Settling for Mamre

The church I attend has been going through the book of Genesis this summer, which I really appreciate because Genesis contains some of the most bizarre stories, yet stories that, when you break them down, really say so much about the human condition.

It's a book full of glory, of failure, of depravity, of forgiveness, of second chances; faith, lack of faith, amazing accomplishment; love and betrayal and the entire range of human emotional experience.

The other day, we were looking at the story of Abraham (still known as Abram at this point) and Lot, where the two tribes become so big they are heading toward conflict so they two men decide to go their own way. As the leader, Abram could have said to Lot, "I'll choose this way, and you go the way I don't go." But of course we know that Abram gave Lot first choice and Lot, looking over the mountains and valleys and plains, saw the area near the Jordan looked pretty good for a guy who was getting wealthy raising cattle and sheep and whatever else they raised back then. In fact, Genesis 13 says, "Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. ..."

And Abram was left with the land of Canaan, and settled near the trees of Mamre at Hebron. I have no idea what that land looked like, but clearly it wasn't as attractive as the plains of Jordan, and certainly did not look as conducive toward creating even greater wealth than living near a couple of cities where people would want to buy and sell and trade, providing Lot a regular market for Lot's goods and needs.

You know in 2 Corinthians (or "Two Corinthians,'' as President Trump famously called it), chapter 5, verse 7 where it says "For we walk by faith, not by sight." And in Hebrews chapter 11 where it says, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents ..."

This parting of ways with Lot is the perfect example of "living by faith" and "not by sight."

Abram lived by faith. He was willing to let Lot choose first, and accept that even though it looked like he got second-best, he trusted in what God had promised him and figured that God would find a way to overcome the apparent disadvantages that were now left to him.

Lot lived by sight. He looked and saw and it made sense and more than likely Lot prospered. It was a good business decision, and Lot probably thought God had blessed him with this decision. I wonder if Lot's wealth didn't surpass that of Abram (at least for a time).

See, the wicked - and I'm not saying Lot was wicked, but he did choose selfishly - do prosper. Living by sight doesn't mean you will fail. Good people live in poverty, have health issues, face stress and pressure, just as the wicked do. But the wicked also can receive wealth and health and what seems like stress-free lives. In fact, very often the wicked look at all they have and give God the credit, talking about how "blessed" they are and how close they must be to God for God to have given them so much, when the truth of the matter is that these "blessings" are very often self-created.

Wealth is not a sign of Godliness. Neither is poverty. Part of the problem of man is that we want to keep score; we want a board up there where we can see when we're ahead and when we're behind - I've made this much money, therefore I'm in good shape with God; I'm broke and in debt, therefore I've drifted away from God and He's sending me a message! If only God's ways were that simple (although in reality I'm very glad He's not. That would be a tough way to live every day).

Here's the other things about Abram: he could have decided God needed some help in fulfilling His promise. As we said, Abram could have said, "God promised me all this stuff, therefore I have a right to take first choice of the land and, because of God's promise, I choose what appears to my eyes to be the best for me and my family!"

I don't know what the "trees of Mamre" were like. Clearly they weren't as attractive as the plains near the Jordan.

But we also see how things turned out for both Abram and Lot. If only Lot had the foresight to know what the name "Sodom" was going to mean in the future, maybe he'd have run from there, tried to put a few mountains between him, his family, and that place.

Or maybe he was going to be so short-sighted that, even if he did know of the reputation of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, he felt he could handle it. After all, he and Abram had escaped a tight spot in Egypt and come out even wealthier than when they want in. Maybe Lot headed down to live outside Sodom and Gomorrah thinking, "Sure, these cities are evil, but I've been to Egypt and dealt with Pharoah, so I think I can handle a little king of Sodom!"

Another interesting story takes place before the great destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's wife developing her salt issue. Lot is among those carried off by some invading kings, and Abram comes to his rescue. Abram is successful, and the King of Sodom (how'd you like that title: the "king of Sodom") says "Give me the people who were captured and you can keep all the bounty." Apparently there was a lot of wealth captured in this excursion by Abram and his men, which would have made Abram even wealthier. Maybe Abram would have said to himself, "So this is how God choses to bless me!" But Abram didn't. He told the King of Sodom, "Keep everything except that which my men brought with them. I don't want anyone to ever say 'Abram was made rich by the King of Sodom.'"

So many times Abram had a chance to "help" God fulfill His promise to Abram. It's such a human reaction, to see something come your way and say, "Well, if God hadn't intended for me to have this, surely He wouldn't have put me in this situation!" We humans are master rationalizers when it comes to getting what we think we want. Prosperity theology was rampant during the Industrial Revolution, and the titans of American industry believed their wealth was a measure of their relationship to God (which made for a very industrious if spiritually barren economy). Even today, I know people who have left their wife for someone else and justified it by saying, "But this is the woman that makes me happy, and God wants me to be happy."

But Abram, who was apparently wealthy beyond belief for that era; who commanded men that were obviously a mighty army; who had the respect of local kings - lived by faith. He didn't trust his eyes. He kept following God. Even when he screwed up (which he did), it was usually with an almost child-like innocence. Or maybe that whole episode where he tried to protect himself by telling Pharoah that Sarai was his sister and not his wife and the disaster that almost ensued was enough to convince him to quit trying to "help" God fulfill His promises and just let God do it.

Charles Stanley once said, "The best way in the world to deceive Believers is to cloak a message in religious language and declare that it conveys some new insight from God."

Living by faith is not always pretty. It's certainly not always easy. And there is no doubt that there are times when it doesn't seem particularly rewarding.

But then, if Lot teaches us anything, it's that our eyes can deceive us. To quote that famous philosophyer Janet Jackson, "In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

Honestly, most of the time we're not really deceived as much as we choose to interpret things in such a way as to deceive ourselves.