Where the independent life leads

Genesis 13:1-5

How often have you taken a shortcut to find, you (cannot get there from here) frequently that has happened to me.  Often my shortcuts end up back at my starting point, and that is what has happened to Abram.  Egypt looks like the perfect place to go, it has the best stuff, it’s full of the most enlightened people and yet it has only brought fear and pain into the life of Abram.  Abram’s lie to Pharaoh about Sarai being his sister, gets him and his group kicked out of Egypt, because the Lord had put great plagues on Pharaoh’s house because of Sarai.  Pharaoh has also given Abram sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.  Abram, is leaving Egypt with more stuff, but he is soon to find out that independent living gets us no where.

“So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.  Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.  And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first.  And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.”  (Genesis 13:1-4) 

Independent living will always take us to Egypt, (the flesh life) and that life is about self, what we want, what we will accomplish, it about doing it our way, with little or no thought of dependence on God.  Now Abram is back at Bethel, he sees where his tent has been, he observed the altar were he had called on the name of the Lord, and he understands that God’s requirement of everyone is dependence; you cannot trust or obey God, until you are willing to live dependent on His promises.  I believe Abram recalled passing through the land of Canaan and as they got to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, he recalls what the Lord said to him.  “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”

Folks, we should not get down on Abram, he’s only doing what each of us has been trained like a bird dog to do, take care of number One, because no one else will, that’s what our worldly wisdom has taught us.  Speaking for myself, the hardest thing is to break my self-reliance on my worldview and look to my Creator, my Redeemer, my Salvation, and my Lord Jesus Christ.  I cannot add one day to my life, or one hair to my head, but often I find myself living an independent life; I can tell you from experience it is full of roads that lead to no where, and I, like Abram, find myself running back to the abundant life of dependence on my big God.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice