When
reading the Bible, it is important to pay attention to the small details of the
stories. Often, those details are the
point.
For
example, in Genesis 13 Abram (or “Abraham” as he is more well known) and his
nephew Lot have a problem. Their flocks
and herds have become so large that the land cannot support both of them, so Abram
comes up with a plan.
He
said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your
herdsmen and mine… Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right. If you go to the right, I’ll go to the left”
(verses 8-9).
Did
you catch the small, but very important detail?
If you miss it, then you will miss a big part of the lesson and example
of Abram.
Abram
allowed Lot to choose the land that he wanted.
That
detail is important because that is not the normal procedure. Abram is the oldest, therefore, the choice
should have been his. Instead, he defers
to his nephew.
Abram
does this because he has learned that God is looking after him and that he does
not have to control every aspect of his life. In fact, his entire life is an example
of that principle.
When we meet
Abram, God tells him to leave his home, but he does not tell him exactly where
he is going. Abram goes anyway (Genesis
12:1-3). God then leads him through the
Promised Land, down to Egypt and back to the Promised land. None of this is Abram’s
choice. He is simply following God’s
instructions and doing what he is told to do.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense that he would give over to Lot when
choosing where they were going to live.
By letting Lot choose, he is actually trusting that God will continue to
look after him and give him what he needs.
I
need more of that kind of faith. I need
to worry less and trust more. If I
really believed that God was watching over me and I did not have to control
everything, I think I would have a happier and more peaceful life.
Who
knows what God might do in us, through us and around us if we would just get
out of his way?
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