lives: not in death but in life. In death, He is not there because in life He maintains His walk and talk with God the Father. Good advice for us. It would be good advice for Abram and Lot, too, if only….

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.