Back they came, all the way to Bethel, the place they had started from in the middle of Canaan. They were rich now with cattle and silver and gold, hut they had not been happy while they were away. There is no mention of Abram’s praying to God in Egypt, or building an altar there, but when he got back to the place he should not have left, then he began to be a testimony for God again.
God has told us this that we have been reading about Abram, so that if we have believed in our hearts the glad news that Jesus died on the cross for us on account of our own sins, and so are saved, we may be encouraged to try with His help to live by faith like Abram did, and to avoid Abram’s mistake of acting without God. No one is, or has been, perfect in his life here on earth, but the Lord Jesus, and He is the only perfect example.
If we are the Lord Jesus’ boys and girls, shall we not try today, tomorrow and all the time, to live just as though He were walking and sitting beside us wherever we are?
You will remember that God had told Abram to go away from his relations, as well as from his home, and that he had not left his father or his nephew, but they started off with him on that journey that was to end, he didn’t know where, but in the place to which God would guide him. When his father died at Haran, Abram had started off again, God having patiently waited for him, and no doubt stirred him up again to be obedient to Him. Well, when Abram. Sarai and Lot came back from Egypt to the place they had left in the land of Canaan, the nephew Lot, who, though a child of God, was not a man of faith like Abram, was still in his company, but presently he ceased to be a hindrance to Abram’s spiritual life. It happened this way: the uncle and nephew had now so many cattle that they could not very well live together, and Abram who believed God and was content to just quietly wait for Him to give his children the land as He had promised, told Lot to choose first where he would like to live, and then he, Abram, would go to some other place. So Lot, when he had looked around, chose for himself a very good part of the country close to the one river that Canaan has, the Jordan, and removed down there.
When we choose for ourselves, without thinking of what may please God, we are likely to make a choice that proves to be a bad one afterward, and it was so with Lot. He thought about the nice place he was moving to, where there would be plenty of feed for his animals, and so on. and he either didn’t know that the men of Sodom were “very wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly,” when he pitched his tent toward that city, or else he thought it didn’t matter very much, as long as he didn’t go on with them in their bad ways.
I have often thought of a story my Sunday school teacher, who is now in heaven with the Lord Jesus, told the class one Lord’s day about thirty years ago. It was about a gentleman who wanted a man to drive his carriage (there were no automobiles then). Three men came to his house to apply for the position, and the gentleman took them by turns into a room to talk with them before he decided which one to hire. After asking the questions anyone would think proper, to be sure they knew how to drive horses, and do the work he wanted a coachman to do, the gentleman asked them each how near they could drive to the edge of a certain place he named, where the road passed close to a precipice. The first one thought he could go within six inches of the edge; and the second one, after learning what the first one had answered, said he could drive three inches from the edge of the bluff; but the third one told the gentleman, “I’d keep just as far away from the edge as I could”, and his answer was the right one; he got the place. Now this was the trouble with Lot; he thought he could go near to danger and still be safe, but if we are the Lord’s, we can’t take any chances. The very first Psalm tells us where we are safe and happy:
“Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law cloth he meditate day and night”, so we should always keep away from bad companions.
The next thing we read, is, (chapter 13, verses 14 to 17) that God appeared again to Abram, who was at last free from his worldly-minded nephew, and repeated His promise, and made it stronger and clearer than before. That is always the way with God; if His children try to live for Him, no matter whether they are boys or girls, or grown men and women, God always finds a way to let them know He is pleased with them, and encourages them to go on. ‘Abram was very likely feeling sad because his nephew had gone into a bad neighborhood where he could make more money, and Abram may have been saying to himself, (if he was, Satan put it into his mind,) “I just wonder if it pays to try to please God; other folks seem to get the best of things by going after them, and I wait for God to give me what He thinks is best for me, and don’t get anything.” Now if Abram did think so, and we were living then, and knew what God knew we could have said to Abram, “You just wait, and you won’t be sorry,” because in a very short while Lot lost everything he had in this world, and Abram went on experiencing one thing after another, that told him of God’s love for and care over him; and that is the way with every boy or girl or grown person who wants to please God; it may look for a little while, just down here in this world, as though the unsaved people and the worldly Christians have the best of everything; sometimes they seem to have here, but don’t forget that life is not even long enough, big enough, to be counted as a drop of water in comparison with an ocean for eternity. Some time I would like to talk to you about Luke 16:19-31,19There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:19‑31) the story of the rich man who lived to please himself, and Lazarus the poor beggar who was one of God’s children, but you can read the story for yourself now, without waiting for me.