Genesis 13
Here we jump right from the disturbing episode at the end of chapter 12 to a heartening account of Abraham’s promise-believing, faithful, and magnanimous action with Lot. Together the two scenes don’t seem to make sense, but isn’t that the reality with any of us? Well, maybe not you, but it is with me.
What this and the preceding episode have in common is the intervention of the Lord; in the first, in response to unfaithfulness; now, in response to action that is promise-believing. He tells both Lot and Abraham to look up to see the scope of what is before them (verses 10 and 14).
It seems to be part of God’s economy that the scope of the response to faithfulness is vastly greater than the scale of response to unfaithfulness. It’s not that he doesn’t take unfaithfulness seriously. He just seems to respond with great excitement and pleasure in us when we respond to life’s circumstances with faithfulness.
So which is better?
Prayer:
God, we like to talk about the complexity of situations. Maybe we make things more complicated than they need to be because we are reluctant to see through to the choice in the situation that is really very clear. The easier way is so often the less faithful way. Don’t let me fear the way that seems more difficult. Through Christ. Amen.
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6 comments:
sure is easier to eat junk candy today than to eat fruits and veggie snacks. that's not to make light of your thoughtful post, however.
re: "we like to talk about the complexity of situations. Maybe we make things more complicated than they need to be because we are reluctant to see through to the choice in the situation that is really very clear."
i was sitting in cellarman's last night with a pint of guinness and my friend had a glass of wine, talking about this very thing: how even complicated situations also have simple things about them.
my friend said there's no black and white, it's only shades of grey. i suggested (well, i was more forceful than merely suggesting), that it's both: you have black and white, and we see shades of grey inbetween.
my friend countered that there's no black and white because truth is relative. i denied that truth is relative, at which point we went no further, having been down this path before.
a question remains, however: using the black-white-grey metaphor, is someting less than pure white an untruth, a lie? from a black-and-white perspective, are shades of grey really black?
You're not making light of my post when the candy vs. fruit/vegetable question is a live issue today, I mean more than usual!
As for black and white, shades of grey: I guess I see it's both in at least one respect: Sin is all completely dark (maybe better than black) relative to God's goodness in that the tiniest sin (like putting fat and sugar in my bod when it could be something better) is less than his perfection. But it's grey (hence tiny) in that it's much better than something else that would hurt someone much more directly (even the tiny sin could end up hurting, say, my family if I don't look after myself with diet and exercise).
I think in some ways it is easier to be Lot and Abraham. God came to them and spoke to them. They had faith in the direction they were taking because God spelled it out for them.
If God came to me and said, Kate look here, now do this - I would. It's a whole lot harder to have faith in the path you might be choosing without the explicit directions. Many times I look at my choices and am just unsure of what is the right path. Even eating candy - stuffing your face after the kids go to bed = bad choice. Accepting your child's offer of your favourite chocolate bar, to me is a good choice, even if it harms your physical health.
Trick or treating, I thought many times "We're (as a people) just weird. This is such a weird thing to do."
but we don't know how god spoke to abram. what if it was that small quiet voice in his head, practically his conscience or intuition. what if 'walking with god' entails consstant meditation and quiet in order to still the mind to hear the voice more clearly.
isn't that what faith is? struggling to believe when there is no explicit communication?
what if god is speaking to you right now, as surely as he or she or them spoke to abram?
i struggle every day to reduce the noise in my life so i can hear god more clearly. i have so much further to go; i feel like i'm on the 126th floor of the tower of babel, and i can hardly see the exit sign to the stairwell...
p.s.
it's good to hear from you, kate.
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