Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 13 before reading the devotional below.
If only all family disputes could be settled as easily as the one in today’s chapter between Abram and his nephew, Lot. Funny how when you are rich, there’s more to fight about. Turns out the herdsmen weren’t getting along, trying to keep Abram’s flocks and Lot’s separate. Ultimately, they needed more space and they moved to different areas.
This map shows the land that we know as modern-day Israel. Lot moved down towards Zoar, in the area of Sodom and Gomorrah (spoiler alert: those cities don’t last much longer). Abram went up towards Hebron and Mamre, just below Bethlehem. God made a promise to Abram to give him all the land around him — as far as the eye could see.
Here’s your freedom for today:
God loves to share his wealth.
God was interested in blessing Abram, and raising up a special nation from his descendants. Today we know them as the Jewish people. God loves to bless his children and give them good gifts. It’s interesting that wars are still being fought over these lands, and this chapter in the Bible is one reason why. For thousands of years, the Jewish people have believed that God himself gave them the land and it is rightfully theirs. Other people groups (some of whom were there even before Abram) disagree. Regardless of how you might view that politically, you can see God’s desire to build a nation for himself and bless Abram in order to do it.