FAILURES AND HURDLES: GOD WRITES HISTORY IN A STORY OF ABRAM AND LOT

By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé

 

As the title of this week’s blog represents, Michael so wisely says about Scripture,

 

“This Book is all about the failures and hurtles that become stepping stones that grow into building blocks that make knowledge. With that knowledge comes truth.”

 

The knowledge and truth of which Michael speaks, is introduced in a masterful manner by God Himself, the Master Storyteller, Who inspired the Book of Genesis. For “All Scripture is God-breathed.” (2 Timothy 3:16) NIV.

 

The literary technique used is one spoken of by the playwright, Chekhov:

 

“If, in the first act, you have hung a pistol on the wall, then, in the following one, it should be fired. Otherwise, don’t put it there.”

 

You recall, in the last two blogs, how rich in Earthly goods Abram and his nephew, Lot, had become. Verses such as these were like Chekhov’s pistol on the wall in the first act of a play:

 

“So Abram went up from Egypt…and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.”

(Genesis 13:2) NIV

 

“Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.”

(Genesis 13:5) NIV

 

The scene has been set. It is made explicit that both Abram and Lot, whom Abram treated much more like a son than the nephew that he actually was, have, on these detours to Harran and to Egypt, accumulated an abundance of worldly goods. They have visited Canaan, the only place where God told Abram to go, but the greater percentage of the time, Abram has been more than willing to trade obedience for the detours that have been so profitable in the acquisition of the material.

 

As an aside, what a compelling example this is of the critical failures continually depicted in Scripture and of which Michael speaks in our blog’s opening quote. How credibility is established, Biblically, when the ENTIRETY of human deeds and human nature are presented in a way that does not mince words or compromise truth. How salient the point that the Bible makes in including these. And the point is this – Satan, the enemy, whose trickery resulted in mankind’s Fall to begin with, is always content to allow an abundance of Earthly treasures for anyone enticed to delay obedience which would deliver Godly treasures to them. His sleight-of- hand is particularly evident in this part of Abram’s story, as the next few paragraphs will make clear.

 

So, the situation is that Abram, with his beloved Lot in tow, finally enters Canaan with the intention of staying there, encumbered with tremendous wealth. Michael and I purposely use the word, “encumbered.” All these assets that these two men have acquired, are just about to become a major liability.

 

It is difficult not to recall Abram’s original call. The centerpiece of it was to LEAVE things and people behind.

 

“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘GO from your country, your people and your Father’s household to the land that I will show you.”

(emphasis added)

(Genesis 12:1) NIV

 

There were no words from God to TAKE anyone or anything. Abram was to arrive in this unnamed destination quite without the trappings of wealth he had possessed in Ur of the Chaldeans. As always, God is not arbitrary in his requests. He is not now, nor was He then, some cosmic killjoy. He knew that Abram’s very mission would be placed in jeopardy by each and every vestige of wealth he brought with him. And this was no insignificant mission on which Abram was sent. An enormous part of the destiny of mankind was riding on Abram‘s success or failure. Of course, God the Almighty was right in instructing him as He did.

 

So we return to the story – Michael’s great insight about the Bible’s chronicling humanity’s failures, with which we began, and Chekhov’s pistol in Act One and the several statements that something very noteworthy happened on the way to Canaan, find their denouement when the early act reveals that Abram and Lot had gotten very, very rich!

 

Speaking of their enormous possessions, our Genesis author presents the consequences of all this material disobedience. The pistol in Act One is just about to be fired now, in Act Two:

 

“But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s…So Abram said to Lot, ‘Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herder’s and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? LET’S PART COMPANY.”

(emphasis added)

Genesis 13:6-9) NIV

 

The protector of Lot since Lot’s father died, Abram, and the protected one, Lot, the ones who had lived together, broken bread together and who were close relatives who had been like father and son, the son Abram had never had, were about to, as Scripture says, part company. And why? The possessions and wealth they had taken on, things not in God’s plan for them, had taken their toll. Suddenly, the tail was wagging the dog. In Michael’s words, the cost of failure is exposed on these pages of the Bible. In Chekhov’s words, the gun has fired.

 

And how would it be determined as to where each would go and, by the way, what would this reveal about the character of each man?

 

“So Abram said to Lot…’If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.’

Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, LIKE THE GARDEN OF THE LORD. LIKE THE LAND OF EGYPT…so Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. THE TWO MEN PARTED COMPANY. Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tent near Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.”

(emphasis added)

(Genesis 13:9-13) NIV

 

Michael says,

 

“Lot took the easy path. On the way he chose, he would have time on his hands. time for his mind to wander from where he was supposed to be.”

 

As to Abram, he adds,

 

“Abram appeared to get the short end of the stick, but it put him on a path that was straight and narrow. He had to depend on God for everything.”

 

What a lesson! In summing up, Michael says,

 

“God writes all of history. With the Bible, He is teaching us how failures and hurdles led to stepping stones where mankind started to learn truth.”

 

God’s lessons continue next week. The backstory of Lot in Sodom and Abram in Canaan will lead to some of Scripture’s amazing dramas and some of its most iconic passages, as Abram begins to grow into Abraham, though receiving that name is still years away. Abram is under the direct tutelage of the LORD God Almighty, THE Teacher of the ages. What a joy that, in studying these verses, we are all also his students as well as his beloved children!