Studies

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Studies in Genesis
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Separated to God Gen 13v1-18
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Introduction
The same experience can affect people in
different ways. Two families can lose a loved one
as a result of a terrorist attack. One family
decides to exact revenge by taking up arms, while
the second works for the peace process. Two
children endure a strict and suffocating
upbringing. In adult life one decides that his
children will have freedom of expression and
development while the other decides to make his
childrens lives even more unbearable. Both Abram
and his nephew Lot had returned to Canaan from
Egypt and their Egyptian experience there seems
to have affected them quite differently.
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Immediate Complication
Their stay in Egypt had significantly increased
the number of livestock they owned. And
quarrelling developed between their herdsmen
presumably over water and grazing rights. How
regularly there is friction in families over mere
possessions. Greater value is placed on things
than upon family relationships. Getting Aunt
Maryams silver cutlery becomes more important
that having a good relationship with ones
brother.
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Immediate Complication
The quarrelling in Abrams household was front
page news. Abram was concerned about what others
would think, that is the significance of the
phrase, the Canaanite and Perizzite dwelled in
the landv7. They were witnessing the growing
strife within a family that expressed faith in
God. The lives of Gods people are under constant
scrutiny and it is important not to give
unbelieving men and women reason to be dismissive
of our faith. Paul tells the Jews they failed at
this point, Gods name is blasphemed among the
Gentiles because of you. Rom 2.24 How often
have we heard someone say, If he is a Christian
I want no part of Christianity ? There was
only one practical solution for Abrams family
an agreement to separate.
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A Telling Choice
How generous Abram is in giving Lot the pick of
the land. Abram could have insisted on his
rights. He was the senior man. God had promised
him the land. Abram waved his rights. His faith
was such that he did not need to assert them to
ensure his prosperity. By not trying to hold
onto the best for himself he reveals a heart that
was learning to say, God can be trusted. He
was learning from his Egyptian experience, that
choosing for himself and putting himself first
simply created difficulties. He is now content
to leave the future in Gods hands. He was
beginning to hold the things of this world
loosely believing that having God was all that
ultimately mattered.
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A Telling Choice
I said to the LORD, You are my Lord apart from
you I have no good thing LORD, you have
assigned me my portion and my cup you have made
my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for
me in pleasant places surely I have a delightful
inheritance. Ps 16v6 David penned those words at
a time, when although Gods anointed king he was
obliged to live in a cave like an outlaw.
Abram too could say, apart from you I have no
good thing. What a contrast from the man, who
ran down to Egypt at the outbreak of famine
thinking, the future is what you make it, I
dont need to consult God at every turn but
instead can make decisions I can benefit
from.
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Lots Preference
In contrast, Lots stay in Egypt had turned his
head. This worlds value system had won his
heart. He had become spiritually shallow and lost
his appetite for the pilgrim life. He is drawn to
where the action is. When offered the choice we
read that Lot looked up, a phrase that carries
the idea of looking with longing, of drooling
over the well watered Jordan plain with good
commuter links to the cities of the plain. He
chose what seemed better materially, regardless
of the company he would have to keep in order to
get it. He chose not only a land that would
sustain his livestock but already in his heart
he has begun to gravitate towards the godless
cities of the plain.
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Lots Preference
This would be where he would attempt to pursue
his dreams of political leadership and where he
would give his daughters in marriage to
strengthen his hold in the community. Lots
choice is not impulsive. It had a history behind
it. His heart had been seduced and he had begun
to migrate to the cities of the plains long
before he left Abrams camp. Did he think he
could set a limit on his compromise with the
world? But the choice that he made was just the
first of a progression of choices that would
lead to the erosion of his faith. The Psalmist
describes the progressive and enslaving influence
of a sinful environment. Blessed is the man who
does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or
stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat
of mockers. Psalm 1v1.
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Lots Preference
Do you see the progressive involvement outlined
in the Psalm? Walk, stand, sit! Each step has a
greater quality of permanence associated with it.
Few godly folk set off intending to be ensnared
by evil society. They tell themselves they are
able to keep sinful influences at a distance but
they are soon pulled into the mire. That was Lots
path! In Contrast Ps1v2-3 could be a
description of Abram. his delight is in the
law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day
and night. He is like a tree planted by streams
of water, which yields its fruit in season and
whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does
prospers.
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Lots Preference
Lot mistakenly thought he had chosen the best for
himself! Down the ages many have repeated Lots
choice. They have pursued what they thought would
be the best for themselves. They have put
themselves in questionable situations. They have
swept ethics under the carpet in order to achieve
their goal of material fulfilment. And sadly
many, like Lot, have tried convince themselves
that they could be Gods witnesses in these
situations.
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Lots Preference
Oh you can be sure that such cities need godly
witness. They need preachers of righteousness!
But at this point Lots heart was not surrendered
to God but to material things. His heart was set
upon possessions, and prestige and as a result he
would make no noticeable impact on his chosen
environment. When Jesus sent his disciples out
into the world on mission, he prayed that they
would be in the world but not of the world Jn
17. Not under its influence, not under its
power not committed to its value system.
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Lots Preference
The N.T. describes Lot as righteous 2Pet. 2.7.
But that is not the whole story. God did not have
first place in his life. Faced with the choice
between this world and its rewards and God and
what he could do for him, Lot chose the world.
Cf. Demas and his love for this world, 2Tim 4.10.
The irony is, that the satisfaction that both Lot
and Demas longed for was only a step away - a
heart fully surrendered to God. When Lot set out
with Abram from Ur and then Haran on his faith
journey he undoubtedly exhibited excitement and
enthusiasm but these things do not pass the test
of time. In the parable of the sower Jesus
prepared his followers for the variety of
responses that would be made to Gods call cf
Mark 4.18. Lot reflects the thorny soil and not a
life fully surrendered to God.
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Lots Preference
The reason Lot failed to make any impact for God
in the cities of the plain was his unsurrendered
heart. He was in the world but he was also of
the world. Both Abram and Lot were wealthy. But
each had a different relationship to their
wealth. Abram had flocks but they did not own
him. In contrast Lots flocks possessed him for he
lived for his wealth. Only a surrendered heart
can bring itself to say with the Psalmist,
Lord apart from you I have no good thing.
Psalm 16.2
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Gods Encouragement
Letting Lot go would not have been easy for
Abram. Not only did it mean the severing of a
close family tie, but by dividing their forces
they were both more vulnerable to attack in an
alien land. In addition Abram, who was still
childless, may have entertained the hope that
Gods promise to him of a great blessing might
have found its fulfilment through Lot! But that
prospect seemed no longer viable.
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Gods Encouragement
It is at this low point that God draws near to
Abram, and says Lift up your eyesv14. The
promises of God were still online. Abrams
failure in Egypt and the departure of Lot had not
derailed the purposes of God. And Abram is
encouraged to believe that he would enjoy all
that God had promised, all that you see is
yours, take possession of it by faith as you walk
around it.
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Gods Encouragement
When our lives are surrendered to God, when we
hold our possessions loosely, we are sometimes
confused by the fact that others who do not
possess a similar commitment seem to get a better
deal in life. It is then that God comes and says
lift up your eyes, see what I have prepared for
you, see the riches that are yours in Christ
Jesus. How does the hymn-writer put
it? fading is the worldlings pleasure, all his
boasted pomp and show solid joys and lasting
treasure none but Zions children know.
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Conclusion
And so while Lot was intent upon amassing
possessions. Abram was content to develop a life
of fellowship with God and to guard that
fellowship as he awaited the fulfilment of the
promise. And we are challenged to do likewise.
The allure of the world and its value system is
very real but there is no substitute for a life
that is wholly surrendered to God. God has called
us to a life of holiness. And at its heart that
means being separated from the world and its
attractions and separated to God in all the
beauty of his person.
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