Part 1 - Going into the Unknown
To get the full picture of Abram (later called Abraham), read Genesis 11:26 – 25:11. In these studies, we shall only be picking out part of God’s story in his life. 'Abram' means 'high father' or 'exalted father'. After God had made a covenant with Abram to make him a 'father of many nations', He re-named Abram as 'Abraham', which means 'father of a multitude'.
Abram was a Chaldean by birth. He lived with his father, Terah, in the city of Ur in Chaldea. This area is in what is now called Iraq, about one hundred miles west of Basra. Terah moved to Haran (located in what is now southern Turkey, near the border with present-day Syria, more than six hundred miles from Ur) with his son, Abram and Abram's wife, Sarai, and also with his grandson, Lot. In Haran, Terah died at the age of two hundred and five years old. God then said to Abram: ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1-3) God’s promise to Abram was immense: to make him the founder of a great nation; to make his name great; to bless him and make him a blessing to others. (The word ‘bless’ means ‘to empower or to prosper’.) A blessing is an instrument through which God’s divine favour flows, bringing joy and happiness and preventing misfortune in the life of another. God’s plan was that all peoples on earth would be blessed through Abraham.
So, at the age of seventy-five, Abram set out into the unknown with just the promise of God's blessing. Now God had told him to 'leave his father's household' but, in the event, Lot, his nephew, went with him. We need to learn to be obedient to God; to do what He says, not adding to it or ignoring some of it. Lot proved to be a weight around Abraham’s neck for the rest of his life and Lot’s children by his own daughters (conceived when he was in a drunken stupor) became the founders of the Moabite and Ammonite tribes, which continually harassed the Israelites (God’s people) during their later history. (Deuteronomy 23:3-6; Numbers 22-25; Nehemiah 2:10; 4:3 and 13:1)
Abram set out for the land of Canaan and, on arriving there, journeyed as far as the tree of Moreh in Shechem. There God appeared to him, spoke to him and promised to give the land to his offspring. Abram responded to God by building an altar of worship. He then moved on and pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai, building another altar there, before moving on into the Negev. (The 'Negev' is a large desert region in what is now southern Israel. Its main city is Beersheba - Be'er Sheva.) Around that time, there was a famine in the land and Abram moved to Egypt, because of the scarcity of provisions.
Problems in Egypt
In Egypt, he started to be distracted by his problems and, instead of looking to God for help, he tried to solve those problems for himself. He persuaded his wife to join with him in distorting the truth. Sarai was a beautiful woman and Abram was worried that he might be killed so that his wife would became 'available' to an Egyptian to marry. So he said to Sarai: ‘Just tell them you are my sister, and everything will be all right!’ (In fact, Sarai was his half-sister; the daughter of his father but not his mother. At that time, there was no cultural prohibition on marrying a half-sibling; that came later under the laws given to Moses as recorded in the book of Leviticus.)
Of course, it wasn’t all right at all and his ruse was quickly discovered. Sarai was taken into the pharaoh's harem and God inflicted severe sickness on the pharaoh and his court. Enquiries were made and the sickness was traced back to the arrival of Sarai in the harem and the fact that she was already another man's wife. But, even in this difficult scenario, God was still in control. He had not forgotten His promise and that promise included Sarai. Abram was summoned to the pharaoh’s court, confronted by his lie and kicked out of Egypt. The Egyptians wanted nothing more to do with Abram, his wife or his possessions.
In the Bible, Egypt represents nations, civilisations and cultures that reject faith in God. In the New Testament, the apostle, John, refers to them collectively as ‘the world’. (1 John 2:15-17) They are contrasted with those who put their faith in God and are referred to as ‘the household of faith’. (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 2:19) As Christians, we no longer belong to 'the world' and, even though we might try to fit back into it, we can never be truly happy there, because we know that we don’t belong. We are adopted into God’s household and 'sealed for the day of redemption'. (Ephesians 4:30) So, let’s recognise who we are and where we have come to. We should now stand firmly by the decision that we've made and determine to live in the place that God has provided for us.
Secondly, Abram is confounded by the problem of Lot. Lot was never included in God’s call, but Abram took him anyway. As he did what Abram did, he too was blessed. Those who associate with believers cannot help but get blessed along with them, but they will also be faced with a choice: are you going to trust God for yourself? Lot was faced with just such a choice (Gen 13:5-13). Abram and Lot had become victims of their own success: they had large families with many possessions and could no longer exist side by side without creating endless friction. They had to part company and Lot opted for what (from 'the world's point of view), looked to be the best deal on offer: the Jordan plain as far as Zoar, sheltered, well watered and reminiscent of the garden of Eden. He went ahead and chose the cities of the plain, pitching his tent near Sodom.
As Christians, we too have choices to make. Do we separate ourselves from the sin that is in 'the world', or do we continue living with 'one foot in the world'? By this, I don't mean that we should abandon our homes and societies and live in cloistered communities; Jesus specifically asked that we should not do that. (John 17:15) We need to live and work in 'the world', making friends but showing that God's kingdom is a way better option that human 'civilisation'. If our lives do not measure up to the way that God says we should live them, we will have no effect on the people among whom we live. Lot chose to compromise and problems started, the moment his choice was made.
Read Genesis 14:1-24
A conflict arose between the people amongst whom Lot had chosen to live and four kings from the East. The kings from the East triumphed and carried off as prisoners Lot and all his neighbours. If you choose to live in your own strength and in your own way, outside of God’s protection, you will have to stand the consequences. Abram was informed of what had happened and called together the warriors from his own household to go and rescue Lot. He was able to recover him, together with all his family and possessions. In churches today, we should not stand for members of our family being 'taken away and imprisoned' by the Enemy. Instead, we should go after them, overcome Satan and his hordes and restore what has been taken.
We might have expected that Lot would have learned a lesson from his experience, moved away from the problem area and followed the example of his uncle Abram. Sadly, no, he wasn't prepared to abandon the attractions of a comfortable life. Like a dog to its vomit (Proverbs 26:11), Lot returned to his previous situation and continued to live amongst an increasingly perverted society. What about us? Are we living wholly in God’s ways, or are we continuing to follow the ways of 'the world'? Can we do so and continue to expect God to rescue us, whenever we are carried off, returning with utmost sorrow and gratitude only to continue where we left off?
Lot never did learn his lesson. In fact, he went from bad to worse. He continued to live in the middle of a society pervaded by sexual perversion and, when the men of Sodom wanted to carry out homosexual acts with angels who had come to rescue Lot and his family, he offered them his virgin daughters instead. What kind of a father is that? When you put your faith in God, you need to stand for the faith you have accepted. This will establish it in your heart. The more we declare the reality of our new relationship with the living God, the more we shall know in our heart that we have come out of darkness into His marvellous light.
Choose this day whom you will serve
The choices made by Abram and Lot offer stark contrasts of two different ways to live. As soon as they went their separate ways, God began to speak in depth to Abram. The promise that Abram had been given began to take shape for him. 'Look everywhere. It’s all yours. Go and walk through it. I am giving it to you.' God says that to us too. If we are willing to resign from 'the world' and give our allegiance to the kingdom of heaven, we will be so excited and engrossed in the blessings of heaven that we have no time left for 'the world'. Our focus will be eternal.
One day, God visited Abram and shared His heart with him. The evil stench of Sodom had risen to the point where something was going to be done. God would not allow it to continue. Knowing Abram's ongoing affection for his nephew, He shared this with Abram, who asked God to spare the city for the sake of just a small number of righteous people there. He haggled with God over the precise number and they eventually agreed on ten. However, it appears that there were only four: Lot, his wife and his two daughters.
Lot's whole life shows a pattern of Lot always being tentative in his actions. He gets so caught up in the present moment that he seems to have been incapable of seeing the consequences of his actions. It is hard to imagine what his life would have been like without Abram's careful attention and God's merciful intervention. Despite God's patience with him, Lot's life had settled in an ugly situation. He became thoroughly embedded in the sinful culture of his day and did not want to leave it.
Lot and his daughters were saved from the destruction of Sodom, but were left with nothing. His future sons-in-law did not believe Lot’s pleas to run for their lives and perished in Sodom. The angels sent to rescue Lot had to seize him by the hand to drag him away and his wife, having initially set off with Lot, then turned back and was turned to a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters finished up living in a cave in the mountains. To cap it all, his daughters then committed incest with him. His drifting finally led him to a very specific destination: destruction.
Ultimately, what effect did Lot’s life have on those amongst whom he lived? None. If you and I live for ourselves, doing what we want to do in the way that we want to do it, what effect will we have on those surrounding us? We need to live for God, so that all around can see His goodness and His mercy in our lives and we can be living examples for our family, friends and neighbours to copy.
However, in the New Testament, something of Lot's earlier attitude towards God is remembered. (2 Peter 2:7). The result of Lot's incestuous relationship with one of his daughters was the tribe of Moab and one of the descendants of Moab, Ruth, was an ancestor of Jesus Christ. This gives us hope that God not only forgives but often brings about positive circumstances from evil. What is the direction of your life? Are you headed towards God or away from Him? If you're a drifter, choosing to follow God may seem difficult, but it is the one choice that puts all other choices in a different light.
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