A Tree at Beersheba

Observe. Abimelech, the king of Gerar, comes to Abraham with his army commander and asks him to swear an oath of good faith, because he can see that God is with Abraham in everything he does. Abraham agrees, but first raises a complaint: Abimelech's servants have seized a well. They settle it with seven ewe lambs as evidence that Abraham dug the well, and they name the place Beersheba, the well of the oath. Then Abraham plants a tamarisk tree there and calls on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. He stays in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Interpret. Nothing miraculous happens in this passage. A treaty, a dispute over water rights, a tree. But note the name Abraham uses. El Olam, the Everlasting God. He is making a treaty with a king whose reign will end, over a well that will silt up, under a tree that takes decades to mature, and he calls on the God whose time has no edges. A tamarisk is slow-growing and long-lived. Abraham planted it as a man who did not expect to sit under it but expected God to still be God when it was full grown.

Apply. Faith shows up in ordinary agreements and slow investments as much as in dramatic moments.

What are you planting this summer that you may never sit under? How do your ordinary disputes and contracts reflect what you believe about God's presence? What would it mean to call on the Everlasting God in the middle of a Tuesday?