Chapter 7. Genesis 13. Abram and Lot.
ABRAM was very rich; he had silver and gold, and flocks and herds and tents. Lot also, his nephew, possessed great riches, so much so that there was not enough pasture for all their cattle. This caused the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle to quarrel with those of Lot’s. When Abram saw it he said to Lot: “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; 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.” Fully trusting that God would lead him where he should go, Abram could well afford to let his nephew choose. But Lot wanted the good things of this life. He did not care whether God wanted him to go or not, nor did he Seek to please his uncle. He was selfish and tried only to please himself. So he lifted his eyes, and saw the beautiful plain of Jordan. It was well watered, so must be productive. There would be plenty of food for his cattle; they would grow healthy and strong and increase greatly. In such a place his riches would increase. So thought Lot and he chose that plain, where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were built, and went east with all he had and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But he was not happy, for the men of Sodom were very wicked, and the Lord was not pleased with his choice. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and the Lord said to him, after Lot had gone away: “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, southward, eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy children forever. And the people that shall come from thee shall be 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 and breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”
Then Abram removed his tent from there and went to live in the plain of Mamre in Hebron and built there an altar to the Lord.
Many children and grown people too, fear that if they turn to the Lord, they will have to give up pleasures and good times, and, so they, like Lot choose this world, although away from God, enjoying “the pleasures of sin for a season,” but those who, like Abram, choose the better part, will find that in His presence is fulness of joy, at His right hand there are pleasures for ever more. Ps. 16:11.
ML 02/21/1909