Christian Living

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AND HE WENT ...


…and he went … unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning Gen.12: 3

Have you ever read words, familiar words, and suddenly such a clear picture pops into your head you can’t believe you’ve missed ‘seeing’ it before? That’s what happened as I read these words of Genesis 12. A crystal clear picture emerged of what my own journey with God should look like.

Abram was new to the faith-thing. It’s not like he was surrounded with spiritual giants as role models. And he blew it. Just like those of us who’ve been blessed to be raised under godly influences blow it, on a regular basis, if we’re honest. Abram fell prey to the very thing that plagues me daily, dogging my steps. He followed his sight, right in the midst of obedience, and it took Him straight to ‘sin’ ... to that trusting in his own understanding, rather than a resting in God even when the way doesn’t seem to make sense.

But I guess what’s really impressing me here is something that should be a guide to me when I find myself ‘off the path’ .... and I will.

First, though the scriptural account gives no indication that he’d conversed with God since first leaving the site near Bethel where he built his first altar to God, what does Abram do?

I love it. He desires to regain perspective. He returns to the altar of his commitment. He returns, in a sense, to his first love.

What a blessed example for my own sojourn with the LORD.

Often, I need aheart-return to my original commitment to God, before my faith became, like Abram’s, polluted with my own understanding; before it became compromised with trying to keep my foot in two camps, by mixing things of God with things of the world.

And it will happen, as long as I breath in this body of clay. Hopefully, less and less; but still, the two camps will battle for my heart. Where is there restoration? Only in one place ... in a return to my first love.

The apostle John paints the picture so clearly, when he recorded Jesus’ words:

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

I see such a priceless picture of this as Genesis 13 opens. Though Abram was new, at faith-ing, he still knew exactly where to go and to Whom he must return.


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I can’t escape something else as I follow Abram on a journey away from Egypt, where trusting sight had taken him; a new journey begun at the close of Genesis 12. It’s a simple wording in Gen. 13:3 … went on his journeys … and it refers to Abram. I like to think that I, too, have went on my journeys with God. Wouldn’t that be simple; oh, so simple. But I took a closer look … which was a mistake … not really, it just feels like one.

Why? Because it certainly led to discomfort, led right back to Canaan, that land that Abram (that I) am to sojourn, that land of humiliation … the territory of mortification, where this clay must learn the art of surrender.

Journey here in Genesis means pulling up stakes. Sounds simple enough, ‘til you really think about it. To pull up stakes encompasses some internal choices, and there’s the rub … the hard rub.

Abram chose to leave … not merely for a time, but a permanent withdrawal. Of his possessions. Of his mindset. To no longer, in any form or fashion, inhabit that land. He chose to let loose of everything holding him to ‘that place outside God’s will’ … that place where sight rather than faith led him, despite the earthly blessings it had garnered him. Pulling up stakes left nothing to return to.

Seems so simple, like no big deal. But when I look at it in my own life, God leaves me a Technicolor example right back there, near where Abram had first built an altar of commitment to God. And it’s embodied in Lot … and in a new Abram.

Clearly Abram, in his own heart, had pulled up stakes. God had called him out of Ur, out of Haran, and very quickly he’d discovered his journey to a similar abode in Egypt did not align with God’s intended “come out of.” With evidences of developing tension between Lot’s and Abram’s people, Abram’s ‘pulled up stakes’ found no temptation in the plains of Sodom(burning) and Gomorrah(submersion).

Not so Lot. He, like each of us in so many ways, still looked for that ancient Garden, where pleasure dwelt. I have a feeling his heart wasn’t content sojourning in the discomfort of Canaan. He’d known the best the ancient world had to offer. He’d gained a taste of it again in Egypt. The pull on his heart never let up until he finally choose to pitch his tent outside the gates of pleasure Sodom and Gomorrah afforded, with all the temptation pleasure and ease hold. He looked for roots, wearied of the wandering God called them to. Not an aimless wandering, but an intentional, directed ‘wandering’ into faithing footsteps requiring utter dependence on God, into a heavenly mindset which never ceases looking for an eternal home.

Lot’s name interests me. I guess because it so reminds me of my own need. Lot means covering, and how desperately he remained in need of one … how great remains my daily need … and how graciously God’s covering inhabits my days.

Abram, I believe, had come to understand something that hadn’t figured into Lot’s faith yet, or Lot thought he could handle it in his own strength.

Desire's insistence on pleasure's stroking, on filling ones-self from longing's menu ... Eden's desire becomes sin's ready vessel. It isn’t inanimate. Desire's sin lives and breathes and aggressively pursues. Whenever you park yourself near it, embrace it even in the smallest fashion, temptation sends out its tendrils … ever so subtly. So subtly you’re not even aware of it. And the next thing you realize you’re utterly submerged within pleasure’s burning life-style. Even Christians fall prey to things feeding pleasure, things appearing so innocent. Too late we discover that there’s simply no escape. Not within our clay. It takes a supernatural heaven-sent intrusion into your life, grasping you by the hand to lead you out. Because in your own nature, you don’t want to go, even if your righteous soul is in anguish being there.

Praise God His love moved, and grace invaded Lot’s life … invades mine.

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What I find so amazing as I read the OT is that it 'fleshes out' so much of what we read in the NT ... where God has lead individuals to pen such marvelous truths about kingdom living. But I'm a real blockhead much of the times ... 'seeing it' but not really seeing it. Then suddenly, there in the OT is a glimmer, a picture, of that truth about God, about living with Him, which He wants me to absorb.

This is just one example:

As you read the account of Abram and Lot, Genesis 13:13 begins showing us what godly humility looks like in the shoe leather of our world. Bickering was on the horizon ... that grumbling spirit which is not just deadly, but horrifically contagious.

So what does godliness do? Abram allows Lot (covering), still so much in need, to select his own portion. What an incredible reflection of leadership. Abram wasn't young. He carried the God ordained authority of 'headship' for those journeying together. Yet Abram doesn't act in the 'power' or authoritarianism we've come to think of when we picture an authority figure. If anything Abram's actions show a genuine humility of spirit, of seeking to but another first, which makes for the best leadership … and establishes a most worthy role-model.

That situation into which God's grace gives us a glimpse fleshes out Paul's admonition to the Philippians ... to me.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant... (Phil 2:3-5, 7)

In the Christian community we talk a lot about 'serving' one another. However, it’s a rare thing to see its genuine reflection of God’s heart in operation in our world, especially in those people placed in a realm of leadership ... which, by the way, applies to each of us. Without exception, every one of us has a 'territory' where we lead. But in Genesis 13 God opens a window and gives me a peek. I want to lead like Abram!

Jesus put it another way:

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5)

The first shall be last and the last shall be first ...

Abram couldn't imagine what God had in store for him when he acted in godliness. He simply followed the God-heart beating within him. And look at the blessing that flowed. A blessing not tied to this world, but birthed and nourished and flourishing in that kingdom not seen by eyes, but lived in daily through the Spirit of Almighty God.




© 10 January 2006
DeAnna L. Brooks

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