”Faith Requires Wisdom” // Genesis 13 // Lakeview Bible Church

And we ask it in Jesus name and

everyone's sake. Amen.

>> Amen. Uh thanks Eric. That's all uh

super exciting news to hear about all

that God is doing. I actually got to be

at the women's conference uh this

weekend. I was one of three men in a

building full of hundreds of women. Um

and I feel sufficiently changed. I do.

Um, I've been joking with Heather

Vanstavern that I now have a list of

things that are things you would not

hear at a men's conference. Um, so it

was it was really exciting, just a

beautiful weekend. So, as we jump in

today, I want to ask you a question.

When I say the word wisdom,

what comes to mind? What images come to

mind? I'm going give you just a second.

When I say wisdom, what are some images

that you think of?

So, if you're a reader,

maybe something like this, a big

library. Think of all the information

that's inside the walls of a building

like that. All the different things that

are contained in those books. Or think

about the internet, right? If you grew

up without the internet at some point,

if you're old enough to be in that

group, like what an amazing thing that

all this information is at your

fingertips. Um, sadly, a whole bunch of

nonsense also at your fingertips with

the internet. So, you got to be careful

there. But, uh, if you're a Lord of the

Rings fan like I am, you might think of

this guy. This is Gandalf from Lord of

the Rings and he's become sort of this

icon of wisdom in in literature and he's

lived several lifetimes and he's got all

this collective experience and he guides

the fellowship on their perilous

journey.

Uh, this one

should be Right.

Uh, you know, sometimes there's a lot of

collective wisdom in that room and

sometimes,

let's just go to the next one.

Um, I found some good definitions of

wisdom online. Uh, wisdom is the art of

not making dumb decisions.

Great. Uh, this helped clear up some

terms for us. Knowledge is knowing that

a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not

putting it into a fruit salad. And

philosophy is pondering if that means

that ketchup qualifies as a smoothie.

Profound.

Glad I could clear up those terms for

us. Wisdom is not opening your wallet in

front of your friends.

And one more funny one from author Terry

Pritchard. Wisdom is gained by

experience. Experience is often the

result of lack of wisdom.

That's true, right? For example, uh how

many of you have ever had this

experience? You uh are on the internet

and you found a piece of information

that you thought was particularly

insightful or inspiring or more likely

what happened is you thought that it

would prove a point that you have been

trying to make to your spouse or to your

friends or to your in-laws. So you go

and passionately share this newfound

internet information with them and then

you find out almost immediately that's

completely false. Ever happened to you?

This is for you.

That's good. I love the like developing

laughter. It depends on how fast you

read, right? This is good internet

advice. This is wisdom that we learn

from the internet is that you can't

trust everything. What I want to see

today in Genesis chapter 13 as we look

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

at the life of Abram that living a life

of faith requires wisdom. And before we

jump in to our main text, let's take a

second to talk about what wisdom

actually is. Right? Like I've made some

quippy funny definitions, but what is it

really? Right? Wisdom is more than

knowledge. Okay? Because we all know

people who have a head full of knowledge

with zero ability to put that knowledge

into practice in their life. Right?

Maybe that's you. But that's it's wisdom

is more than just knowing things. So

here's a here's a better definition.

Wisdom is the ability to apply relevant

knowledge in an insightful way,

especially to different situations from

that in which the knowledge was gained.

or simpler way to say that is it's the

ability to take what we know to be true

and apply that truth to the way we live

our daily lives. So some good general

definitions of wisdom but then the

question is how do we get it? If we know

what it is, how do we get it? And I

think there's three ways and we can

think of these in order as good, better

and best. Okay. So, first we can get

wisdom through experience and failure.

The school of hard knocks is a

unpleasant but effective way to become

more wise. And that's a fact of life for

all of us. We're going to make mistakes

that we're going to have to learn from

and hopefully grow in the process. Last

week, we looked at the second half of

Genesis 12 and we see Abram make some

really unwise decisions, right? He goes

down to Egypt because there's a famine

in the land that God has called him to.

And he probably shouldn't have gone to

Egypt in the first place, but he really

shouldn't have done the things that he

did while he was in Egypt. He doesn't

trust God. He makes some bad decisions.

He gets himself into trouble. And so

then we'll see in chapter 13 today if

he's gained experience from or if he's

gained wisdom, sorry, from his

experience in chapter 12. So, we can

gain wisdom from experience. Um, another

way is that if we're humble enough, we

can gain wisdom from other people who

have gone before us, who have lived more

life than what we've lived. If you've

ever parented pre-teens or teenagers,

you have probably said, "I just don't

want you to make the same mistakes that

I made when I was your age." Right? you,

the parent, have done something dumb in

the past. And because you love your

kids, you don't want them to make the

same mistakes and have to live with the

pain that those mistakes bring. And so

you warn them and you give them advice

based on your experience. And it works

every time.

Every time

you warn your children about an unwise

decision and they say, "Thank you so

much

for sharing your hard one wisdom with

me. I'll put that into practice right

now." And I definitely will not do the

thing that I was planning to do before

you warned me. Thank you. I'm so

grateful to have such wise parents.

Right. Um if we're willing, we can gain

wisdom from others. And it's usually a

better way than making mistakes that we

could have avoided. Right? But the third

way, the best way, if we understand that

true wisdom really comes from God, it

all flows from him, then the best way to

get it is from his word and from the

Holy Spirit who lives inside of you. If

you're a believer, so if that's true,

then what does the Bible say about

wisdom?

Proverbs 9 says, "The fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom, and the

knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Wisdom comes through knowing God and

being in a relationship with him." James

1 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let

him ask God, who gives generously to all

without reproach, and it will be given

to him." God is an infinite source of

wisdom and he loves to give it to people

who ask him and that's good news for us

who lack wisdom. And then Psalm 119

says, "Through your precepts I get

understanding. Therefore, I hate every

false way. Your word is a lamp to my

feet and a light to my path." So, we get

wisdom from God's word. Precept

is not a word that we use very often,

right? Precept is just a rule that's

meant to govern or to direct moral

behavior or actions.

Uh Bible's full of precepts. Bible's

full of rules. As we uh as we read God's

word, we get all these things that's

like live this way, live this way, live

this way.

The verse tells us that we can gain

understanding and wisdom by following

them, by obeying them, by knowing his

word. Turns out that the rules that are

in the Bible are actually there for our

good. And if we follow them, we start to

become more wise. A life of faith

requires wisdom, and all true wisdom

comes from him. And the primary way that

God speaks to us today is actually

through his word. It's not the only way,

but it's the primary way. And at Lake

View, one of our core values is that we

are Bible rooted. And what that means is

we believe that God's word is valuable.

It's something to base our lives on.

That it's worth knowing and following.

And we also believe that it's not just a

book of dos and don'ts.

We believe that the Bible is the story

of God. It tells us what he's like. It

tells us his plan to redeem his people.

And it tells us what's in store for us,

what we can expect when we put our faith

in him. The Bible's full of precepts.

Yes, it's full of rules. Yes. And those

rules are there for our good. But it's

also full of promises.

The promise of the gospel is that if we

put our faith in Jesus, if we believe

who he is and what he's done for us,

that he gave his life on the cross for

our sins and was raised from the dead on

the third day. The promise that follows

that is that if we believe by grace

through faith, we're saved. We're

forgiven of our sins. We're set free and

we're adopted into the family of God. We

become his sons and his daughters.

That's a promise. And the beautiful

thing about that promise is once we

believe that one, then it opens up a

wealth of other promises in God's word

to us that he's made to people who

belong to him. Once you're a son or

daughter of God, there's all these

promises that all of a sudden become

true for you. All these things that he

said that he will do and he keeps his

promises.

I want us to see today that

true wisdom comes through knowing and

trusting in the promises and in the

precepts of God.

Living a life of faith requires wisdom

because it's not always easy, right? We

learned last week that our faith will be

tested.

We learned from God's word that we have

a very real enemy who would love to

destroy our faith. And so what we need

is a life of faith built on the wisdom

that comes from building our foundation

on Jesus and on his rules and precepts

and promises. And I warn you as we get

started and we talk about godly wisdom

that it's often very different from the

wisdom that the world presents. In fact,

the world pretty often calls the wisdom

of God foolishness.

And so let's see as we get into our text

today. Let's see how this plays out in

Abram's life. So, Genesis chapter 13.

Genesis 13 · chapter mention

I'll give you a second to get there. And

we're going to start with the first

seven verses. Genesis 13 or verse one.

So, Abram went up from Egypt, he and his

wife, and all that he had, and Lot with

him into the negative. Now, Abram was

very rich in livestock, in silver, and

in gold. And he journeyied on the Nab as

far as Bethl to the place where his tent

had been at the beginning between Bethl

and Ai to the place where he had made an

altar at the first. And there Abram

called upon the name of the Lord. And

Lot who went with Abram also had flocks

and herds and tents, so that the land

could not support both of them dwelling

together, for their possessions were so

great that they could not dwell

together. And there was strife between

the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and

the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that

time, the Canaanites and the Parizzites

were dwelling in the land. So, quick

refresher from last week. Abraham was in

Egypt because there was a famine. He

left the place that God had called him

to and now he's coming back. Okay? And

Lot is Abram's nephew. And the reason

that Lot is with Abram is because Lot's

father has died and Abram has brought

Lot in under his protection. And they

are now living this nomadic experience

in a hostile land full of rival tribes.

And the relationship between the two of

them is really important for their

survival and for their good. And so

Abram's back in the land or he's

supposed to be. And it appears that he

has in fact gained some wisdom from his

chapter 12 experiences because what do

we find him doing as soon as he gets

back? It says he journeyed from the NGB

as far as Bethl to the place where his

tent had been at the beginning to the

place where he had made an altar at the

first and there Abram called upon the

name of the Lord. So Abram messed up big

time, right? He sinned by lying and

trying to make his own way in Egypt. And

now he returns to where God called him

at first. And the first thing he does is

he goes right back to where he built an

altar and to where he worshiped the Lord

before. He returns, he repents and he

worships. And this is going to be really

significant because this is the

distinguishing factor in this chapter

between Abram and Lot. One worships, one

does not. Abram sees with the eyes of

faith and makes decisions from a

worshipful heart. Lot trusts only what

he can see. And he makes decisions from

a heart set on earthly ambition.

So Abram has just made it out of Egypt

by God's grace. And now as soon as he's

back in the land, he's got problems

already. And the problem is that he's

too rich. Boohoo. Abram.

But it's it's really is a significant

problem. He's become so rich that he and

Lot can't live in the land together

because there's not enough water and

food to support all of their livestock

that they have. And so what I want us to

see in these first seven verses is that

wisdom puts our possessions in proper

perspective.

Because contrary to popular belief,

wealth does not solve all our problems.

If you've gotten a little bit of wealth

for yourself, you probably understand

that.

But our tendency is to think, look, if I

could just get a little bit more, sorry,

if I could just get the promotion that

I've been striving for all these years,

then I could spend more time with my

family. I could relax a little bit. Or

if I just had a bigger house, we could

spread out and we could be more

comfortable. And uh then there wouldn't

be so much strife in our home that's

probably being caused by all the extra

time we get to spend together because of

the promotion,

right? Or if I just had a little more

money, then I could be more generous.

I'd have more time to serve and I'd have

more margin in my life to do good things

if I just had a little more.

Never really works like that, right? The

truth is wealth often creates new and

more complex problems that didn't exist

before we had a little bit of wealth. We

need wisdom to manage the things that

God has given us. Whether we have a

little bit or whether we have a lot. And

in verse two, I think this is really

interesting. The Hebrew word translated

rich, when it says Abraham was rich in

livestock and silver and gold, that word

is actually literally heavy.

So it says Abram was heavy with

livestock and silver and gold. We need

wisdom to manage our possessions because

they can make us heavy if we're not

careful. They can weigh us down. Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 tells the story of the rich

young ruler. So a man approaches Jesus

and he says, "Teacher, what what do I

have to do to get eternal life?" And

Jesus' response is surprising because

what does he say? If you remember the

story, he says, "Keep the commandments,

right? Don't murder, don't steal, honor

your father and mother, all that." And

Jesus knows that this guy can't get

eternal life by keeping the commandments

because he can't keep the commandments.

But it's what he says because Jesus

knows the man's heart and he's trying to

get at a deeper issue. He knows his real

issue.

And Uh, interestingly, the the very

unwise response that the rich young

ruler makes is, "Oh, great. Did all

that. I kept all those. I did all those

rules." Which of course he hadn't. And

look how Jesus responds. It says, "And

Jesus looking at him loved him and said,

"You lack one thing. Go sell all that

you have and give it to the poor and

then you'll have treasure in heaven and

come follow me." And this is one of the

more tragic statements in scripture.

Disheartened by the saying, "He went

away sorrowful, for he had great

possessions."

Being rich or even just having enough to

meet our needs, not inherently bad.

Wealth can be a blessing or it can be a

curse depending on how we use it. And in

the next section, we're going to see two

very different paths for Abram and Lot.

Both are rich. They make two very

different decisions about how those

possessions are going to influence their

decision making and how they're going to

view them with the eyes of faith.

Two very different paths. Wisdom in the

life of the rich young ruler might have

sounded like Mark 8:36. For what does it

Mark 8:36

profit a man to gain the whole world and

forfeit his soul? Four, Matthew 6, don't

lay up for yourselves treasures on

earth, where moth and rust destroy,

where thieves break in and steal, but

lay up for yourselves treasures in

heaven, where none of that stuff

happens. For where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also. The rich

young ruler is weighed down by his

possessions. He's heavy with them. And

his desire for what he has and to maybe

have more is greater than his desire to

know and follow Jesus. And because of

it, he misses eternal life. He goes

away. He doesn't follow Jesus. As far as

we know, his stuff owned his heart and

destroyed him.

The wisdom of God's word said, "Don't

trade your soul for money."

That makes good sense, doesn't it? Abram

has to decide what to do about his

stuff. And he didn't have Mark 8 or

Matthew 6 to guide him like we do. But

what did he have? Let's look back at the

beginning of chapter 12.

This is the promise that God makes to

Abram. He says, "Go from your country

and your kindred and go from your

father's house to a land that I will

show you and I'll make you a great

nation and bless you and make your name

great so that you'll be a blessing and

I'll bless those who bless you." God

makes this promise to Abram

and Abram has to make a choice. Do I

believe what God said or not?

Does that help the passage make sense?

Five times he says, "I will."

Wisdom comes by knowing and trusting the

promises and the precepts of God. God's

faithful and when he says he'll do

something,

he does it. And that's what Abram is

going to have to Keep in mind, so Abram

didn't trust God in Egypt. He comes back

and he worships. Now, let's see what he

does moving forward. Let's look at verse

eight.

Then Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no

strife between you and me, between your

herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are

kinsmen. Is not the whole land before

you? Separate yourself from me. If you

take the left, then I'll go to the

right. If you take the right, then I'll

go to the left. And Lot lifted up his

eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was

well watered everywhere, like the garden

of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in

the direction of Zor. This was before

the Lord had destroyed Sodom and

Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all

the Jordan Valley. And Lot journeyed

east, and thus they separated from each

other. Abram settled in the land of

Canaan, while Lot settled among the

cities of the valley and moved his tent

as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom

were wicked, great sinners.

Wisdom puts our possessions into proper

perspective.

And it also reminds us that God is in

control.

A life of faith is full of decisions and

inflection points. Right? God's going to

say, "Trust me." And you and I have to

decide whether to do that or not. Am I

going to go to the right? Am I going to

go to the left? Am I going to believe

and obey God or not? Will I trust his

promises that he's made? Will I follow

the precepts that he's laid out for me

to guide my life? A life of faith

requires wisdom because we can't really

trust God. We can't really follow God

unless we believe that he's in control,

right? Unless we believe that God can

actually come through with what he's

promised, there's no way to really have

any confidence in him. So wisdom reminds

us that God is in control. Abraham

forgot for a little while. He didn't

trust God in Egypt to provide for him in

the land that he was already in. And

then when he got to Egypt, he didn't

trust God to take care of him. So he

lied about his wife to protect himself.

And now he's back and he has another big

decision to make. Abraham has to decide

to trust God or not when it comes to how

to deal with this problem between he and

his nephew. And this time Abram chooses

to trust the Lord.

He takes initiative to make peace

between he and Lot. And he says, "Let

there be no strife between us." And then

amazingly,

Abram gives Lot the choice of where to

go. He says, "If you go to the left,

I'll go to the right." He puts it in

Lot's hands. And this was really, really

countercultural for the time. They lived

in a patriarchal society, which means

that Abram, as the oldest man in the

family, would have had all the

authority. And Lot, even though he was

rich as part of Abram's group and part

of Abram's family, he would have been

completely subject to whatever Abram

decided. So Abram could have very well

said, "Hey, look, Lot, we got too much

stuff and you got to take your stuff and

you got to go somewhere else. I don't

care where it is. You just got to go

somewhere else because I'm going to stay

here in this best part and then you got

to go figure it out." That would have

been culturally appropriate for Abram.

That would have what Lot expected

honestly. And so in the moment he has to

decide what to do. And as I was reading

this, I thought, I wonder what the

wisdom of the world might have said.

Like if I was in that situation, like

what were what would be some of the

things that I would have considered? And

it sounded like Abram, you gota you got

to protect your stuff, man.

You gota you got to protect your

investment at all costs. If you're not

careful right here, you're going to lose

what you have. Uh look out for yourself

first. Think about your immediate

family.

Think about all that you could lose.

Yeah. Like it might be hard for Lot if

you just like drop a decision on him,

but he's got to he's got to worry about

himself, right? He's he's got to take

care of himself. You have to take care

of you. There's too many sheep. There's

not enough grass. And you got to look

out for yourself or you're going to be

in trouble.

You ever feel pressure to like protect

what you have, to take care of what you

have? Yeah, of course you do. That's

that's not a that's not a bad desire or

inclination that you have. In fact, when

God created humanity, he gave us

dominion over creation. And he says,

"Take care of this thing that I've made.

Take care of this thing that I've

entrusted to you. Part of the image of

God that dwells in every human is a

desire to be a caretaker. Now, that's

marred by sin and we have to be careful

to not distort it and pervert it, but

it's a desire that lives in you because

it's how God made you and it's good. So,

this isn't suggesting that Abraham needs

to throw all logical thinking out the

window and just make a careless

decision,

right? It's not suggesting that he be

overly passive about what to do in this

situation.

It would be easy to think that, man,

Abraham is he's about to get taken

advantage of, right? He might be about

to throw away everything that God's

given him.

In truth, Abraham's not being careless

with his possessions. He's not being too

passive. What he's actually doing is

he's making an intentional faithfilled

decision

to value his relationships over his

portfolio.

First, his relationship with Lot and

then more importantly his relationship

with God that we'll see later. And in

the moment, Abraham believes that God is

in control and he has this promise from

chapter 12. And so because of all these

things, now Abram can live by this

precept that we get all these years

later in Philippians 2. Do nothing from

selfish ambition or conceit, but in

humility count others more significant

than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own

interests, but also to the interest of

others. The world says, "Look at

yourself first."

The wisdom of God says, "Be humble.

Serve others." And when Abram does it,

do you notice what happens? Remember,

think back to the promise. Why does God

say that he'll bless Abram?

So that you will be blessing to others.

And look what he's already doing. He

realizes that God is the one who's

blessed him. And he turns around and he

blesses Lot. The promise is already

starting to come true in his life.

So what does Lot do? He immediately

takes advantage of Abraham's kindness

and he takes the best spot for himself,

right? It says

he lifted up his eyes and he saw that

the Jordan Valley was well watered like,

"Oh man, this is the good place." And so

Lot chose for himself all the Jordan

Valley and he journeyed east and they

separated from each other. While Abram

is thinking about preserving their

relationship, Lot seems to be thinking

about what's best for his financial

future.

I love this picture.

This idea of Abram graciously extending

this offer to Lot. Like I love how his

hand is on his arm and Lot is looking at

all that he sees and instead of being

moved by the kindness of his uncle, he's

caught up in just the stuff that he

sees. I want that place. I want that

thing and nothing else matters.

Abram's made a faithfilled decision

because he believes God and Lot has made

this quick decision based on what he can

see. Right?

So, if we set aside the fact that this

just seems to be selfish on Lot's part,

like let's put that aside. There's also

there's something else going on. It

says, "Abram settled in the cities of

Canaan, while Lot settled among the

cities of the valley and moved his tent

as far as Sodom." And it goes on to say

that the men of Sodom were wicked and

great sinners against the Lord. And

guess what? Lot would have known that.

It wasn't a surprise. He didn't get

there and was like, "Oh, this is worse

than I thought." You know, those cities

would have had a reputation that Lot

would have known about. And so, he moves

there on purpose. And so this isn't just

a decision to be selfish. It's a

decision to move away from the center of

what God is doing and move to the

fringes of where he is. He moves farther

away and he moves closer to sin.

Wisdom

would have been Matthew chapter 6. Seek

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness and then all these things

will be added to you. I love this verse

because it's such a clear example of

what we're talking about. If you look at

it this way, seek first the kingdom of

God and his righteousness. That's a

precept.

That's a rule that God gives us to

follow. Do this and all these things

will be added to you. That's a promise

to believe.

You do one before the other. And you

have to do the sec. You have to you have

to believe the second one to make it

possible for you to do the first one.

Right? love the Bible for the way that

God puts this wisdom before us. The

wisdom that Abraham uh sorry his name is

Abram right now. It's Abraham later but

uh the wisdom that Abram gained by

believing the promise that God made him

from and the then also the wisdom that

he gained from his experience in Egypt

is starting to transform him starting to

change his heart. He trusts God with

this major life decision. Then he sees

God work. He makes a faithfilled

unconventional choice because he really

believes that God's in control. That's

wisdom. Lot seems to make his choice

without really considering God at all.

And there's going to be some pretty

serious consequences that we'll see in

the weeks to come in Lot's life. So,

let's read our last section.

Let's pick up in verse 14.

So the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had

separated from him, "Lift up your eyes

and look from the place where you are,

northward and southward and eastward and

westward. And all the land that you see,

I will give to you and to your offspring

forever.

I will make your offspring as the dust

of the earth, so that if one can count

the dust of the earth, your offspring

can also be counted. Arise, walk through

the length and breadth of the land, for

I will give it to you. So Abram moved

his tent, came and settled by the oaks

of Mamry, which were at Hebrin, and he

settled there, and he built an altar to

the Lord. Wisdom puts our possessions

into proper perspective. Wisdom reminds

us that God is in control. And finally,

wisdom grounds us in the grace and in

the goodness of God. So Abram's made his

decision. So is Lot. So let me ask you a

question. You ever made a decision, good

or bad,

it's done. Now you got to live in it.

And you thought,

what did I just do?

Like even when it's a good decision

sometimes, right? Like, have you ever

followed the Lord in faith in something

that you thought, I I don't know if I

can do that? Like, I or I'm afraid or

that feels hard or that feels

impossible, but you did it right. You

stepped into something that the Lord

called you to do and now you're in it.

You can't get out of it. And you ever

you ever think,

I don't know if I should have done that.

Like, I did that in a moment.

Um, or on the other side, you ever made

a decision that you shouldn't have made

like a bad relationship that you got

into or decision to do something sinful

to benefit yourself or to comfort

yourself or just a mistake you made in

the moment. You ever do something like

that and then a few minutes, a few

hours, a few days later, you thought,

"Man,

should have done that."

And like maybe Oh, like maybe I've

ruined everything.

You know, I made this decision and I

don't know how to recover from this one.

Like I don't know how God uses me moving

forward because of what I've done.

Abram's going to have both experiences

in his story. And something that's

really important for us to see here in

the midst of this is it's tempting to

read this story and think that the point

is

do what Abram did. Be like Abram and

make all the right decisions and then

God's grace and his goodness will be a

part of your life. Do all the right

stuff equals

experience the grace of God.

Decisions matter, okay? And decisions

have consequences. We're going to see

that in the life of Abram and Lot.

But it's not a way to earn God's grace.

It's the same thing with Lot, right?

There's something really beautiful that

happens in scripture like Lot is not

painted in a good light in this passage

and not so much in subsequent chapters

either. Okay, Lot makes a bad decision

and there are some real consequences

that are coming for for Lot's life. But

over in second Peter, Lot gets a mention

and he's called a righteous man.

There's a little bit of mystery to it.

like we don't know exactly what happened

but there's a redemption story for Lot

that happens in scripture and then even

in the life of Abram like his life is a

mess at times. So again it's not be like

Abram and make all the right decisions

and then experience the grace of God.

Abram has just had a major failure in

chapter 12. I mean that's bad to lie and

say your wife's your sister. That's

messed up, right?

And what's more messed up is he's going

to do it again in chapter 20. Like the

same thing as if it never happened the

first time. Like he gets in trouble

again and he's like, "Well, we ran this

play last time, so let's just let's go

back to that one."

God's grace and goodness in Abram's life

is not because Abram's earned it. It's

not because he's made all the wise

decisions. We get that backwards.

What we have to realize is that wisdom

grounds us in the goodness and grace of

God. And it's always there. And what

happens is when we realize that and when

we trust him, we start to make wise

decisions as a result of his grace, not

as a way to get it.

That is good news for us, right?

Because whether you're Abram in chapter

13 and you've made a good decision to

step into something hard because God

called it called you into it and now

you're looking at this long road ahead

of you going man I made that decision

but I don't know I don't know how to

walk in it for the rest of my life. You

ground yourself in the grace and

goodness of God. That's wisdom.

And if you're on the opposite side of

that coin right now and you think, I

just did this thing or I did this thing

10 years ago and I don't know how to

recover from that thing. I don't know

that God really forgives me. I don't

know that I can be of any real use to

anyone in ministry. You do the same

thing. You ground yourself in the grace

and the goodness of God and you believe

his promises.

You believe his promise that if he calls

you into something, he'll be faithful to

equip you to do it.

And you believe his promise

that if you confess your sin, he's

faithful and just to forgive us and to

cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's wisdom. Wisdom is not living in

your guilt, feeling worthless.

It's remembering that God's grace is

present.

It's waiting for you to believe it.

That's the beauty of scripture.

Abram

sort of book ends this chapter with with

something that's really important. I

think this is beautiful.

The Lord tells Abram, "Lift up your

eyes." This is this is after he's made

the decision. Lot has taken all the good

land. Does that sound familiar?

Because this is what Lot did, right?

says, "Lot lifted up his eyes and he saw

what he wanted and he took it." And all

of a sudden, Abram is getting the short

end of the stick. So, after Abram's made

that decision of faith, God comes back

and he says, "Abram, you lift up your

eyes and look, I'm going to give you all

that stuff. It doesn't matter that you

just lost the best part of it because

you gave it away.

This promise doesn't change.

And then here's these statements again.

That's what God comes back to. Abram, I

will. I will. I will. It's the grace and

the goodness of God in Abram's life that

carries him along, not his effort. He

makes good, wise decisions because of

what God has done in his life, because

he believes him.

So Abram moved his tent, came and

settled by the oaks of memory, which at

Hebra and there he built an altar to the

Lord. That's how the chapter begins and

it ends. Right? When Abram messed up in

Egypt, he goes right back to the last

place that he had an altar and he

worships. And after Abram has made a

faithfilled decision, what does he do?

He sets up shop in his new place. He

builds an altar and he worships.

Wisdom is grounded in worship

and in the goodness and the grace of

God.

for us. Let's don't get it twisted to

think that we're earning God's grace by

making all the right decisions or that

you're beyond it because you've made all

the wrong decisions.

Father, would you remind us that your

word is true and trustworthy? When you

say you'll do something, you will. Help

us to live according to your promises

and your precepts. Teach us to be full

of faith. Give us wisdom so that we can

live a life following you and loving you

and knowing you more and more and more.

We love you. Thank you. Amen.