Pitching your Tent
I can imagine a slight wry smile on Abrams face as He and his tribe leave Egypt. There are no swift journeys now that they are heavy with slaves, herds, gold and silver. The journey out of Egypt is done in stages we are told. I wonder if at each small stage of slow progression Abram starts to realise that the wealth he has accumulated comes at a cost of speed, freedom and peace.
Lot too has done very well out of the brief spell down south. We are not told if the famine has ended, it seems it may not have lasted very long, perhaps the next rainy season meant they could have survived without Egypt after all, perhaps not.
Fatherless Lot would have till this point been under the security and authority of Abram, and Childless Abram would have had a fathers heart for his nephew. Lot it seems was working for his own family not for the tribe as a whole so it is time for him to fly the nest. Like all of us to grow he has to learn through his own mistakes and experience… and like all us parents we have to allow our children the freedom to leave and make them.
I think Lot would have left with an excitement of being in charge of his own destiny, a man in his own right. Of course, in his relative youthfulness and inexperience he would not have considered that his time in Egypt had coloured his desires, that the ease of a lush plain comes at a cost. There was a reason the cities were full, the draw of riches and earthly wealth attracts most of us. It can feel that God is erratic in his provision at times, it feels safer to hold onto a certain amount of reliability in our own resourcefulness and not fully depend upon Gods providence. I think Lots spiritual immaturity and his taste of Egypt coloured his judgement.
I am also struck in Abrams walk around his land. This was called Chazakah and was a custom well used by the Hittites and Egyptians. It re-established sovereignty over your land and marked the boundaries or initially served as a form of contract. For us though, I see an invitation to explore all of what God is giving us. To use the width and breadth of His gifts as well as know there are boundaries. Not boundaries to His gifts but the boundaries of a kingdom where we are to remain if we are to remain in Him. The Prezzites came from unwalled cities, a lack of walls means they wandered, they didn’t belong.
We all have choices to make, where do we pitch our tents? Where do we settle? What proximity to God is close enough for us to rest, assured we have enough clarity and intimacy to be always within the boundaries of his will.