Until I Know That You are Safe

​This morning I was deep into a study of Genesis Chapter 19 and the Holy Spirit began impressing some things so strongly upon my heart that it caused me to weep at the tenderness of our God.  The more I read in Chapter 19, the more I knew He was speaking to me about the times right now, the very day we are living in!  Chapter 19 tells the story of two angels who arrive at the home of Lot in the city of Sodom. The angels enter this city besieged with a culture of homosexuality and sexual perversion and they are on a mission from God to help Lot and his family escape before God completely eradicates this wicked place.  I will pick the story up in verse 15:
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” 16 When he hesitated, 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. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” 18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” 21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.”

Can you place yourself in this story, today? Imagine that great judgments are coming upon the nation of America and just as it appears that your life and the lives of your family members may be snuffed out through an engulfing flood, a raging fire or a devastating earthquake, an angel comes to you - appearing as a man - and gives you explicit instructions from the Lord on how He wants to save your life.  If the angel urges you to hurry and flee to a place that seems far, would you trust that God can get you there?  It seems that Lot must have looked at the situation in the flesh, given that he was a very old man by then.  He must have been looking at his own limitations instead of God's supernatural power and strength to deliver him! But even when Lot protested to the angel that he could not make it to the mountains, and proposed a different plan to go a shorter distance to a "small town," did God give up on him?  Did the angel say, "Well, if you're not going to trust God to get you there, then stay in Sodom and burn?"  No!  He said, "Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee there quickly because I cannot do anything until you reach it."

What was he really saying to Lot? What would he really be saying to you if you were one of God's own Remnant, one of those who love and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and keep His ways, but fall into fear that you wouldn't be able to make it "to the mountains?"  He's really saying, "Very well.  I'll honor your request, but you need to get there quickly because I CANNOT DO ANYTHING UNTIL I KNOW THAT YOU ARE SAFE!"  Do you see that?  The King of the Universe is that determined to keep safe His own when He is getting ready to judge the wicked.  You mean that much to him, just as Lot meant that much to Him.  But why?  Why did this family mean so much to God?  We find out in verse 29:  
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
He remembered Abraham. Why? Because He made covenant with Abraham - a promise that through him all peoples would be blessed - because there would be salvation in Yeshua/Jesus, who would come through this line.  

I pondered this a long time and the tender, merciful heart of God touched me so deeply.  In the midst of great disaster I believe He will keep me safe, and hopefully my family with me (as He did for Lot);  not based on my righteousness or good works, but  because He remembers Abraham and I have entered into this Covenant too. Lot was part of Abraham's family - and so am I!  Perhaps in some future time, in the face of great disaster, an angel will whisper to me and to you, "Flee quickly because I cannot and will not do anything until I know that you are safe!"