Back to the Beginning: Genesis 13:1-7

The only person who knows what is good for us is God.  His ways will not lead us astray.  His ways will not fail us.  His ways will bring us closer to Him and closer to the satisfaction that comes in living as He created us to live.

Abram leaves Egypt with all the material wealth that Pharoah provided for him.  He heads back to Canaan.  In fact, he heads right back to where he started.

This is such a subtle point in the story.  God never told Abram to leave Canaan and go to Egypt.  Abram went there because there was a famine and he feared not having resources.  Abram went there because that’s what nomadic people do.  Nomads follow the resources.

When things don’t go particularly well in Egypt, Abram comes back to God’s plan.  He marches right back to the altar he built near Bethel.  He calls upon the Lord.  This sounds like a moment of repentance to me.  Abram needs to get back in line with God and God’s calling.

There’s an issue, though.  Remember all that wealth Pharoah gave to Abram?  All that extra livestock is now straining the resources of the land to which God called Abram.  He and Lot can no longer survive together. 

Lot’s herdsmen start arguing with Abram’s herdsmen.  They fight over grazing land.  They fight over access to water.  They might even fight over the best places to sleep safely overnight.  There is strife between Abram and Lot because of their wealth.  They were fine before they went to Egypt, but they are most definitely not fine coming back from Egypt with their increased wealth.

Abram didn’t have to keep the Egyptian wealth.  He could have handed it back to Pharoah and apologized for the whole mess.  He could have let it go because it wasn’t rightfully gained in the first place.  Instead, Abram keeps the wealth and the ill-gotten wealth now causes trouble in Canaan.  Abram may have escaped his sin in Egypt, but he has not escaped the consequences of his sin.  This wealth he got from Pharoah only brings more trouble in Canaan.

This story has an undertone regarding the danger of prosperity.  Many of us dream of the day when we are so prosperous we don’t need to worry about how we’ll pay our way through life.  But wealth doesn’t necessarily reduce our problems.  In fact, sometimes wealth increases our problems.  Wealth opens the door to all kinds of new problems.  Some people claim those are the kind of problems worth having because they lust for wealth.  I’m not sure the fracture in Abram’s and Lot’s relationship is worth the material gain.

We should be careful what we wish for.  Our heart’s desire is not always good for us.  We don’t always see the full picture when we long for additions to our life.  The only person who does know what is good for us is God.