Genesis 13-15

Welcome to The Safe Space! Where we last left off in the Bible, Abram had left Egypt and returned to the land of Canaan with Sarai, his nephew Lot, and everything he had acquired. Abram was now very wealthy, with large herds of livestock, silver, and gold. But the land could not support both Abram’s and Lot’s growing possessions, and conflict broke out between their herdsmen. Rather than allow strife to divide them, Abram offered Lot a choice. He told him to look over the land and choose where he wanted to settle. If Lot went one way, Abram would go the other. Lot looked across the fertile Jordan Valley and saw that it was well watered, like a garden of the Lord. So he chose the whole Jordan Valley and moved east, eventually settling near the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. After Lot departed, the Lord spoke to Abram once again. He told him to look in every direction, promising that all the land he could see would one day belong to him and his descendants. His descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Abram moved his camp to Hebron, where he built another altar to the Lord. Then trouble came. Four powerful kings went to war against five kings, and the battle swept through the region. Sodom and Gomorrah were defeated, and Lot was captured along with his possessions. When Abram heard what had happened, he gathered his trained men and pursued the invading army. In a daring night attack, Abram and his men defeated the kings, rescued Lot, and recovered all the goods and people who had been taken. On his return, Abram encountered Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Melchizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything. The king of Sodom offered Abram all the recovered goods, but Abram refused to take even a thread or sandal strap, determined that no one could claim they had made him rich. After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Abram was still concerned because he had no child to inherit his household. But God assured him that his own son would be his heir and brought him outside to look at the stars. His descendants, God promised, would be just as countless. Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous. Yet God revealed that Abram’s descendants would first become foreigners in a land that was not theirs. They would be oppressed for four hundred years, but God would eventually bring them out with great possessions. He also promised Abram that his descendants would return to this land when the time was right. Then came a mysterious covenant. As darkness fell, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the pieces of sacrificed animals. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, declaring that He would give his descendants a vast land stretching from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River. The promise was growing larger, the future more extraordinary—and Abram was learning that God's plans would unfold according to His timing. Verse of the Day: John 5:24-25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. Action of the Day: Spend some time expressing your thanks to God for the redemptive work of his Son in your life.