Ok, so I thought it was interesting in Chapter 13 how Abram gave Lot the choice of where to go, when the herdsmen of both starting quarelling. He told Abram that if he chose the left, he'd go right, if he went right, he'd go left. Very noble of Abram. So Lot looks up and sees the best land in the plain of Jordan, and decides to go there. Very selfish of Lot. But Abram takes it in humility and doesn't make a fuss. As it turns out, Lot made quite a foolish decision, because the people of Sodom were very wicked. It kind of makes me think, what is the reason behind the decisions we make? Do we think, ahh, now that looks good, I think that's the way to go, it looks nice and breezy and easy and comfortable. I'll take that. Or do we think, where would God want me to go? What would HE want me to do? Does he want me to take the easy road, the best pasture?? Or if we really sought out His will in our decision-making, would we often have to take the harder road, with more trials along the way, yet more to learn and more growing opportunities.
I think it was great how when Lot got captured, Abram spared no expense in going after him and rescuing him. He just did it and was successful because the Lord was with Him. And when Abram got offered all the spoils and goods by the King of Sodom in exchange for the people, Abram refused. Pretty noble of Abram, he would've been well deserving of the riches.
I like in Chapter 15 how Abram was talking to God and telling Him about his dilemma of being childless and not having an heir, and God brought him out to see the stars in the heave and asked him to number them. You can just imagine Abram looking up and thinking, yeah, as if I could number them! And then God tells him that His seed will be as many as the stars up in that heaven! Wow...mind boggling. That from one child, his generation would end up as many as the stars in the sky. But as mind boggling as it must've been for Abram, he believed in the Lord and God counted it to him for righteousness.
Then in Chapter 16 you see Sarai telling Abram that God hasn't given her any children so they have to do it their own way, Abram was to have a child by Sarai's maid, Hagar. Because of Sarai's unbelief in that God would give her a child, it caused a lot of trouble for Sarai when Hagar did get pregnant, she despised her. Hagar was stuck in the middle and she fled away from Sarai. I like how God still took care of this poor woman, he sent an angel of the Lord to her and told her she would have a son called Ishmael , which means "because the Lord has heard thy affliction". And Hagar calls God the "God who sees". She had confidence that God SAW her in her condition and how destitute she was and that He didn't leave her that way. And if God can take care of Hagar in that way, He can most certainly take care of us.
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ummm well i must admit i didn't really take in much of these chapters and nothing i read struck me as anything to reflect on. But of course, being the Bible, there is always something beneficial to be found and after reading your comments Nina i can see that there were indead points to ponder :)
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about the selfishness of Lot. It is so true that the easy path often only leads to destruction and despair while the harder, less travelled road will often reveal treasures beyond our imagination. When i was reading the above i had a picture in my mind of the easy road and the hard road. The easy road took the form of a super smooth highway that lead the way to a massive city sitting on the horizon. This city was like the cities of today, a place where you can be surrounded by people yet feel completely lost and alone, a place full of lost hope and forgotten dreams, stifled beneath a layer of smog that hides the beauty of the heavens. The hard road took the form of a little dirt track, full of pot holes and crazy twists and bends. Trees crowd in and hide where the track is going and then all of a sudden nature opens up and there lies the most exquisite valley, full of life. where crystal clear water flows beneath an unblemished sky.
Doing this is really making me reflect on well basically everything and like you said Nina, to really ask myself what would God want me to do?
Already i feel as though, through reading the Bible, my eyes are really beginning to open and every challenge is starting to look more like an opportunity :) that really helps when i'm trying to get through a uni degree!
Well Goodnight everyone, i hope you are all doing well and i look forward to seeing you all sometime soon! :)
Oh man how do I start a new posty thingy?
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