“I am…your exceedingly great reward.”

                 Lot had been something of an embarrassment to his uncle Abraham for years.  Now he was in a really impossible situation.  First he had taken the best of Abraham’s promised land for his own shepherds and flocks for grazing (Genesis 13:10-13).  It was bad enough that he didn’t respect his uncle and yield to him.  After all, Abraham was his elder.  But the ground he chose lay near Sodom, where “the men…were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord” (v. 13).

Now Lot had been captured by a coalition of kings led by Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, descendants of Noah’s son Shem (10:22) who inhabited part of the southern plain.  One of the prisoners escaped and ran to tell Abraham.  With only 318 servants, he pursued Lot’s captors and won a victory to the extent that he returned with all of Sodom’s goods and captives, Lot included (14:16).  In response, the king of Sodom offered Abraham all the goods if he would return the people.  Abraham’s wisdom is supreme as he rejected the offer and returned everything to the king.  He didn’t want it known that king of such a wicked city “had made [him] rich” (v. 23).  This is a lesson many Christians today know nothing about!

How did God react to Abraham’s choice?  His word came to him in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid…I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (15:1).  Imagine that – in contrast to the worldly spoils of a corrupt and pagan city, God himself was Abraham’s reward!  Could there be any greater contrast?!  Isaiah raised the question, “To whom then will you liken God?  Or what likeness will you compare to him?” (40:18).  Abraham’s decision reflects what the psalmist wrote centuries later, “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is none upon earth that I desire beside you” (Psalm 73:25).

The Bible closes with the idea of reward.  In Revelation 22:12, Jesus says, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to everyone according to his work.”  Many Christians put the emphasis of this verse on the word reward – “My reward is with me.”  But I have a suspicion that this is not the best way to understand the point.  Since God is the source of all rewards, the emphasis should be on the last word – “My reward is with me.”  What do we have that God has not given us, either the air we breathe, our lives, our friends, our possessions, even our rewards.  It all comes from him, because he is our great reward.

After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on 9/11/01, President Bush went to visit some of the wounded that lay in a DC area hospital.  With no reporters or photographers around, he stopped by the room of Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell of Texas.  He had been burned over 60% of his body when one hijacked plane hit the Pentagon.  The president entered the doorway of his room and promptly saluted and called, “Colonel Birdwell!”  Normally in the American military, the only time a president does this is when the soldier is receiving the Purple Heart, the nation’s highest military medal for those wounded in battle.  At all other times it is the soldier who salutes first.  But not this time!  What was the president doing?  As the most powerful man in the world, he was honoring – even rewarding – this wounded soldier for a job well done.  His action implied that the soldier was worthy of the Purple Heart.

But the story goes on.  In this kind of situation, the soldier is not obligated to return the salute.  Yet as President Bush stood there saluting this disfigured, wounded hero, the officer very slowly, with a great deal of pain, carefully, slowly, lifted his bandaged, trembling arm and returned the salute.  President Bush held his salute until the soldier’s arm gently, gingerly returned to his side.

What made this moment significant?  Anyone can come in and salute a wounded soldier.  The moment, the recognition, the honor, were defined by the one saluting.  It was the President of the United States!  It was all wrapped up in who he was.  So it is with God.  The all-powerful, holy and faithful God of the universe honors, rewards and even salutes us, his soldiers who serve him well.  He is our exceedingly great reward.  Does your life initiate God’s salute?