Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Genesis 19:26, “But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Background

I was one second away from tragedy this morning. As I crested the hill of one of the two lane roads I take to work, I found shining back at me four headlights where there should have been only two. A huge pickup truck was passing another car, and when I came into the picture, he was square in my lane, only feet in front of me. Fortunately for both of us, he had just enough time and room to cross back over into his own lane. But had I been a few feet closer, had I been one second ahead of where I was at that point, only God in His grace and mercy knows what would have happened. Adding to the potential gruesomeness of the situation was the fact that, had something tragic occurred, my mother-in-law and her sister would have been one of the first ones to happen upon the wreckage. They had spent the night with us, needing to be somewhere in town early this morning, and they were leaving the house only minutes after I had left. We never know, do we?

Application

The strange twist of that moment was that, two minutes previously, I had rehearsed in my mind the relative dangers of the two turns I had just made leaving my neighborhood. They both involve entering onto roads at points directly after a curve, and cars seemingly appear out of nowhere. Sort of like the truck in my lane. He was there and gone before I could hardly grasp the gravity of the situation. Who knows what I would have done if our vehicles were much closer to colliding. Only after driving a bit further did it sink in as to how close a call it had been. We never know, do we? So it’s important to take care and focus on what we do know. We know our time is short. We know we are blessed beyond measure. We know God saved us for a purpose. Just like He saved me again this morning. Just like He saves us all anew every morning. Every day we are being saved and fully forgiven. Only God’s grace and mercy keeps something worse from happening. I’m proof of that this morning.

Charge

As we seek Him today, thank God for all that He spares you from without you ever knowing. Thank Him for what He saves your heart from that you do know.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words