Lesson 4: "A Skeleton in the Closet'" Genesis 13:1-18
"But the land could not support them while they stayed together…" Genesis 13:6
Leave Your Father's Household
In 12:1, Abram received specific instructions from God. What 3 things was Abram to leave behind? Abram failed to do these things right away. He delayed. Also, he brought Lot with him to Canaan! This is not leaving your household. This is bringing it with.
We have no indication that Lot experienced a close relationship with Abram's God. Lot seemed to be the man he was in Ur, in Haran, and now in Canaan.
Shared Blessings
Abram came out of Egypt wealthier than when he went in (13:2). Abram must have shared that wealth with Lot (13:5). Was it out of guilt?
There seemed to be plenty of land (13:9). Yet, the two camps began to quarrel (13:7). What was the origin of these quarrels?
Abram made Lot a generous and unselfish offer. The land around the Jordan was fertile (13:10). Yet Abram allowed Lot to choose first, in an effort to make peace. Abram is maturing. Is this a sign Abram's faith is growing? God promised Abram land. What would Abram get if Lot chose the best land?
A selfish choice
Lot looked around, and allowed his eyes to guide him. (Remember David and Bathsheba? Watch those eye and ear gates…)
Instead of making family and God's will most important, Lot moved towards Sodom.
Reassurance
Before, when Abram took his first steps of faith, God reassured Abram by letting him know he was doing the right thing (12:1 and 12:7). Now, God does the same thing again (13:14-17)
Part of the land God promised Abram in 13:14 was the land Lot chose. Abram resisted the temptation to grab that land himself, with his own hands, and ended up with it anyway.
This is a turning point for Abram. He has found that with God, often in losing we win. We think we lose, only to find what we lost wasn't worth having in the first place, and we won something of far greater value.
Lot will soon discover this the hard way.
See Hebrews 11:9-10 for a clue as to what was starting to motivate Abram.
Have the faith to let go of something of value. We'll find that probably God knows it is valuable to us, and means a lot to us. He was just trying to find out which came first.
2 Principles
#1) Always remember that God's forgiveness in Christ extends to everything we've done in the past.
#2)
The degree of change that takes place often depends partly on the degree to which our total being has been affected by past sins. (Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 3:20-21)
