By Jill Roberts and Michael Canalé
Have you ever noticed how episodic life is? During one season, there exists a time of relative calm, even peace and prosperity, on many levels. Each day flows into another quite easily and seamlessly, lulling us into a common misconception that life will always be this way.
And then, sometimes suddenly, other times gradually, yet steadily, we find that this placid season we had been enjoying, is changing and we are confronted with a battle that is going to require us to summon every bit of strength, endurance and, especially faith, at our command, in order to overcome an adversary bearing down on us and undoing life as we had previously known it.
That adversary can present physically in the form of a personal loss or a health, family, economic or other similar reversal. On the other hand, it can be entirely spiritual and involve a crisis of faith where the bedrock of spiritual certainty on which we had been depending, is shaken to its core. Most of the time, these battles of physical and spiritual dimensions spill over into each other and are inextricably bound together.
If you have experienced such an episodic, up and down pattern in your life, then you will relate very closely to where Abram was at the point at which we stopped in last week’s blog.
To quickly review, he had finally left his detour in Harran, bringing with him, his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and all the people and possessions he had accumulated in Harran. Previous blogs revealed his arrival in Canaan and a time of great obedience to God.
This was followed by his season in Egypt, due to a severe famine in Canaan. Fearing for his life, Abram said that Sarai was his sister and the Pharaoh took her to be his wife. God then sent plagues on the Pharaoh, after which Abram and entourage, along with their great wealth, were officially dispatched from Egypt.
Afterwards, the turmoil that was Egypt, ended, as Abram and Sarai returned to Canaan and to the LORD’S plan, while Lot relocated near, and then, in, the extremely evil city of Sodom The reason, we recall, was that Abram’s and Lot’s possessions were too great for both of them to live in Canaan. Excessive wealth led to an ominous and soon-to-be disastrous separation.
Michael reminds us, however, that,
“Building blocks to learning are not always wins. Some of the biggest disasters are the best learning curves to the ultimate win.”
It is the ultimate win that God is always aiming toward. This is what we will see unfolding as the story continues.
Circumstances would soon reunite Abram and Lot, though not under peaceful conditions. When a war broke out between a number of Kings, including the King of Sodom, Abram’s idyllic life in Canaan was interrupted by the disturbing news that Lot has been taken captive and was in great peril.
And so, yet another episode begins for Abram. In order to rescue Lot, he must, once again, leave the calm and peace of Canaan to go into the heart of these Kings’ battleground. This change of season was precipitous and involved leaving Sarai and all he knew and loved at home and battling to find and rescue Lot in a very foreign and dangerous land.
What happened next tells us a great deal about this man, Abram. First, Michael and I want to say that he was a transformed man. Remember how, in Egypt Sarei was forced into a marriage and, therefore, the bed of a complete stranger, the Pharaoh? Abram had been justifiably fearful of rescuing her from this powerful leader. In fact, God seems to have been understanding of Abram’s fear, as He sent the plagues to the Pharaoh and not to Abram.
It was God, Himself, who stepped in and rescued Sarei by visiting upon the Pharaoh so many plagues that he summoned Abram and demanded he take Sarai and his nephew, Lot, along with all their belongings, and leave Egypt immediately. But, later, there was a great transformation of Abram. Michael says:
“Abram had been playing man’s game, where he wrote his own rules. Now, he was playing for God.”
Now, with Abram deciding to risk life and limb to RESCUE Lot, we see an amazing sea change in this man who would, one day, become Abraham. After what, most likely, amounted to a number of years closely in the presence AND WILL of God, Abram was an empowered man. He had been living an episode, a season, in obedience to the LORD GOD, the great and matchless rescuer. This, as Michael observes,
“Is how Abram became a player.”
This was a person who would deserve the name of Abraham. God had been teaching and Abram had been listening.
How interesting that God, Himself, was on the holy campaign of the ages, to RESCUE mankind from sin, committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In furtherance of that grand plan, he had chosen Abram and, over time, was the divine agent of change in his patriarch-in-training. Abram was, indeed, starting to grow into the name, Abraham. He had become a rescuer and, as such, was modeling his behavior after a clear attribute of God. Now, God was about to see firsthand Abram’s battle worthiness in this regard.
How did Abram proceed on this rescue mission? He set out in a way very illustrative of his new state of mind and circumstances:
“…he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.”
(Genesis 14:14) NIV
Abram was a prepared man and his men were trained. Further, Abram had become a brave person. The above Scripture recounts that HE was the pursuer and in no small and limited area. Dan was 120 miles away and yet, he traveled it. The danger associated with this is unimaginable. He was determined to rescue Lot, though finding him was like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.
Abram had become steeped in the ways of God, while God was teaching him in Canaan, GOD’S destination for him. These were lessons not learned in the detours outside Canaan. God had taught him the strategy that well serves a rescuer who inevitably enters battles:
“During the night, Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hoban, north of Damascus.”
(Genesis 14:15) NIV
Bravery, perseverance and strategy were all lessons learned during the episode, the season of his staying close to God and in the place of GOD’S choosing – Canaan. The result? Victory! This time, Abram could do his own rescuing:
“He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.”
(Genesis 14:16) NIV
Was this the end of the battle; could Abram just return home to Canaan at this point? No, that is not how God produces players on the team of the Almighty.
Michael says,
“No one knows what our other seasons will be but there will be other seasons.”
And, as mentioned earlier, every battle we fight has a spiritual component.
Next week, the story will begin just as Abram, now a rescuer, finds himself in a much more momentous battle, just when he must have thought the warfare had ended, that the crisis was over.
Have you ever had a mountaintop experience only to find yourself under fierce spiritual attack? Then what happens next will resonate deeply with you, as Abram finds out what he is made of, in an iconic clash between good and evil and a temptation that would test him where, in the past, he had failed.
May we stay exactly where God has called us to be – in our own Canaans. There, drawing close to God, we will learn to become rescuers, ourselves, on mission, as He leads us through the easy seasons and difficult ones as well. In both, He goes before us.
Weekly, God knows what I am going through and you answer gently, walking me through Canaan.