we're going to be reading from
Genesis chapter 13 and we're going to be continuing somewhat
in the narrative that we've recently begun with respect to the life
of Abraham. So Genesis chapter 13 and we'll
read from verse 1. And Abraham went up out of Egypt,
he and his wife, and all that he had, and lot with him into
the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle,
in silver and in gold. And he went on his journeys from
the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had
been at the beginning, between Bethel and High, unto the place
of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there
Abraham called on the name of the Lord. And Lot also, which
went with Abraham, had flocks and herds and tents, and the
land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together,
for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell
together. And there was a strife between
the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle,
and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And
Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between
me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before
thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee,
from me. If thou wilt take the left hand,
then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right
hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and
beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere,
before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden
of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zohar. Then Lot chose him all the plain
of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves
the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan,
and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent
towards Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked,
and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And the Lord said unto Abram,
after that lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes,
and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward,
and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will
make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can
number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land
in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give
it unto thee. Then Abraham removed his tent
and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron,
and built there an altar unto the Lord. Amen. May God bless also this
reading to us. After the sad and embarrassing
incident in Egypt, Abraham, Sarah and Lot return to the south of
Canaan and they are now very wealthy people. Perhaps much
of that wealth had been acquired in Egypt. We're not exactly sure
how long they stayed there, how long the events of the previous
chapter took, or indeed whether the gifts that they had been
given were amassed to make this new wealth that Abram and Lot
possessed. But wealth can be a great blessing
and also a great snare and a source of trouble. If indeed they had
got these riches in Egypt it may explain why Lot was now so
rich also and they had great flocks between them. Abraham,
we're told, continued to worship the Lord, no doubt thanking him
for safety in Egypt despite the deception that had been perpetrated,
for protection that he had enjoyed for himself and for Sarah, and
for their household and their possessions. And the return to
the altar and the presence of the altar in Abraham's thanksgiving
and worship of God reminds us once again that Abraham understood
both the nature of true spiritual worship and the object of true
spiritual worship. He worshipped the one true God
and he worshipped him through the spilling of blood upon an
altar. He made a sacrifice as a way
of approach to God, understanding that there must be this picture
of the sacrificial lamb that typified the Lord Jesus Christ,
the promised one who was yet to come. Now the great wealth
of Abraham and Lot begins to be an issue and as they travel
together we discover that the land is not able to sustain their
herds and the quantity of the fertility of the land isn't able
to sustain perhaps the grass and the waters that they need. And so we find that the herd
men of both of these men, Abraham and Lot, they begin to fight,
no doubt, so that the herds can have the best grazing. And we're
also told at this stage in the narrative that the Canaanite
and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And so while we
see Abraham and Lot here in the land, we also discover that there
are other peoples in the land, families, tribes. perhaps with
their towns and their villages, their cities. And the significance
of being told that at this stage is perhaps to show to us, the
readers of this story, that these people, the Canaanites and the
Perizzites, were witness to this conflict that was taking place
between this family, Abraham and Lot. And also perhaps that
there was a risk because if the two were fighting together then
the Canaanites and the Perizzites may imagine that they could take
advantage of them during that time. The world is always interested
to see and to observe and to witness conflict in the church
and between brethren. And that is always a reason why
we should follow Abraham's wise counsel here and make sure that
we manage our affairs so that we don't have conflict one with
another. Abraham was indeed wise in this
matter. And despite possessing the seniority
and the honour that that would bring, he gives Lot the pick
of the land. He says, Lot, look in whatever
direction you want. and you go where you want with
your herds, with your family, with your wealth and I will go
in the opposite direction for our common good and I can just
briefly show you the map again and you'll see here that we're
all in this little box here, this little white box in the
cluster of names just towards the left-hand side there of the
map and Abraham has come back up out of Egypt into the south
of the country towards Bethel there and In that area, we see
that that is where there's both mountainous area, which is slightly
sandy in its colour, and there's the green areas of the fertile
plains. And Lot, it seems, decided that
he would have the benefit of the fertile plains. So let me
just leave off that map now. So there we see Lot taking preference
over Abraham and perhaps the younger man should have thought
that he would return the favour and defer to Abraham. But his
eyes were attracted to the fertile plain and the potential for wealth
that that would bring. He saw the plain of Jordan and
he saw the cities of the plain and he desired to be part of
that. he would descend out of the mountain
country into the good land while Abraham stayed in the hills. And so verses 12 and 13 tells
us that Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his
tent towards Sodom. But then there is a little rider
to this statement. We're told, but the men of Sodom
were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. And soon
we will discover this causes Lot a considerable amount of
trouble. Now separated, Abraham and Lot
are not divided. They separate in good terms,
as we will also see in the passages ahead. They're still in good
terms, the two men, but now they've separated. And God appears again
to Abraham, and he restates something of the promise of the inheritance
of the land that Abraham now dwelt in, the land of Canaan,
for his seed. And verse 15 says, For all the
land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed
for ever. Now this was a promise of land,
but it was also a promise of children and descendants because
there would be a possession of Abraham's seed and yet Abraham
had no children as yet. and he was getting older and
Sarah was getting older and so we see that here in these spiritual
promises God is again bringing Abraham to that point where he
has to have faith, he has to trust He has to believe God. Although he cannot see the evidence
of it immediately, he can see the land, but he doesn't own
it or have full possession of it. The Canaanites, the Perizzites,
the cities of the plain, the kings of those cities were all
still there. How was it that this was to be
Abraham's and his seeds? and his faith was tested here. Abraham was invited to survey
the land, to walk through it. but for many years there would
be no possession and for many years there would be no children.
And so here we see Abraham's faith being tested and we see
the evidence of Abraham's faith because he believed God. And
that is why Abraham is called the father of the faithful or
the father of faith. And we will see as we progress
how Abraham trusted the Lord, he believed in the promises,
and as such he is a fine example for us, for while we may not
be able to see the fulfillment of all the things that God has
promised, yet we are called to believe them. God is faithful,
God is true, and may we be like faithful Abraham and trust in
his promises, even although we may not yet be in full possession
of them. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
these thoughts.