What do you do when someone wants your blessing?

Gen 12:1-3,7  "Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed…. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

Gen 13:8-12  “So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling 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.” 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. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.”

I find it interesting that Abram did the opposite of what our self-centered human nature does. Abram allowed Lot to have the first choice of the land while he stood back and gave preference to the one who wanted was rightfully his.  Why?  Hold on to that question and I will come back to it.

Abram and Lot were never unified.  They each had a different mission and as a result there was friction from the start.  However, the conflict between them rose to the surface.  Because of their prosperity, their possessions were so great, that they could not dwell together.  The land was too small for both of them and all their flocks.  As a result, their herdsman started fighting over pastures and who had the rights to them.

Abram knows God has promised him the land and the blessing of prosperity.  If that’s true (which it was) then why didn’t He just take it?  Why did he defer to Lot?  Why would he let Lot be the first to choose what part of the land he would like to make his own?  Was Abram showing a lack of self-interest?  Why on earth would he be so generous?

It is because Abram not only believed in the sovereignty and promises of God, but he trusted that if God made a promise, he would see it through.  Deferring to Lot didn’t threaten what God had promised Abram.  Abram didn’t need to fight for what God had already said was his.  The battle was God’s to fight, and Abram rested in the promise and left the future provision to God to work out.

This passage is meaningful to me because my husband and I lived out something very similar.  God has given each of His children a calling and a host of promises that accompany it.  As hard as people can try, no one can steal it unless we let them.  God may be invisible, but He is certainly not inactive.  We do not need to come apart when it appears that we are about to be crowded out of the picture.  Silenced.  God is still pulling strings to ensure our future.  We can step aside and be gracious, even to the unrighteous, and feel no need to fight for what God has already said is ours.  We can choose to live in the confidence of God’s promises rather than the fear of being left out.

Think of a child.  From the time we are small, we cry when another takes away our toy.  We protest, “It’s mine!  We throw a tantrum when we don’t get it back.  Don’t miss it.  As adults, we do the same thing. It takes grace to act differently.

Jesus laid down his life to become a servant, we can do the same.  Jesus’ future was not threatened even though it looked like it was for a period time.  But look, today He sits as the right hand of God. 

Can we follow Jesus’ example?  What if we choose to live like Jesus?  What if we choose to live like Abram.  Deferring does not threaten what God has promised.  Deferring is an act of faith, trusting in God’s sovereignty and promises and believing He will keep them.