Passage: Genesis 13

The Big Idea

After his detour to Egypt, Abram came back to the altar he’d built at the beginning and called on the name of the Lord. No penance, no waiting period: just coming back in faith. Restored to communion with God, Abram became generous and let Lot choose first. Lot chose by sight and pitched his tent toward Sodom. Abram chose to trust God, and God reaffirmed His promises. God’s promises are always “yes” in Christ.

My Egypt

I remember my own “Egypt.” I wasn’t depending on the Lord. I got hurt. I experienced devastation, and my family was falling apart. Spending time with God felt like going through the motions. I knew all the right things to do, and I did them. But if the whole truth were laid out, I wasn’t fully surrendered. I was comfortable. Whenever I felt the push or pull to lay everything down before Jesus, I shrank back in fear.

The Christian rapper Andy Mineo has a song that captures this struggle perfectly. He describes having two choices, both of which hurt: the pain of change or the pain of staying the same. One leads to joy and freedom, the other to shame and chains. He wrestles honestly with God: “Isn’t wearing a cross enough? Why do You want everything? I thought following You meant saying yes once, and now every day there’s a new cross to carry.” Eventually he realizes he can’t have his sin and his Savior at the same time, that anything he loses to follow Jesus isn’t really a loss, and he surrenders: he’s the filthiest of all, but he belongs to Jesus, if Jesus will wash him in the blood of the cross.

Back to the Altar (Genesis 13:1-4)

Abram went up from Egypt with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold. He traveled back to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, to the altar he had built there. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

He never should have gone to Egypt. He’d been promised Canaan by the word of the Lord, and God would have provided for him there.
When we don’t live by the word of the Lord, we get all messed up.
Abram left in fear, lied, and trusted his own deceptiveness to protect him. So there were consequences: his family was even separated for a while because of his choices.

Dads, your spiritual leadership is vital to the life and well-being of your families.

Abram’s detour took him away from his place of worship. So how do you lead your family well, through all the confusing twists and turns of marriage and parenting?

Stay in a place of worshiping God.
Abide in Christ.
Spend daily time in His Word, day by day, like the manna in the wilderness, which never gave more than was needed for that day.

Every moment, your abiding is maintained by God. The Lord says He keeps His vineyard and waters it every moment, guarding it night and day so no one harms it (Isaiah 27:3).

Many wonder if they can really abide in Christ every moment. “How can I always be thinking about Jesus? That sounds exhausting. Like another burden, another law to keep.” If only every Christian knew that abiding is our calling and gift precisely because we’re tired, weak and unable! Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

Grace, even in failure

Notice God’s grace still flowing to Abram. He didn’t earn it, but he was growing richer.

That blessing didn’t justify his going to Egypt.
God just loved Abram, and wasn’t ashamed to love him.
All because Abram simply believed.

Now Abram returned to a place of humble, faithful relationship with God.

Was God worried Abram wouldn’t come back? No, He knew he would. “But what about all his sin? How can Abram just roll back up to the altar like everything’s fine?”

Because he’s a believer. He believes what God told him. God said, “I’m going to give you what you need.” That’s just like believing the gospel.

We’re forgiven when we believe what God says He did on the cross. And that belief produces repentance. If no repentance follows, there was no true belief.

Does God want me to stay away until He isn’t angry anymore? No! All that’s required is to come back. Lift your eyes to Him in full trust. Surrender to His desire to bless you with forgiveness and love. Believe it!

“How do I know that’s all I need to do? It sounds like nothing. Just believe and look to Him in faith?” The Bible declares it. That’s the gospel. That’s grace.

“I thought I had to keep a list of rules.” That’s the Law, and it’s in the Bible too. You could make it to heaven by the Law, if you kept it perfectly for your entire life!

But Scripture says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13).

The Law says you have sacrifices to make, that you need to make up for your sin. But the gospel says the sacrifice has been made, and now we can run straight back to God. We call on His name, and we’re perfectly forgiven and restored in a moment.

Your first love

Abram had left his first love. Jesus told the church in Ephesus that they had abandoned the love they had at first; they should remember where they had fallen from, repent and do the works they did at first (Revelation 2:4-5).

“The first works” means the way we got started: humbly looking to God in faith, receiving everything the gospel offers.

Abram went back to a loving relationship with God.

Abram Lets Lot Choose (Genesis 13:5-9)

Lot also had flocks, herds and tents. The land couldn’t support both of them, because their possessions were so great, and their herdsmen began to quarrel. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any strife between us, or between our herdsmen, because we’re family. Isn’t the whole land in front of you? Let’s separate. If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left.”

It’s amazing how selfless and loving Abram is now. He was willing to give up his rights for the sake of someone he loved.
Paul said he counted everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Philippians 3:8).

Not long ago, Abram was just a doubting, sinful man. What changed? Where does a heart like this come from? Time loving God. Abiding with Jesus. That’s what changes us and sanctifies us. By God’s will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:10).

Because he trusted God, Abram didn’t have to be obsessed with his own “rights,” and neither do we. The only thing we truly deserve is judgment; everything else is God’s free gift. As Paul put it, we’ve been crucified with Christ, so Jesus can live through us (Galatians 2:20).

Lot Lifted His Eyes (Genesis 13:10-13)

Lot looked out and saw that the whole Jordan plain was well-watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose the whole Jordan plain for himself and moved east, and they separated. Abram settled in Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the plain and pitched his tent as far as Sodom. And the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD.

“Lot lifted his eyes.” That was his problem: trusting his own logic and his own ability to judge the right way.

He saw qualities in the land that reminded him of God’s blessing (“like the garden of the LORD”), yet he chose for himself. He was all about himself in this decision, probably justifying it: “Well, it looks like something God would bless.”
We can so easily justify our selfish choices with logic. God doesn’t always “make sense” to us, like giving us the gospel!
Waiting on the Lord matters. We accomplish more through humble, dependent prayer than through the most vigorous working.

“The men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked.” The voice of the Law is heard clearly here.

However bad they were, I’ve been exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord too. We all have.
Whatever the Law says, it says so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God (Romans 3:19). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
These men were just like all people: sinful and guilty before God. The Law speaks, and it doesn’t stutter. I picture the Law like Stanley from The Office: cold, unmoved, totally uninterested in my failures or feelings.

God’s love is supreme. But there are two great teachings in the Bible, Law and gospel, and the highest skill in the world is rightly dividing the two.

God Confirms His Promise (Genesis 13:14-18)

After Lot left, the LORD told Abram to lift up his eyes and look north, south, east and west, because all the land he could see God would give to him and his offspring forever. God would make his offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, they could count his descendants. “Get up and walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent and settled by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.

God repeated and confirmed what was most important for Abram to focus on: His promises.
They’re the one thing in this world that never changes or fails. A day will come when the sun doesn’t rise, but His promises will never fail.
“Like the dust of the earth”: countless descendants. Life would come from Abram’s life. Keep waiting!
“Walk through the land”: God wanted Abram to explore what He was giving him.

All the promises of God find their “Yes” in Christ, and through Him we say “Amen” to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 1:20).

So when you ask God to keep one of His promises, the answer is yes!
The Father always says yes to the Son, and always affirms what the Son says (Amen). So any promise made to Jesus is yours in Him.
That’s why we abide in Christ. In Him there’s no failure, no doubt and no lack of spiritual resources. Only life. Only fruit. Only what the Father and Son have always shared from eternity. Jesus said that as the Father has loved Him, so He has loved us (John 15:9).

Since we have these promises, Paul says, let’s cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1).

When we have these promises, the result is cleansing and holiness. So how do we “have” them? By learning them and believing them, reaching out with hands of faith and taking hold of them, living each day with confidence that His promises are for you and at work in your life.

And God wants us to explore all the “land” He’s given us too: to dive into His Word, journey through it, and apply it to our lives.

Vision and communion

Some suggest Mamre carries the idea of “vision,” and Hebron means “fellowship” or “communion.” Abram was once again walking in the Lord’s vision for him, and in communion with the Lord.

So many times I’ve lived without vision. I just wander, like a blind man. I drift from this job to that one, this relationship to that one. The only constant in a life like that is me: whatever I’m into at the moment, whatever excites me, whatever I feel comfortable clinging to. Mostly I’m alone. The only conversations I’m having are in my own head. I’m in communion with myself.

But when I stop wandering and striving, I find a loving Savior who wants communion with me! He wants me! He wants to pour into my heart all the desires of His Father, just as He is filled with His Father’s will. They have perfect communion and joy, and they lovingly invite me into the fellowship of the Triune God.

And I can testify I’ve never once been disappointed when I’ve accepted His invitation. As one song puts it, Jesus says, in effect, “You bring all your history, and I’ll bring the bread and wine.” He sets the table, He pays for everything, and He sets us free.

Another altar

Abram built another altar to the Lord. He lived in constant communion with God by remembering the need for a sacrifice. Not that he had to sacrifice, but that he needed a sufficient sacrifice.

Are you constantly reminded by the Law and your own conscience that you don’t measure up? Good! That’s the Law’s job: to keep us aware of our deep, overwhelming need for a perfect sacrifice, a Savior to rescue us from this body of death that fails every day to honor God as He deserves.

Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything (1 John 3:20). Jesus’ work on the cross is greater than everything you’ve done or ever could do. He’s the only one who can heal our consciences and hearts.

When we sin, we look to the cross.
When we do right, we look to the cross and remember when we failed.

Do it now. Look to Him and call out to Him with all your heart, like someone hanging over a cliff by their fingertips. If you believe He’s real, don’t let another moment go by without throwing yourself on His mercy. His mercy is available right now. We don’t know when the end will come, but today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Be right with God today through Jesus’ blood on the cross. It was shed for you, and it shouldn’t be ignored. Tell Him what Andy Mineo’s song says: “I’m the filthiest of all, but I’m Yours if You wash me.” And He will.

Grace Takeaway

However far you’ve drifted into Egypt, the way back is the same as the way in: come back to the altar and call on the name of the Lord. No waiting period, no penance, just faith in the sacrifice already made. Let God’s promises, not your eyes, choose your path. Every one of them is “yes” in Jesus.

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