Pitch Your Tent with God

When Abraham arrived at the land that God swore to give him, it was interesting that the first thing he did was to build an altar when he could call on the name of the Lord. 

Genesis 12:7-8 tells us that “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord”

When he left the land, moved from place to place and returned, guess what he did first? “… he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord”  Abram was busy walking with the Lord whereas Lot was busy moving around, at least the scripture says “Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents”

No wonder, when trouble broke out between the herdsmen of Lot and the herdsmen of Abraham, all he could think about was a carnal means of resolution. Abram on the other hand said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarrelling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” 

For a moment I asked myself, how stupid can Abraham be to have given Lot the right to choose first? I later realised that Abraham’s action is the invisible wisdom of men who are sold out to God. They know that “A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven” (John 3:27).  And guess what? “Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east”– (Genesis 13:10-11).

After Lot chose the best part of the land, Abraham went back to God and here’s what God told him “…Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever.” (Genesis 13:14-15). 

Wait a minute, I thought Lot already took the East, why is God still promising the same land to Abraham? Because a man can receive nothing except what has been given him from above! And when something has been given to a man from above, it can’t be taken by someone from below. So while Lot thought he has taken the best for himself, he actually left with nothing. It wasn’t so long before Lot found himself caught up in the middle of a people ripe for God’s judgement. In the twinkle of an eye, Lot barely escaped with his life. 

As we close out, here’s the question, what have you received and who is guarding it? If it is not from God, for God and by God, then it’s just like a smoke; one minute you think it’s tangible and the next minute it’s gone! It’s time to wake up and be wise; pitch your tent with God.