Genesis 13 & 14 Trusting the Lord
We are currently about ⅓ of the way through our message series on the book of Genesis.
And the last few weeks we’ve been covering the time from when Noah left the ark his kids started to repopulate the earth and the call of Abram.
Last week we saw how the call of Abram showed us that we must leave this world behind and walk by faith but like Abram, this walk will cause us to question God’s provision and faithfulness. Therefore, we must learn to rest in God’s faithfulness and put deep roots into a life of faith that yields the fruit of obedience
We are going to pick up where we left off last week, so please turn with me to Genesis chapter 13.
So Abram has been cast out of Egypt and has settled in the area just north of what we would now associate with Jerusalem.
If you remember, Abram disobeyed the voice of the Lord when he went to Egypt to escape a famine. Now he’s back where he started.
Also, if you were here last week or if you listened to the podcast, you may remember Pastor Marshall talking about when God called Abram he told him to leave his home but he also told him to leave behind his kinsman.
This will be a recurring theme with Abram, especially in his early years following God. Partial obedience. God says do “this” and Abram kind of obeys but finds a way to do it his way. And this is one of those moments.
God said “leave your kinsman” and Abram translated that into “leave your kinsman but it’s ok to take Lot”. That decision will continue to be a thorn in his side for many years, and this instance where the different herds are fighting is just the first.
They are just a few days in the journey and already the kids in the backseat are asking “Are we there yet?” ● Their herds are grumbling. They are fighting over who is going to get the window seat. ● Johnny’s sheep keeps touching Jill’s cows and Abram is questioning why he brought Lot in the first place…It’s a nightmare.
Also, I want us to pick up one something here that will be important in the coming verses…Both men are wealthy and have great possessions but look at the 2nd half of verse 4 ● “And Abram called upon the name of Lord”. ● I find it interesting that we don’t see a similar moment for Lot.
Abram has become a man who seeks out the counsel of God. He seems to have learned something during his time in Egypt. Perhaps he’s figured out that listening to God is a good idea..
But, at least what we have here from the text, Lot doesn’t have the same desire to seek the counsel of God . And that is going to be an important theme as we keep reading.
Abram makes a wise decision to separate from Lot because their herds were fighting with each other.
He tells Lot to choose any side he wants. Notice the growth in Abram.
When he was in Egypt his fear kept him from trusting the Lord. In the same chapter, just a few verses earlier, God had promised Abram that he would be a great nation (meaning God would be with him and protect him).
So why lie about Sarai being his sister? ● Fear and a lack of trust but relying on his own intuition to “fix the problem”. ● Abram was a meddler
But look now. He’s allowing Lot to choose any land he wants.
But there’s at least a potential that Lot could choose the land Abram wants (the land God has already shown him would be “his”) ● But he doesn’t try to manipulate Lot into choosing the land over here. ● He trusted God.
Remember, In chapter 12, God has already shown him what land he’s going to inherit. So which side Lot chooses is inconsequential.
Now look at Lot and how he decides which land he will choose. ● He lifted up his eyes and surveyed the land. ● This seems reasonable. The land looks fertile (like Egypt). ○ God gave him eyes to see and the discernment (at least that’s what he thinks it is) to know which land is good or bad. If I’m choosing which land to settle in, I’m going with the one with water and fertile land for my flocks and herds to graze off of. Not the one with none of that. That’s the logical decision most of us would make.
I mean why even consult God here? The decision seems easy...
But again look at the decision making skill of Lot. Not only does he choose the land based on his own eyes, he settles near Sodom. A wicked place with great sinners against the Lord.
Now let’s look how this decision played out in Abram’s life.
Here God, for the 2nd time in two chapters, confirms his promise to Abram. Lot chose the Jordan Valley but God was giving Abram Cannan. The promised land.
There’s a peace about Abram with the decision. So much so that he pitched his tent and then built an alter to the Lord.
Do you see the contrast in these two men?
● Abram trusted God and now he gets to walk and live in the land he was promised. He then honors God by building an alter. ● Lot makes choices on his own and settles in a wicked area full of sinners.
What happens next is predictable…
Genesis 14:1-16 ● A group of Kings had been serving a king named Chedorlaomer (Ku-der-lah-ga-mal). ● They decided to rebel in the 13th year. ● Lot and Abram have potentially lived apart for 13 years. ● The kings rebel against Kuderlagamal but they lose. ● Lot and his possessions were taken in the revolt. ● Abram then gathers his allies to go rescue Lot.
So what is our application here?
Primarily, just like with most of Genesis, this story is an example of two men learning what it means to either trust the lord or run from his counsel.
Abram knew the voice of God and trusted that no matter which side Lot ended up choosing, God would provide. ● That was his moment of faith ● He learned from his mistake in Egypt
Lot made a decision based on his own logic and eyes and this poor decision eventually led to his capture. We can all relate to this, right? I feel like in this story I’m more like Lot sometimes than Abram. ● How many times have we all made a decision that we thought was right, but it ended up going horribly wrong?
Today I want us to focus in on TTL in our decision making. There’s a lot of ways we can trust the Lord. Family. Work. Health.
What this story should be doing is forcing us to step back to examine our lives, and look at our own process for how we make decisions? Here’s the self reflection:
When we are faced with a decision (some small but some big), do we even consider God in the process? ● Do we stop and then call upon the Lord? ● Do we sit still and wait for an answer? ● Do we seek wise counsel from others? ● Do we look more like Abram or Lot?
Are we relying on our gut to dictate our next step or are we allowing God to guide our path? ● We have the creator of everything, the one who created the sun the moon and the stars. Every human and living creature. A God who created a perfectly designed universe. He not only created everything we see touch and feel but also the concept of faith, wisdom and trust, yet we don’t earnestly seek out his counsel?
So let’s pause for a moment and ask, “what does it mean to trust the lord?
This is one of the most common, possibly even most overused statements in all of Christianity. “Trust the Lord. He will provide”.
Yes, amen that’s 1000x true. Believe it. Name it. Claim it.
The bible is full of scripture telling us exactly that. ● Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the lord; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ● Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ● Psalm 9:10 And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. ● Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ● READ Philippians 4:5-6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So while we are told over and over to TTL, I understand that there are some people who struggle greatly with that very thing. ● And I don’t want to minimize that struggle. ● Because if you are sitting here today wrestling with TTL, then you are in good company! We are all sitting here wrestling with TTL or at the very least has wrestled with that at some point.
In fact, it’s likely man’s greatest weakness. ● It’s why Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden. They didn’t trust, so they reached for knowledge and wisdom on their own. And that action becomes an illustration for every time mankind refuses to TTL. ● It’s the tower of Babel. It’s jacob and essau. Manipulating the process to get the blessings ● It’s Abram saying Sarai was his sister. OR having a baby with Hagar because he didn’t trust that God would provide an heir through Sarai. ● It’s Moses striking the rock, instead of speaking to it. ● It’s the Israelite scouts being afraid of the giants in the promised land ● It’s Israel whining in the desert about no food to eat ● It’s Elijah running from Jezebel ● It’s the reason for the exiles and all the terrible kinds of Israel ● It’s the disciples in the boat with the creator of everything, yet they are scared of the storm. ● It’s us when we reject or refuse to seek the counsel of God and choose to lean on our own understanding…
And while we claim that in all our ways we acknowledge him but do we really? Do our actions prove that? Maybe you’ve heard Pastor Marshall say “Partial faith isn’t faith”. Well the same idea can be applied to trust.
Has anyone ever gone sky diving? Standing at the edge of an airplane about to jump out with nothing but a parachute on. You either trust the lord or you don’t. There’s no “well I somewhat trust him here”. You either jump or sit down.
I love this quote about TTL... In Trusting God there is peace, the peace of God which passes all understanding. There is calm in the soul of him who trusts. There is no doubt or fear in trust, for doubt and fear are swallowed up in assurance, and assurance brings calmness and peace.
Did you catch that? Fear and doubt cannot live in the soul of the one who trusts God. And that peace, the one that passes all understanding, it brings assurance that he is working out all things, for those who love him. ● That he will make our paths straight ● And he will not forsake those who seek him..
Abram called on the name of the Lord and trusted that his promises were true. And there was peace in his decision.
But again, Lot used his own logic and ended up in prison.
So what does that tell us?
Trusting in the Lord is the dying to our will and following his will, no matter the circumstance or the outcome.
Even if the outcome looks like failure. Maybe the end result isn’t great wealth or possessions.
Do you remember the end of Lot’s story? He ends up in Sodom. A wicked place. ● God decides to destroy the city. ● When they are escaping, his wife turns back and ends up a pillar of salt. ● He then escapes to a cave with his two daughters ● One night one of his daughters gets him drunk, sleeps with him. She gets preganent. ● This happens again with the other sister.
Two sons are born out of this horrible situation. ● One becomes the father of the moabitles.
Who are the moabites? Well we find out later that Ruth was a moabite. And she is mentioned as one of Jesus’ great great great to 10 power grandmothers.
The other son becomes the father of the amonnites. And who are they? They later end up in war with Israel. But during this
David sees a woman bathing and decides to take her. She gets pregnant and David sends her husband, Uriah, to fight on the front lines and he ends up dying.
Out of that wicked moment we get the birth of Solomon. ● The covenant of David and Solomon. ● The temple. ● The exiles which brings us the messiah prophecies ● Then we get Jesus and his death and resurrection.
So yeah, God will turn what was meant for evil into good. But don’t be surprised with that looks like failure is part of God’s plan.
We struggle because we see decisions as having either a right or wrong outcome. But God doesn’t see things in black or white.
There is his way or not his way. That’s not black or white. That’s multi colored because he is working ALL things. Not just mine or yours. ALL means ALl.
So our responsibility is to get inline with his will and we do this by mimicking Abram’s behavior. Seek out the name of Lord. Beg for his guidance. And then rest. Don’t meddle.
And if you have to make a quick decision, do it. But don’t trust your gut or heart. Trust God.. And if it was wrong, learn from it. Be like Abram. It’s ok to screw up.
Abram has defeated the kings and now the priest of the most high named Mel shows up to bless him.
This is an odd moment for several reasons.
Priest? Where did this come from? There’s no law. There’s no temple. No official process for sacrifices. We don’t get that until mid way through the book of Exodus.
Most theologians agree that this story of Mel was inserted here to create two different priestly lines. One for Arron and his sons and one for Jesus. ● We won’t read it today but that is the point of Hebrews 7. ○ Showing how Jesus’ priestly line is greater than the human priests because he is a priest forever….in the order of Mel ● Many also believe that Mel could be Jesus or at least the representation of Jesus. ○ Mel was the King of Salem (which means peace) and many believe Salem was Jerusalem. So he’s the King of Peace.. ○ His name means “My king is righteousness” ○ ALso notice here that they brings out bread and wine, which mimics the Lord’s supper...
This moment is also a little odd because after Mel blesses Abram, Abram freely, without question or prompting, gives Mel 10% of everything. ● This moment becomes the standard for what we now call tithes and offerings. Tithe literally means 10%. ● This is also strange because up until this point, Abram is the main character in the story. He is the one God blesses. He is the one God will use to make a great nation. But it’s Abram who provides the offering to Mel, not the other way around.
So I want to stop here for moment and discuss tithing.
Talking about money and church is a touchy subject for a lot of us. I get that.
The question many people have with tithing is “should we take the process of tithing found here in Genesis 14 and apply it to our freedom in the New Covenant?
My answer to that question is likely that you’re asking the wrong question. I would say we need to worry less about the 10% and focus more about the posture of our heart when it comes to trusting the lord with our finances.
But I do want to talk a little bit about the 10%. If you’re visiting for the first time or have yet to be here for one of our family updates, every quarter we present the current financial statement of the church and how your giving is being used.
The way RH has set up our giving is that 10% of what you give goes to missions. That’s our tithing. ● We use the 10% found here in Genesis 14 as our standard. ● However, that is not a hard line in the sand and we don’t expect it to be your standard.
We ask, if you are at the place where you can give financially, that you pick a %, give faithfully, and then over time the “goal” is to get the 10% because that is the biblical standard.
However, we don’t want us to fall into the trap of thinking 10% and only 10%....
Jesus showed his disciples that the Pharisees who gave their 10% out of arrogance and pride were despicable, but the poor woman who gave less than a penny, which was all she had, showed the true heart of the giver.
He also told the rich young ruler, who asked what must he do to be saved, to give all that he had… ● If you really want to get down to the brass tax, Jesus is not hung up on a percent or a number. 10% is an “us” issue. He used those two moments to examine our hearts and to show us where our priorities really lie. ● If you really want to talk about the biblical standard from a Jesus perspective, 10% is a discount…
And I don’t want to use this time trying to convince this body of believers that you should tithe. This church is made up of incredibly cheerful and joyful givers. ● We don’t need to pull that out of you. ● Marshall and I are blown away by how this body treats tithing. ● So much so that most Sundays we even forget to talk about tithing.
So while the majority of this church give faithfully, I understand there may be a person here today who is struggling with TTL with their finances.
Again, I don’t want to take that lightly. It is no small thing to write that check each month. You worked for that and I would never want to act like that’s not a big deal.
There’s even a chance you may have been at a church who abused the tithe and so you now struggle to trust a church to handle money honorably.
I get that. Trust me, I‘ve been that person.
But we have to be careful here not to use past hurt as a justification for not growing or maturing.
We do that. We get “hurt” and then it becomes part of our identity. And once something like “hurt” is part of who we are, then letting go is nearly impossible.
So the first thing I would ask, if you are struggling to TTL with your finances, is this “Do you really have trust issues with giving to a church or do I just have trust issues?”
What things in your life have led you to the place where you are unwilling to give back to God what is God’s? Or you think you don’t need to tithe (for whatever reason)
Because it’s quite possible that these trust issues are rooted in the fact we misplaced who the tithe goes to in the first place?
Look at verse 19. Mel is saying that God is “the possessor of heaven and earth”, everything is already his.
This means you’re not really giving it to RH. You’re giving to God what is already his.
So the posture of our hearts should be that we give because we love Jesus, not RH.
And if you can’t trust God and the leadership of a church with your finances, then likely that’s a huge red flag that you shouldn’t be at that church…
But remember, is your issue with trusting the church or do you just have trust issues. ● Cause that will follow you everywhere you go. ● You’ll be repeating that same pattern until you finally deal with your trust issues… ○ I get it, there is corruption in the church. We all have left a church for good reasons.. ■ But if the pattern keeps happening over and over and over again, maybe the issue is with you and not the church
Finally, At RH we all consider part of your tithe, your time, talents and resources. The early church didn’t just share their money, they also shared all that that they had.
If you are a joyful giver, ask yourself, “Does it stop there?” Are you just checking off the box ● “I’ve met the biblical standard. God is pleased. I’m good. But think back to the rich young ruler. If he would have been the “busy, young ruler” Jesus would have said “quit your job. Cut out your extracurricular activities. And follow me. ● He told one disciple to let the dead bury the dead. Follow me. ● He told others to drop their job and follow him ● He told the crowd that to love him means you have to hate your mother, father, wife, and kids. ○ I don’t believe Jesus was being literal there but his point remains. To follow him means everything else is put to the side.
So we have to do is raise that spiritual bar, and ask “What more can I give?” It gets weird here cause now it feels like I’m pressuring people to give more and sacrifice more. And I don’t mean to RH.
I don’t want this to sound like “We want more! Give more.”
YES! But not necessarily to RH but to Jesus.
Our responsibility is to constantly examine our hearts to see if we are doing just enough to get by or are we faithfully serving Jesus out of Joy.
For some of us that means re-evaluating our priorities. Where is most of our time spent? Look, you will have a hard time convincing me, using the bible, that the standard for living for Christians is to focus more on ourselves and not on others.
Out of the 168 hours in a week, how many of those are spent serving God and others? I’m going to be real here. I love “me time”. ● Spending time with my family ● Fishing, camping ● Working in the yard or our garden ● I love all that
And I’m not standing here saying you have to give all your free time to serving God or “RH”.
What I’m asking, and what I think the Spirit is asking, is for us to examine our hearts. Where are our priorities with our time and resources?
Look at the example of Abram. He gave his 10% without prompting or pulling or convincing.
I understand that letting go is hard. Allowing the Holy Spirit to examine you, convict you, challenge you, to let go of the things we hold sooooo close.
That trust issue, that thing that is preventing you from giving to God what is already his, could be attached at the deepest levels of your heart. ● It’s linked to your child hood. ● How your parents treated you or a spouse. ● Abuse. ○ These are no small things.
You could have been abused in a church where the leadership just sucked the life out of you.
And this has caused you to put up walls. But again we can’t use that as an excuse to not grow or mature or even be used by God.
Trusting the lord, whether it be with your decision or finances isn’t blind faith. Trusting God is finding peace within the storm. It’s letting go.
What we have in Jesus is that peace. It is freedom.
Jesus wants to take on that pain and anxiety. He wants to remove that trust issue.
He told us HIS yoke heavy but his burden is light.
So all that junk we carry with us that has created trust issues, let it go. Don’t drag it with you everywhere you go. Why are you carrying it? If it’s not helping, it’s hurting. so let it go.
Jesus wants to get down to your bones and extract that pain. He wants to remove that trust issue so that you’ll have peace and calmness deep in your soul.
Look, as much as we want him to, he can’t change your past but if you’ll let him, he can use your past to help shape your future.
For Abram. It didn’t matter what land Lot picked. He trusted God and inherited the promised land. And the very end of chapter 14 we see how far his trust has come.
He won’t even accept the plunder from the wicked kings so that no one will confuse who he serves.
Yeah and as we’ll learn in future chapters, Abram went through some stuff. It wasn’t always easy.
But in the end, God was faithful. So just Trust, and there you will find peace.
Amen..