Should Lot should have stayed with Abraham or indeed leave?
So first, context.
Who was Lot?
Lot was Abraham’s nephew, the son of Abrahams’s deceased brother Haran. The Lord had told Abraham to go to a land that He will show him. He will be blessed and be made into a great nation. Lot decided to go with him. On route to the land Abraham became very wealthy as a result of Sarai, and subsequently so did Lot.
Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
genesis 12: 15,16
Conflict occurs and the herdsman of Abraham and Lot begin to quarrel. To keep the peace Abraham suggested that they separate, and offered Lot to choose which part of the land he would want to reside. Whatever part he chose, Abraham would go in the opposite direction. Lot chose for himself the best-looking land and as agreed Abraham went in the opposite direction.
Lot probably thought he was getting the best option but as we read on in Genesis, we see that even though Lot chooses a land that is very fertile and pleasing to the eye, it is nonetheless occupied by very wicked and unrighteous people that will eventually cause his family to disintegrate, incestuous acts to occur between him and his daughters that will birth two nations from his daughters that will become long-standing enemies with the Israelites in the future.
However, some of you may be saying it’s not Lot’s fault: he couldn’t foresee that the land that he chose was inhabited by wicked people. Lot’s circumstances were a product of the environment he was in.
Not necessarily, in this case I do believe Lot made mistakes, as coincidentally unfortunate as they look, he made these 3 mistakes:
- He abandoned Abraham when the mission God had called him to was not complete.
- Lot accompanied Abraham knowing that God had called him to go to a land where Abraham would be blessed and become a nation. Therefore, Lot should have humbled himself under the leadership of Abraham. When the quarrelling began in proper humility and respect for Abraham, efforts should have been made to see if his herdsman could work with Abrahams herdsman. They should have been operating as one unit.
- It was God who was with Abraham, Lot did not know God the way Abraham knew God. For his spiritual development he should have never have left Abraham, he did not have the same dependence on the Lord the way Abraham did to keep him from safety and live in peace.
This is not to say that Lot was not righteous and was ungodly we see in 2 Peter 2: 7-8 twice Lot was mentioned as righteous.
and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless
2 Peter: 7,8
But God’s divine providence was with Abraham and Lot should have stayed near that source instead of going afar.
He chose short term gratification instead of long-term wealth
The only rationale Lot made in his decision as to where to move was on what looked good. He did not consider the cost of his decision.
In the end Lot should have stayed with Abraham.
But hindsight is a beautiful thing! The question is, what would you have done in the same scenario?
Signing off
Faith With Petra 