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Studies in Genesis, Abram’s All On The Altar, Lesson XXXII, Genesis 13:14-18
God has given us an account of the experiences of two men, Abraham and Lot, that we may learn what it is to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only.
It is easy to hear the word, to meditate on the word, to mull the word over in our minds but the doing of it is another thing.
Getting the heart and mind in motion that the body moves with the word of God is what God desires His word to do.
The farmer who plants himself in his easy chair during the spring time planting and leaves the seed in the barn will never see the harvest.
He can boast of the seed, he can glory that he has abundant seed in the barn but it is worthless seed unless sown in the fields in springtime.
For he is only a farmer in his mind for a true farmer sows seed in order to see an eventual harvest.
So Abram and Lot are now separated, Lot choosing the well-watered plains of the Jordan valley where we see him with no interaction with God for Lot has chosen to do his own will.
He has used the world’s logical, analytical, and reasoning methods apart from seeking God’s mind, a mind which knows the beginning and the end, in choosing the well-watered plains, plains which look so good at the beginning but in the end bring upsetting and disastrous results and destruction to many.
But we are given to hear God speak to Abram who has an ear to hear for Abram has chosen to do God’s will, a will which required him to separate from his nephew Lot.
We read of this in:
Genesis 13:14-18, 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: 15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16 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. 17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
So God chooses to speak to Abram after his separation from Lot.
Until this time Abram has not been in complete obedience to God who had commanded him to separate from his kindred.
God promises to bless but blessings come with obedience to His word for obedience to His word means that His will is being sought and followed.
Blessings come when God’s will is being done for God’s will is supreme, a truth which must be absorbed in order to fully serve Him.
Abram reacted to conditions in the land which brought about a need to separate from his nephew Lot.
But remember those conditions were God placed conditions which in effect forced Abram to bring about the God commanded separation from his kindred.
It was God who brought about blessings upon Abram but it was also God who brought about obedience from Abram by forcing the separation in order to prevent strife.
So Abram was again fit to receive the promise of God regarding the land.
Remember in our previous lesson we were witness to Lot lifting up his eyes in order to choose based upon financial gain but here in our passage we are witness to God’s command to Abram to lift up his eyes of faith to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west.
Lot saw the well-watered plains but Abram saw to the horizon in every direction and past that, for God had promised the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
Learn here from scripture that faith looks beyond what these bodily eyes see for God by faith gives eyes to see the glories of eternity.
We learn from the book of Hebrews that Abraham learned that looking through the eyes of faith will bring one to see the city whose builder and maker is God.
Standing upon that hill top looking at what God had just described and then peering down in the valley to look at the verdant luxurious green of the Jordan valley could cause one to question the walk of faith.
But God did not speak to Lot, now basking in his newly found Eden with its rich black moistened dirt, but God instead spoke to Abram, the one who believed Him and obeyed Him.
And He used the very dust so prevalent in the dry and arid land to describe the abundance of Abram’s seed.
Faith knows that God can take the very dust of the earth to fulfill his promises to Abram for are we not all made from the dust of the earth?
God gives us these passages of faith for our learning.
When beginning on the road of faith don’t expect a promotion.
Don’t expect a well done thou good and faithful servant.
Don’t’ expect a well paved road lined with flowers.
BUT expect a dry and arid land, expect a road filled with pot holes and stony places.
Expect trials and difficulties for God has much work to do as he sculpts you into conformance with His Son, Jesus Christ.
My own new life in Christ begun in 1970 has followed this pattern but I know the outcome is God arranged and God defined.
Abram may have seen in the dust the trials to come, the difficulties to face but he also saw by faith the fulfillment of God’s promises to him and to his seed.
The time was passed in looking on the dust with doubt, comparing it to the well-watered plains, for now it was the time of hope, for God had spoken of future blessing.
One thing to learn in the realm of faith is that God gives His children sight to look afar off.
The world can see only to the horizon but God gives vision beyond the horizon, vision to see the halls of heaven and the wonderful mansions Jesus Christ is preparing for his children.
So God commands Abram to: arise, to walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
It was a command to Abram to absorb what God had promised.
Abram, survey the land that would someday be yours and remember my promises.
For he was not to possess it, but to inspect it with the eye of faith.
I remember the stories from Dr. and Mrs. Hobbs about this land upon which this ministry was built and the floods upon other donated land which opened up eyes to its unsuitability for ministry buildings.
God led all the way and upon this hill He brought forth this work.
I also remember my own survey of land which God had provided for our family and children who boarded with us in order to go to Santa Rosa Christian School.
I had been led of the Lord in this venture but needed land to build upon and God did indeed provide the land after much prayer.
Certainly in both cases, not at all anything to compare with Abram, but still a land God provided for these works of faith.
I remember I would go to special places of prayer upon our given land for God to provide the necessary things for the ministry and to provide children who could be reared in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
God was faithful to Abram and he was faithful to Dr. and Mrs. Hobbs and to me and to my wife and family and to the children who had opportunity to learn of Him in our home, our church and our school.
God’s comforting words to Abram were to take your mind off the well-watered plains and to take your mind off of your nephew and his family and to bring your mind to see what is ahead for I have promised to give you this land.
And Abram knew that what God said would come about, not in his earthly lifetime but did God let him see from the battlements of heaven Joshua’s entrance into the land so many hundreds of years later?
And do Abraham and Jesus, in heaven, speak of the coming kingdom where every promised square mile will be realized for the first time?
These are the kind of musings that faith bring.
Seeing afar off certainly brings the things of earth to grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
So we are to see in Abram after walking through the land a growing faith in the God who called him from Ur of the Chaldees, the God who called him to separate from the things of earth to the things above.
So in this new state, this state of obedience to God’s command we read of Abram’s move to Hebron and his building of a new place of worship in the plain of Mamre.
Reading Genesis 13:18, Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
This is the fourth mention of an altar with regard to Abraham.
An altar always represented a place of consecration, a place of worship.
Noah, Abram, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Gideon all built altars after having an encounter with God.
An altar usually represented a person’s desire to consecrate himself fully to the Lord.
God had worked in their life in such a way that they desired to create something tangible to memorialize it.
Sometimes God commanded an altar to be built in order that future generations remember the mighty works of God.
The tabernacle and the temple had such an altar built to detailed specifications far different than altars of old which could consist simply of a group of twelve stones.
We in our modern church service think of the altar in front of us where we may come to give our life to God for his service.
It is a place of battle where the flesh and the spirit engage.
When we surrender areas of our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit, we are in effect laying that area on the altar before God.
Abraham was promised a son and given a son whom he loved dearly but God brought Abraham to an altar where he was asked to offer his son Isaac to the Lord.
It was a place of consecration where God asked of Abraham complete and utter allegiance to Him, a willingness to give up all.
God too in His word asks the same of us for we also place so much in front of God and God’s work.
We can ask the Lord what areas of our lives He is requiring that we offer to Him.
We can symbolically lay that on the altar and let go.
We don’t need a flat-topped surface of twelve stones or an altar of shittim wood; we can surrender our lives to God on the altar of our hearts at any time.
We sing from time to time this hymn: Is Your All On The Altar?
Does this hymn mean anything to you or do you simply sing it going through the motions, which means making a feeble effort at it, not really asking the question of yourself.
But really listen to these words!
The contrast of these two men, Abram and Lot is striking.
Lot pitching his tent toward Sodom, hearing and tasting the delights of the city and moving his tent ever closer until we find him inside the city among the godless and wicked men.
Be careful of moving your life for financial gain.
Lot chose the well-watered plain not so he could serve God but so he could serve himself.
I Tim 6:9 speaks of Lot and all others who labor to be rich, as Proverbs 23:4 says, not ceasing from their own wisdom:
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
So Lot cast the lot into the lap but forgot that the whole disposing is of the Lord and we will read of that disposing in later lessons.
But Abram chose the life of the sojourner, dwelling instead in the barren land, the dusty land, not for financial gain, but living with a heart of hope in the promises of God.
Abram continued to live in his tent, moving his herds according to God’s direction, always having his hand out to the Lord, always depending upon God’s provision, always trusting in his goodness, places to which the rich rarely come.
But Lot gives up his tent for a home in Sodom, that place of goods and provision produced by the wicked, apart from the hand of God.
And both those decisions will lead to an end, one to eternal reward and one saved as if by fire.
One to blessings upon blessings on his seed and the other to curses upon curses to his descendants.
Has anything changed since those days gone by?
Not a wit for the same heart that beat in Abram and Lot’s breast still beats in yours and mine.
These same decisions confront every Christian.
Do we trust in the sovereignty of God or in our own plans and arrangements?
What are we after, the pleasing of men or the pleasing of God?
Lot chose the former but Abram chose the latter so it is incumbent upon the living to learn from their end and choose to bow the knee to their Almighty God, the Lord Most High!
God spoke these words in Deuteronomy 30:19, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
We preach the Gospel that you may choose life! |