My “Lot” In Life

In Genesis 12 is the call of Abram, later known as Abraham. Verses 1-3 says “'Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God set Abram apart and made him a promise. However what immediately followed had me scratching my head. Looking at verse 4 “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son… “

Wait. Didn’t God use “you” not “ya’ll”? Why is Lot tagging along? Didn’t God just instruct one thing and you just did the opposite? The name Lot means “covering”. When I first realized that I thought “Oh well, maybe this isn’t so bad!” However, when you look Lot up in Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon you get a lot more understanding. It uses the word as a covering or veil and quotes Isaiah 25:7 “… the veil that is spread over all nations.” that which covers their faces and makes them sad [Rather, the vail which keeps their hearts from God]” Next it goes on to point out Lot as the ancestor of the Ammonites and Moabites (Duet 2:9, Ps 83:9). I knew I had recently read Psalm 83.

Psalm 83:5-8 says “'Yes, this was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you— these Edomites and Ishmaelites; Moabites and Hagrites; Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and people from Philistia and Tyre. Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot.”

Additionally in Genesis 13 Lot and Abram separate, because conflict started to brew between their herdsman. They each had too much wealth to share the same space. In Genesis 14 Abram ends up having to save Lot as he gets captured in a war between kings. Now bear with me. This seems like random facts or a fountain of information but, there are two specific points I want to make with all this.

We bring people into promises not meant for them.

God gave the promise to Abram but, Abram added a plus one. Lot ended up blessed by his proximity with Abram but, Abram ended up with conflict by his proximity to Lot. He ended up with conflict by aligning with someone not meant to be tied to his promise.

There are people we are letting coat tail us that were never supposed to be with us. They were meant to stay in the past as God started to bring us to our future. It may seem like it's no big deal and working out but, there will always be an underlying trail of discord when we improvise God's plan. 

Conflict multiplies

Eventually Lot and Abram separate but, in Genesis 14 Lot gets captured. Since Abram aligned himself with Lot, Lot became his responsibility. Abram risked his life and the lives of others to save Lot. Conflict never stays singular. It multiplies, finds some friends, and those friends bring some friends. There are always ripple effects for disobedience. And the fact of the matter is, we don’t always see those ripples in our own lifetime.

Going back to Psalm 83. The descendants of Lot caused enormous problems for Israel. The Ammonites and Moabites were Lot’s descendants. Remember them? Both of these people groups are mentioned other places in the Bible as stumbling blocks for the Israelites. They started to worship their pagan gods and/or went to war with them. See how this draws back to the Lexicon? Lot was a “covering or veil” drawing you away from God! Conflict multiples and as it multiples it tries to lure you into it and away from your promise, plan, or assignment.

Moreover, just because some people seem like they want in on your promise and support your promise, doesn't mean they follow the God of your promise. Lot was in proximity to Abram and benefited from God blessings, but his descendants don't end up following the Lord. They actually act as thorns to the people of God. Ripple effects.

Nevertheless despite the fact that Abram did the wrong thing by aligning himself with Lot, God was still gracious. God didn’t revoke Abram’s promise because of his mistake. God didn’t even revoke his promise after the mistake of Ishmael, another time Abram improvised. The beauty is that even though we don’t stay true, God does. He made Abram an unconditional promise so, He unconditionally kept it. That is the grace, love, and faithfulness of God.

One of my favorite verses is 1 Samuel 15:22 “But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” Samuel says this to King Saul after he improvised on what he was instructed to do. There will always be a pull to improvise on God’s plan because we think we know better, we don’t like His stipulations, or it’s taking too long. However, obedience is always better than any alternative plan we can come up with. The same rings true in this story of Abram and Lot. We are most blessed when we are most obedient.