Daily Thought for: 13th January
ABRAHAM THE HEBREW
Genesis 12
When Abram got to Canaan, he soon settled down into the life of a ‘stranger
and pilgrim’, Heb. 11. 13—he pitched his tent, built an altar, and called
on the name of the Lord, Gen. 12. 6-9. He might have been disappointed
to see that the land was then possessed by the Canaanites, v. 6, but it
was then that the Lord appeared unto him, and repeated His earlier promise,
but now more specifically, ‘Unto thy seed will I give this land’, v. 7.
He had made no mistake; it was the right land!
However, Abram’s faith was soon tested, and it was sadly found wanting.
In every sense of the word he ‘went down’ into Egypt. There he saw his
wife Sarai as a threat to him, rather than the channel for God’s blessing
in giving him children. He asked her to tell a half-truth, and say she
was his sister, when at most she was his step-sister. Before long his deception
was known and he was sent out of Egypt. Of course he could have trusted
God, for the logical conclusion of all God’s promises was that he would
survive to have children, who would themselves go on for generations.
Although he and his nephew Lot came out of Egypt materially enriched, they
were actually spiritually impoverished. Abram had lost his good name and
Lot had gained a liking for things in Egypt that would never leave him.
Lot’s new riches in terms of cattle soon led to strife between the herdsmen,
and Abram very generously offered Lot first choice of a new place. The
basis for Lot’s choice seemed to have a good point about it, in that it
was ‘even as the garden of the Lord [i.e. Eden]’, but the real reason was
that it was ‘like the land of Egypt’, well watered and easy living compared
with pilgrim life in the hills.
Lot eventually ended up in Sodom, and was soon caught up in events beyond
his control, and was carried off with the other inhabitants. It was only
by the intervention of ‘Abram the Hebrew’ that he was set free. Lot never
recovered himself spiritually, but Abram went on from strength to strength.
Where do we stand? ‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him’, 1 John 2. 15.
