Abraham had a very dear nephew named Lot, and both of them were very rich. They didn’t have big houses and lots of money in the bank, but they had lots of cows and sheep and goats. And like many people in early Bible times, both families lived in tents.
You may know that cows, sheep and goats eat huge amounts of grass. You need to have fields and fields of pasture and wells of water to keep them all healthy. It isn’t any surprise that the shepherds caring for Abraham and Lot’s herds and flocks began to quarrel with each other about fields for their animals. Abraham and Lot wondered what they should do about the problem. They decided they had better go different ways.
You choose which way you want to go, said Abraham. Will you go to the right or to the left? Then we’ll both have room for our animals.
What would you do if you had a decision to make like that? Lot had a family, and he should think about what would be good for his children.
How would you go about making a choice? The best thing to do is to get down on your knees and pray, asking the Lord what choice to make. Tell Him that your children are far more important than your animals. Children go to heaven or hell, but animals don’t go anywhere. “Lord, what shall I do?”
Lot looked at the rich green fields towards the city of Sodom and quickly made up his mind. Good pasture ... I’ll be richer than rich! That’s my choice. So Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, and soon he settled right in the city, which was wicked and sinful. The men of Sodom were glad to have an honest man living there.
And then came trouble. Enemies came to fight that city, and they took Lot prisoner along with many others.
Someone told this upsetting news to Abraham. He armed his 318 trained servants, and they went after the enemy and rescued Lot and all the others, as well as the goods. By now Lot should have seen that living in Sodom put him and his family in bad company.
But Lot didn’t see it that way. Sodom was a good place to become rich and be important. It seems that he never thought of leaving that wicked city. Why should he leave when business was so good?
Then Melchisedec, the king of Salem, came to meet Abraham. He was the priest of the Most High God. He brought bread and wine to refresh Abraham and blessed him, telling him that the Most High God delivered his enemies into his hand. Then Abraham gave Melchisedec a tenth of all he had won in the battle with the enemy.
The blessing from Melchisedec was such a joy to Abraham that when the king of Sodom wanted to reward him for rescuing the people, he said, No, I won’t take anything from you. I don’t want you to say, “I have made Abraham rich.” Let the others take their share, but not me. I’m rich enough.
What a wonderful answer! You can’t answer like that if you have not received blessing from God first. Then you can say “No” to whatever the world tries to offer you.
Who do you think made the right decision—Abraham or Lot? If you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you’ll agree that Abraham made the right decision. He received blessing from the priest of the Most High God and didn’t care about becoming richer. If you don’t know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you’ll think that Lot made the right decision to get richer by living in Sodom, even though it was a wicked and sinful city and a harmful place to raise his children.
You may read this story for yourself in Genesis, chapters 13 and 14.
ML-03/10/2013