March 1932
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the wrong choice. It may be said that Lot did not know the future, and therefore could not do otherwise than he did. True, Lot did not know, but God knew, and His follower had but to turn to God to discover the right choice. There is a lesson in this for us today: “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally . . . but let him ask in faith.” The result of Lot’s choice was separation from Abram. Up to this time. Lot had been “with” Abram—in his leaving of the old life, in his acquisition of property, and in his favor with God. But now, because of the choice he made, he lost the protec tion of the man of faith. He mistrusted God for himself, his family, his property, and, as the sequel clearly reveals, he lost them all. Before he lost his visible posses sions, he forfeited that which was greater than all, that is, his peace of mind and rest of soul. We read: “That righteous man [Lot] vexed his righteous soul from day to day.” Lot’s soul was righteous, and therefore it was vexed, or tormented, by what he made it endure. In this, Lot pic tures the Christian who is out of com munion with his Lord. Whatever may ap pear to be the gain made by walking by sight, rather than by faith, he has no real satisfaction, and finally the apparent gain results in loss. The end of Lot’s choice is recorded in verses 12 and 13. Here we are told of the character of those with whom he found himself associated at last. He could not “pitch his tent toward Sodom” without be coming entangled with the Sodomites. The thought that the presence of a good man will make men good is erroneous— as though placing a good apple in a box of bad ones will improve the latter! Even though Lot was righteous in his soul, he could not avoid his being numbered with the unrighteous.- In these verses, there is a picture of three kinds of peo ple. First, there is Abram, representing those who are out and out for God, walk ing by faith alone, and meeting final gain through seeming present loss. Second, there is the half and half man, who is out for God and self, walking by sight, and meeting final loss through seeming present gain. And third, there are those living for self alone, with no thought of God, “wicked and sinners before [or against] the Lord.” The first keeps his soul in peace, and finds great gain at last; the sec ond keeps his soul in unrest, and finds the loss of all else in the end; and the third has nothing either here or hereafter. III. T he R esponse of G od (14, 15). It has been truly said that God never allows a man to remain in His debt. He always pays, and pays more than heart and mind could devise. After Lot was sep arated from Abram, it looked as though Abram had foolishly given up his rights and had lost valuable property. But he was looking for property laid up where he could not lose it—kept safe throughout eternity. And this he received through faith. These two verses should be carefully studied, and the truth in them should not be dimmed by any application to the pres ent time. Here is an unconditional and literal promise, made by God to Abram, the man of faith, which has not yet been fulfilled nor altered nor rescinded. Be cause it has not yet been fulfilled, shall we say it never will be? There were no con ditions attached to it. The land, greater by far than any as yet occupied by Israel, was,
APRIL 24, 1932 ABRAM’S GENEROSITY TO LOT G enesis 13
Lesson Text: Gen. 13:5-15. Golden Text: “In honor preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10). The Cities of the Plain I T w a s the writer’s privilege, some years ago, to make an archaeological expedition with Dr. Melvin Grove Kyle and Dr. William F. Albright in search of the cities of the plain. These included the cities of Sodom and Gomor rah, and the smaller village of Zoar. It was the country surround ing these cities which Lot looked upon, and which was so beauti ful that he chose it as h i s future abiding place. It must h a v e been much more beautiful then than it is now. The river Jordan flows through a valley about ten miles in width from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. Since the people of Palestine must depend upon ir rigation to grow their crops, it made this land very fertile. The hill regions depend upon a few springs which are totally in adequate to supply water for agricul tural purposes. But here is a perennially flowing river which makes irrigation pos sible upon a large scale. Looking down from the dry, rocky hills around Bethel, to the luxuriant plain of the Jordan was too much of a temptation for Lot. There is abundant evidence even today of the fertility of that region. Some of the best oranges in all Palestine are grown near Jericho. There are also many ba nana groves around the village. At the southern end of the Dead Sea, we discov ered the ruins of sugar mills. These were built about the time of the Crusaders, or about eight hundred years ago. Thus, this must have been a prolific sugar cane re gion. Near the sugar mills were the ruins of olive presses. The natives to this day have a tradition of the great olive groves which used to grow there. The country must have looked much like Southern Cal ifornia, with its abundant vegetation, sur rounded by barren desert. It was an emer ald gem in a golden setting. Outline and Exposition I. T he G enerosity of A bram (5-9). The occasion of Abram’s manifestation of generosity arose when he and Lot came back from Egypt and found themselves possessed of great flocks and herds and tents, and “their substance was great” (vs. 5-7). Because of their wealth, strife arose between- their herdsmen which threatened to involve the two men them selves. It is not the first time that worldly goods have been the cause of the separation of brethren. The amazing patience of God with His own is illustrated in this account. It is recorded, as though for our special instruction, that “the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.” That is, two men, Abram and Lot, represented the living God before those who worshiped idols. And yet we see them today, acting as though there were nothing more impor tant for them to do than to add to their fortunes in material things, while pagans were obliged to be observers of their un
seemly strife. We Christians frequently forget that we are the ones to whom the world must look for revelation of God. We say He is the God of love and forgive ness, but we act as though He were but one among the cruel and hateful gods of paganism. No Christian can afford, for the sake of the reputation of his God, to quarrel with another Christian, while the world looks on. Perhaps the Holy Spirit had something of this in mind when He wrote that Christians should not go to law with one another, and especially before unbelievers. The man of faith always finds occasion to manifest by his actions just what his God really is, and that is what Abram proceeded to do in this instance. Abram’s generosity is seen in verses 8 and 9. Here the man of faith rises to the opportunity and acts as a man of faith should act. He shows us how faith operates. He will have no strife at all, but will rather suffer seeming loss. He trusts God and leaves the choice to Him. He is willing to 1 take the seeming second best, to give up his rights in the case and allow Lot to have the first choice, if by so doing he can end the strife. The man of faith knows that, whatever the outcome, God will allow him to suffer, but will, in the end, provide the very best for His trusting child. He has the assurance ex pressed in the verse so often quoted: “He knows, He loves, He cares; Nothing this truth can dim; He gives the very best to those Who leave the choice with Him.” Thus it resulted for Abram, as it has in every case where a man has had the courageous faith to yield his rights in order that God might be honored. II. T he C hoice of L ot (10-13). The character of Lot’s choice is shown in verse 10. It was affected by sight and not, as in the case of Abram, by faith. Lot' “beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere.” And he chose according to the present and the vis ible outlook, “before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.” It is a bad bar gain to choose that upon which the wrath of God will finally fall. There was some thing there also which was a drug to his conscience, it was “even as the garden of the Lord.” Many a man has silenced his conscience by doing what looked like the right thing, when in his heart he knew it was wrong. Moreover, the choice was according to the flesh, the outlook was “like the land of Egypt.” Lot’s choice, therefore, was made by sight and accord ing to human reasoning, hence, it was BLACKBOARD LESSON r h willful I FIRST OUR FAMILY AND RELATIVES SECOND ETERNAL things LAST ORj .
J E S U 5 O thers n YOURSELF
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