Cycles of Knowing
Genesis 13:1-4
From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlierand where he had first built an altar. There Abram called ton the name of the Lord.
You might think this is about an argument between two brothers who cannot get along. In reality, it is all about God and how Abraham knew him. Abraham as with anyone had some jacked up stuff. There is a lot that can be said about him that land is still saying even to this day. Let us talk about how Abraham knew God. Sometimes, God will bring you back to the place from which you started. He is not trying to start you all over from the beginning. He does this so you can remember how God knew you at first compared with how you know him now. This was where his tent had been earlier and where he built his first altar. Notice that his tent was between Bethel and Ai. It was between defeat because of one man's sin and the house of God. How many of you know that even in all your travels, wherever you go, the Lord is with you. It is his house. Abraham had been there before. Now he is there again calling on the name of the Lord. There is continuing in this thing. Abraham was not a one-time believer. As he got to know God, he stayed in the Lord's presence continually.
Notice, there is no prayer to God recorded between the time he first visited and when he found himself there again. How many of you know that when you stay in his presence, there is no coming or going. When you are not focused on yourself as in the place of Ai, it becomes your Bethel, the house of God. Abraham went from place to place until he came to the house of the Lord. Let us look at where he came from. He came from a dry place; the Negev was a desert. He went out from his own sin into the desert. How many of you know the dry places in your lives are sometimes because of the hand of the Lord and partly what you did. Sarah his wife had been barren like that land. There is a dry land, a dry woman, and some dry circumstances. How many of you know that when God calls you, you will not stay in that place. As you follow him, he leads you from place to place until you come to the house of the Lord. There is something to see here. The people of Israel and the Arabs call on their father Abraham even until this day. It is little wonder that what we see next builds off these principles seen here. The people may have changed, but God has not. The way he deals with people and nations today is the same way he dealt with their forefathers then. Daniel 2:23 calls him the "God of my ancestors." Could it be that God had to deal with some stuff in Abraham's life before he could worship him properly. Here Abraham called on the name of the Lord.
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him.Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
I would like to know when he first built an altar to the Lord. Could it be that it was after God called on Abraham in Genesis 12:7-9. Here we see God in search of man. "No one can come" to him "unless the Father" draw him according to John 6:44. It is a calling relationship. Sometimes you call on the Lord and sometimes he calls on you. If he does not call on you first, there will be no relationship. Abraham had become very wealthy because of the hand of the Lord. There are things in your life that make you blessed even more than the silver, gold, donkeys, camels, and the brothers. Now, I can hear some of you saying, this did not happen like that. Genesis 13 comes before Genesis 17 which finds him in the presence of the Lord. Does not God know the end from the beginning. Does not time mean anything to him, who holds the times and seasons in his hand. "He changes the times and the seasons" as in Daniel 2:21. Sometimes, he gets finished with something before he even gets started. To me, this alone would make God more precious to me than all the stuff I ever owned. How many of you know that when you have everything you own with you, you still have the Lord. You have not counted it all, until you have counted on him.
The history of Abraham's life is littered with the hand of God. It was all about how God knew Abraham, rather than how Abraham knew God no matter how much stuff he had. Had Abraham kept this in mind, it would have saved him from much pain, grief, loss, and strife. Did he not sleep with Sarah's maid and have a love child according to Genesis 21:14-16. Then, he cast them out when the child of promise came. Even in Abraham's sojourning in Ai, there is still Bethel. The two are right beside each other with Abraham caught between the two. The house of the Lord ought to be with you no matter where you go. For does not the name Bethel also mean the house of God among the seafarers. As you go from place to place, do not forget to take the house of God with you and call upon his name.