This week’s reading: Genesis 14:1-24
Hi Friends,
There is a special bond between family members, isn’t there? Even when we annoy one another, even when we might not live near one another, even when one of us might not be making the best choices, there is a link that cannot be easily broken. We will see this week how Abram rises up to defend and rescue his nephew, Lot, and Lot’s family. We will also see that, sometimes when we are doing something good for our family members, others reap the benefits too. Lastly, there is that little, but interesting story about a King-Priest we will dig into. We are in Genesis, reading all of chapter 14, that’s verses 1 through 24. Now hear Abram’s wisdom:
“But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, “I made Abram rich.”’” Gen 14:22-23 NIV
Coming to the rescue. Sadly, it doesn’t take too long for Lot’s choice to pitch his tents near the wicked city of Sodom to start bringing problems into his life. There is a big war where four allied kingdoms join to fight against Sodom and their four allied kingdoms, and, because he lived in Sodom, Lot, his family and everything he owned are taken captive by these enemies of Sodom. As I mentioned last week, sometimes what we think will be a great opportunity, turns out to cause us heartache instead. But thankfully for Lot, Abram is told what has happened by one of the survivors of the attack, and he does not hesitate a moment! Calling some of his own allies and rounding up his own “trained men born in his household,” Abram goes in pursuit of these adversaries. God grants Abram a quick victory and Abram recovers his nephew, as well as the people of Sodom, and everything everyone owned. Abram sets out to save his relative, but all those with Lot, also reap the benefits. Abram brings them out of captivity too. It is good and right to help out our family in their times of need, but when we go above and beyond what is expected, like Abram does here, it is godly. These were not believers. We have already read that the men of Sodom were sinning greatly against God. (see Gen 13:13) Abram did not have to win the entire battle, he could have just set Lot and Lot’s family free. But no. This Saint wins the war and rescues everyone. This reminds me of Jesus. Jesus could have paid the sin penalty only for those God foreknew would be His children, but Jesus dies for the WHOLE world. (see 2Ti 2:19; Jn 1:29) God never does anything half-way. The Bible says that God wants everyone to come to repentance. (see 2Pe 3:9) God wants everyone to be saved. (see 1Ti 2:3-4) Yet not everyone will want what God wants. The lost will have no excuse though because Jesus already paid their sin debt too, but in not acknowledging God, they are saying that they do not want to be rescued. Imagine if Abram, with a kind and gentle heart, went up to some of the people of Sodom to help them as he was helping Lot, but they refused to be saved by him, because he was a Hebrew. That’s crazy, isn’t it? My Friends, we must seek those taken into captivity by THE enemy. Yes, we must help our brethren, those who might be feeling oppressed by life’s difficulties, but let’s not stop there. Let’s also go after those who do not yet accept our God, who have not yet surrendered to Jesus, who do not yet know they can have the Holy Spirit indwell them, granting them Eternal Life. Abram rescues many from the hands of their enemies and sets them free to go back home and live their lives. I wonder how many began to watch Abram more closely and came to know the God of Abram as a result. The Bible does not say specifically, yet we do hear that Abram had already made friends with some Amorite brothers he lived near. (see Gen 14:13, 14:24) These were foreigners who I believe saw the witness of Abram’s humility and kindness and chose to, at least join Abram, but hopefully, worship his God as well. Once we surrender to Jesus, coming to the rescue of people in need is part of our mission here in this world. One way all believers can do this is to love everyone that God places in your path, even your enemies. (see Mt 5:44) Abram displays this compassion here, and even if his focus was saving his nephew, he frees all the people of Sodom. May we do likewise.
Know your enemies. After Abram returns triumphantly, the king of Sodom comes out to greet him. I believe this king really was thankful for Abram doing what he could not, winning the war against his enemy. Yet there might have been an ulterior motive too. He wanted his kingdom back. A king cannot be a king without his subjects who are under him, right? So he goes up to Abram all “thank you” like, but immediately says, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” (Gen 14:21) Abram had already made a promise to God about not taking anything that belonged to this king because the only thing that Abram wanted was his nephew back safe and sound. Abram was not going into in battle to gain riches and property, like was the custom then. He just wanted to save Lot. Yet Abram also knew that this king of Sodom might be up to no good. Abram says that he will not take anything belonging to this king, “so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’” (Gen 14:23) You see, if Abram had accepted these great gifts from King Bera of Sodom, God would not get the full glory of what He is doing in Abram’s life. And Abram wanted nothing to do with that! I suppose Abram recognized this king’s lack of character, and unlike Lot, knew better and separated himself from anything to do with Sodom. There are times we too must be this wise, my Friends. If you are in any type of toxic relationship, you are not doing anyone any favors by remaining. Always with prayer, asking for God’s discernment, sometimes it is better to not be involved with that person, at least for a time, and especially if you are just coming to Christ and just beginning to grow in His Grace. We are not strong enough yet to do God’s Will alone, in that situation. We must separate ourselves from these poor relationships in order to follow God more closely. Again I say, with prayer! We must learn to distinguish God’s Will from our own, because many times they are in complete conflict. Think our Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane here. The Human Jesus wanted nothing to do with the physical pain, the soulful anguish and the spiritual torment that being separated from the Father would cause. Yet He chose the Father’s Will over His own. We too have our own understanding of things and our own preferences about what we want to happen. Maybe we want to save this person who is causing us such opposition, but we must remember we are NOT the Savior. If God desires us to step back and we do not, we might be enabling that person and causing them, and us, further harm. My point is we need to pray first, as Abram did before he even went out to war, then do whatever God places on our hearts to do. This is a matter of trusting God that there are things we simply do not see. God knows the tiniest detail of every heart and every facet of what will happen. It is always to our benefit that we seek God and follow His guidance. “But how will I know what God wants me to do,” you ask? Good question. Let’s think about what Abram did here.
Discerning God’s Will. Abram prayed and made a pledge to God. I believe he made that promise to not accept anything from the king of Sodom, after sensing God’s Will. How did Abram know it was God’s Will? He stepped out in Faith and when things worked out exactly as he had hoped, he got his confirmation. To God be all the glory! There was no way Abram was going to allow this foreign king to take some credit for what God was doing in Abram’s life. Stepping out in Faith is a big part of knowing what God wants us to do. If we pray and are still not sensing which way to go, we step out. We do what would be the next logical thing to do about what we are praying for, and see what happens. If it is not God’s Will, we trust that God will make it clear. Always covering each step in prayer, we keep moving forward. If it is God’s Will, we should get a sense of peace, even before the desired result become evident. But sometimes we must stick it out for a while. I know someone who made a choice that seemed like God’s Will, especially because God continued to open doors for that decision. But this person kept moving forward without really wanting to do so. When things did not seem like they were working out, this person immediately began to question whether it was God’s Will or not. This person was confusing their will with God’s because they still did not want what they had chosen, or in other words, they did not want what God wanted for them. Yet the other choice was no choice at all. It would only have led to more pain and heartache. I tried to encourage this person to stick with it, to give God time to work it together and reveal His Will. This is why I say we must discern God’s Will, because the last thing the enemy wants is for us to follow God, and so he will make sure things are difficult in the beginning when we step out in Faith. I am sure going out to war, for the first time mind you, was no picnic for Abram, yet he stuck with it. He stepped out in Faith and God gave him the victory. The Bible does not say how long it took to defeat the enemies that captured Lot, but I do not think that was the point of this event being told here. Lot had just taken the “better land,” or so it seemed. Abram could have said, “Oh well, he made his bed, now he has to lie in it!” But of course, he did not! God was growing Abram’s character to the next level. Would Abram come to Lot’s rescue or let him fend for himself? Would he have compassion on this nephew or think that’s what he deserves? Would he decide to stop at nothing to help him or hold Lot’s selfish decision against him? And of course, Abram makes the godly decision to never give up on his nephew and to run out and rescue him. Can you see God’s character here, my Friends? God’s Will is for us to be like Himself. God never holds our sinful decisions against us. He continues to pursue us. He continues to draw us near. He continues to desire for us to trust Him and let go of what we think, feel or want and choose His Way instead. The way we do this is to spend time with God. We read His Word and learn from the great Saints of the past, like Abram. Our reality is there are so very many voices in our heads. Every person from our past that has sown both bad and good seeds into our lives, people like our parents, teachers, colleagues. If their words made a deep impression, one way or the other, they can still be influencing what we do. Every now and then we can recall their words and they still can effect our decisions, for good or bad. This also includes the voices we allow into our lives via all the different forms of media. One “person of influence” says you have to buy this or that, and even though we might not be able to afford it, off we go purchasing the thing. Be very careful who you are listening to in your own mind! Then there is our own desires. We can easily twist what we want for ourselves into what we “believe” God wants for us. I know some people who rushed into marriages that God wanted them to have nothing to do with and the resulted divorces made God’s Will clear. Again, I caution us, we must learn to discern God’s Will. And let’s not forget, The enemy, who is the craftiest of all creation. (see Gen 3:1) Let us choose to take Abram’s example: spend time with God, pray to Him for His Will to be clear, then take that step in Faith, trusting God to show you the way and bring you the victory.
The Priest-King. After the king of Sodom comes out to Abram, another mysterious figure also meets him. He is called Melchizedek and is introduced as the king of Salem, or Jerusalem, which means the city of peace. He brings out bread and wine and is said to be the priest of God Most High. He blesses Abram and reminds him that God is the one, “‘who delivered your enemies into your hands.’ Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” (Gen 14:20) This is the first time the Bible speaks about a tithe offering. Out of Abram’s great gratitude for what God has done for him, Abram gives this Melchizedek a tithe, “a tenth of everything,” the Bible says. I wonder about this man. Was this a human being that came out of nowhere just to thank Abram for going out to war and winning? As far as I can see, there is no mention of the kingdom of Salem even being involved in this war, so why would this Priest-King do such a thing? Then there is this bringing out bread and wine. Does this remind us of anything? Perhaps the Last Supper? And now our communion, to remember the sacrifice of our Savior, our King, our Most High Priest? The Bible never says this is a Christophany, an event where Christ appears in a bodily form before His incarnation, yet I wonder about it. We hear about Melchizedek here then nowhere else again until the Book of Hebrews, except for once in Psalm 110:4. (see Hebrews chapters 5 through 7) Hebrews 7:3-4 says about this peculiar man, “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!” (Heb 7:3-4) And again in Hebrews 7:7, “And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater.” Could this be our Christ? Ok, I am only speculating here because the Bible never says it is Jesus. There is no mention of “The Angel of the Lord” and no one falls to their knees when Melchizedek does what he does, but if this was not Jesus here, then Melchizedek is certainly symbolic for our amazing Christ. He brings good news to Abram and Abram honors him with the tithe. This is the whole purpose of the tithe, do we understand that? It is to honor God by thanking Him for all He has done and given us, as well as to show Him our Faith that we trust He will continue to provide for our needs. One of our greatest needs is to be lifted up to God, and this is some of what Jesus does for us. And furthermore, Jesus not only listens to our prayers and brings them to the Father, but He “… is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” (see Ro 8:34) Listen to this quote from Matthew Henry’s Commentary: “Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, is the Mediator both of our prayers and praises, and not only offers up ours, but his own for us.” How lovely is that? Whoever Melchizedek is, Jesus is certainly our Most High Priest and our King of kings forevermore. And I believe Abram was beginning to more deeply rely and count on this Savior. (see Jn 8:56) The more Abram trusted God through all these twists and turns, the more he knew God would really provide for him.
So many lesson to learn. For those of you who might not be aware, or who have not had the opportunity to go see it yet, there is a movie out about the life of Abram called “His Only Son,” and oh how I highly recommend it! While of course they improvise a bit…it’s a movie after all and never claims to be on equal terms with God’s Holy Word…it does paint such a wonderful picture of this very colorful Saint. And the movie ties everything back to our Savior, which is so beautiful to remember. When all things are said and done, Jesus is our greatest example of the Life God desires for us to have, enjoy and share. I know the more mature I become, the more is see how immature I am! So there is always so much we can learn from everyone in the Bible. I hope you are being blessed by my insights…and I would love to hear yours as well, so leave me a comment below. We are a growing Forever Family after all, so we should be sharing our hearts with one another. And what greater topic is there than to talk about our Lord Jesus Christ? I know my heart swells with a greater sense of love for God every time I get to do so, which makes my life, more fulfilling. Want that too? Then won’t you join me
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
