Returning to God
Abraham the Believer: Part 5
Genesis 13:1-18
By Dave Redick

Abram realized, first and foremost, that his worship had faltered. Now he needed to renew his relationship with the God of Heaven. He had built several altars and worshipped God as he traveled across the land of Canaan earlier, but he built no altars while in Egypt. Thus it had been far too long since he had engaged in the matchless privilege of bowing his knee to the God who created him and called him out of Ur – the God whom he had so boldly trusted in the beginning. Now that he was back home, his first priority, his greatest desire was to re-establish worship.

Living by faith is seldom easy. It hasn’t been easy in the past and it isn’t easy today. Walking by God’s promises rather than human sight is a real challenge. Even some of God’s most devoted followers have, in the struggle of faith, faltered for a time.

What set these people apart from others who cease to live by faith is that each one came to his senses and returned to God.

In our last study of the life of Abraham, in Genesis 12, we saw Abram falter in his walk of faith. It appears he lost faith in God’s promises for a time, during a famine in Canaan, and went down into Egypt to find relief. There he lied about his wife, saying she was his sister – a stunt aimed at saving his own neck. The whole thing backfired. His wife was nearly taken into the Pharaoh’s harem. Abram escaped the mess only when God intervened.

In Genesis 13, which we’re going to consider today, we find Abram returning from Egypt. He has learned some important lessons about faith. Headed back to the land of Canaan, he is ready to trust God once again.

Abram’s story in Genesis 13 showcases an issue that is important to every person who is concerned with serving God: the need to return to God. Thus, the title of my message is: "Returning to God."

If you find yourself in need of returning to God or you know someone who is in need of it, or you would just like to know the way back in case you were to fall away yourself, pay close attention to the instruction that comes from this passage.

It isn’t difficult to imagine the regret Abram had as he returned from Egypt. He now can see this recent period of his life with the 20-20 clarity of hindsight. (Wouldn’t it be nice if foresight were as easy to interpret!) Abram realizes that this retreat to Egypt was a foolish move and the lie he concocted with his wife saying she was his sister was even more foolish. If anyone felt he had donkey ears at that point, it was Abram. He should have stayed in Canaan. He should have trusted God to take care of him in the famine. That might have been tough, but surely it wouldn’t have been as bad as the way things turned out in Egypt. Hadn’t God promised to bless him and take care of him? If you doubt that he regretted his trip down to Egypt, just think for a moment about that first night Abram’s wife, Sarai, was back home with him after nearly becoming Pharaoh’s mistress by force. They must have had quite a frank discussion in their tent that night. Whew! I’m glad I wasn’t there to hear it.

Thus we find Abram, after his trek to Egypt, returning to the land God had commanded him to sojourn in, ready once again to walk by the faith that had brought him to the Promised Land in the first place. Verse 1 makes the first step of his return very clear:

1. He Forsook Egypt

Let’s read verse 1:

When I say that Abram forsook Egypt, what I mean is that he left it behind and never went back. You can search the record from this point until his death. He never set foot on Egyptian soil again. Going there had been a big mistake. It amounted to backsliding from his faith. Yes, it had its glitz and glamour, and even provided temporary relief from the rigors of the famine, but in the end it was a disaster.

If you’re going to return to God you must utterly forsake the world just as Abram forsook Egypt. You have to cut the ties. To try to return to God and yet keep one foot in the world will never work.

Jesus has told us that "No one can serve two masters."(4) Abram didn’t keep a second home in Egypt and sojourn in the Promised Land on weekends. He didn’t commute. As soon as his wife Sarai had rejoined him, he pulled his tent pegs out of the Egyptian sand and left, never to look back or return.

I can see it in my mind’s eye. The flap swings back on Abram’s luxury model, wall-to-wall carpeted goat-hair tent and he steps out into the morning air. In a loud voice he calls out to all those in his camp, still rubbing the sleep from their eyes, "Strike your tents. We’re leaving this place!" Perhaps there was even a little cheer that arose from the vicinity of his servants’ tents.

I say these things to make a point. Did you notice all the people who returned to Canaan with Abram? "He and his wife and all that belonged to him and Lot with him." When Abram left Canaan, others followed him, which is often the way it works when someone backslides. Someone wavers, leaves the church, and family and friends follow.

Every one of us, whether we like it or not, has an influence on those we love. A wavering husband who leaves the church often takes his wife and kids away from the Lord, too. Sometimes his relatives and friends go with him.

Isn’t it reasonable then, that in returning to the Lord, such a one needs to make a clear break with the world – clear enough so that those others he has influenced negatively, can see it and have no further doubts about his commitment to what is right? Shouldn’t he do all he can to rescue those whom his poor example has imperiled?

What we’re really talking about here is repentance – a firm decision to leave whatever is sin behind and take an unmistakably clear stand for God.

I saw a cartoon in Reader’s Digest last month that showed a man standing by a greeting card display next to a woman who was stocking the shelves with new cards. The caption had the man asking, "Do you have a card that stops short of saying ‘I’m sorry’ yet vaguely hints of some wrongdoing?"

That kind of a return to God doesn’t influence anyone in a positive way! The break with Egypt needs to be clean and complete.

If you’re returning to God, break it off with the world! Get out of Egypt! Then take a clear stand. Send an unmistakable message to all those whom your poor example has caused to stumble. Get them out of Egypt, too!

Abram left Egypt. Clearly. Without a doubt as to his intentions.

What did he do next? The next verses tell us that:

2. He Returned to Worship

Verse 2:

Abram set his course for that place where he had worshipped God when he first entered Canaan: "…to the place where his tent had been at the beginning… to the place of the altar."

Abram realized, first and foremost, that his worship had faltered. Now he needed to renew his relationship with the God of Heaven. He had built several altars and worshipped God as he traveled across the land of Canaan earlier, but he built no altars while in Egypt. Thus it had been far too long since he had engaged in the matchless privilege of bowing his knee to the God who created him and called him out of Ur – the God whom he had so boldly trusted in the beginning. Now that he was back home, his first priority, his greatest desire was to re-establish worship.

A true child of God will miss the sweet fellowship of worship with his or her God if he slips away and will long to have it re-established when he returns. It reminds me of the words of David in Psalm 63:1-4:

"O God, Thou art my God;
I shall seek Thee earnestly;
My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water….
…Thy lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise Thee.
So I will bless Thee as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Thy name."

It must have felt good for Abram to get back into the land of promise. How elated he must have been when he crossed the border into Canaan and heard and smelled those familiar surroundings and knew he was back amid the inheritance God had promised to him and his descendants. But he couldn’t rest just yet. A rift in an important relationship needed to be made right – a relationship that far superseded those he had among his human companions. He needed to return to worship.

My friends, the relationship we have with God is the key that unlocks the door for all the other relationships in our lives. "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and [then] all these things will be added to you."

Yes, in returning to God we need to renew things with others. Yes, we need to get re-established in the church. But before anything else, when returning to God, we need to get on our knees, acknowledge our wrong, and renew ourselves with God.

Isn’t it wonderful that God has made that possible? Isn’t it great that He is a God of mercy who gives us another chance?

John the Apostle said, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."(5)

That confession needs to be made to Him because it is He whom we have offended most when we have turned aside to our own way.

The Prodigal Son put it this way when he returned to his father: "I have sinned against heaven and in your sight… ." David said it in a similar fashion when he repented of his sin with Bathsheba: "Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil…."(6)

If you have gone away from the Lord and now returned, you need to go back to worshipping Him. Don’t be timid about it. He wants you there. Hebrews 4:16 says to all those who are afraid to approach God after they have sinned:

Re-establish worship in your life! Go to God.

We see thirdly and finally from this passage that:

3. He Resumed Living by Faith

Living by faith is trusting God to take care of you even when you have no idea how He is going to pull it off. "Going without knowing," remember? Keep that in mind as we look at this next section. Verse 5:

Lot, you probably remember, was Abram’s nephew who came with him out of Ur in the original call. He had also become quite rich during the time they were in Egypt. Verse 6:

The Canaanites and Perizzites were people who also inhabited Canaan at this time and they also competed for the pasture land. Verse 8:

"Take your choice of the land, Lot. I’ll take what’s left over." What a generous offer! Verse 10:

As Patriarch of the family and leader of the clan, Abram, by all rights, could have had his choice of the land. Instead, he graciously offered it to Lot. Then Lot, instead of deferring to Abram, which would have shown good character on his part, seized the opportunity and took his half right out of the middle! He looked down on the plain of the Jordan, as it flowed into the Salt Sea, a virtual Garden of Eden where there were five prosperous cities already, and said, "I’ll take that."

I think that most anyone looking on that day would have said that Abram got taken by his nephew. A much more reasonable solution would have been for them to split the land of the south Jordan, east and west, with the river providing a natural boundary between them. But Lot, seeing what looked like an advantage, took it all. Abram must have looked like a fool to the rest of the family. Lot probably considered himself a shrewd operator as he retold the story to his servants that night. "Yeah, my uncle must be getting senile these days! The old fool offered me my choice of the land and I took it. You should have seen the look on his face!"

Well, was Abram a fool or is there something more for us to see here?

The next verses explain why Abram could give Lot the choice of all the land and not be a fool. After Lot departed and moved his tents toward Sodom, God appeared to Abram once again. Verse 14:

Abram could give Lot his choice of the land and not be a fool because God said it was all going to belong to him and his descendants anyway. Having faith that God’s promise was genuine, Abram was indifferent to what Lot would choose. A person who has the promise of God’s provision doesn’t have to cling to things. He can give those things up if it becomes necessary, knowing that God is going to bless him anyway.

John Walvoord, in his BIBLE KNOWLEDGE COMMENTARY, has put it very well in his evaluation of this passage. He wrote:

"Hardly any other chapter in the Bible describes faith so marvelously. Here was the patriarch as a genuine believer in and worshiper of [God] - whose faith functioned in a conflict. Lot, walking by sight, chose on the basis of what appealed to him. His choice was self-seeking and self-gratifying. But such a choice became dangerous and short-lived, for all was not as it appeared to be on the surface. Abram, on the other hand, walking by faith, generously let Lot choose first. Abram was unselfish, trusting God. He had learned that it was not by his own plan that he would come into the possession, or by jealously guarding what was his. He acted righteously and generously. One who believes that God is pledged to provide for him is not greedy, anxious, or covetous."(7)

I’m reminded of Paul’s discussion of this issue in 1 Corinthians 6 – a passage modern Christians would do well to know about. It seems that the Corinthian church was having serious squabbles among themselves – so serious that they were actually taking each other to court – selfishly grabbing all they could get from one another as opponents, though they were supposed to be brethren. Paul landed right in the middle of them in his letter. Let’s take a brief look at that passage.

(Read 1 Corinthians 1-8)

In passing here, before I make my point, may I say that it is as shameful today for Christians to take Christians to court as it was in Paul’s day? Matters as serious as this are to be resolved in the church, not in the courts! More than once I have seen supposedly mature Christians violate this passage and drag their brethren into court. What such people lack is faith in God. In their grabby acts of self-service, they show the world that they are no different than unbelievers – that they are carnal and not spiritual. They are no different than Lot.

Paul’s words were, "Why not rather be wronged?" Rather than bring disgrace on the Lord and His body by squabbling among yourselves like pagans, take the wrong upon yourself! God will take care of you. He’ll make things right in the long run. Trust Him! That is what faith is about! If your faith doesn’t function in conflict, then maybe you should consider whether you have any faith at all.

My dear brothers and sisters, real faith is not seen by merely showing up on church on Sunday. That’s good and that’s right and you should do it, but I’m sure the devil attends church somewhere – probably every Sunday! Your faith will be seen most clearly when the pressure is on and you are forced to choose between grabbing what you think you have coming while you have the opportunity and trusting God to take care of you. When the pressure is really on, which will it be? Are you like Abram or Lot? Verse 18:

Abram was back in the land.

Conclusion

I started this message by speaking of returning to God. I had in mind the idea that sometimes we get lax about trusting God and we start doing things our own way rather than His way. We fall away from our faith and start walking by sight.

Has this happened to any of us here? If so, right now I call you back to God. Whether you have strayed a little or a lot, the remedy is the same.

Pray with me, please.

Heavenly Father, our lives are in your hands. Help us to know it. Help us to remember it in the clutches and conflicts of this life. Help us to build the faith we need, I pray, to make right choices so that the "Canaanites and Perizzites" of our lives, and all those who look to us as an example, when they look upon us, will see truth and not hypocrisy. Help us love one another, too, I pray, and deal with one another with mercy, knowing that anything we might give up for your cause here will be restored to us a hundredfold in just a little while. Thank you for your great mercy and patience with us when we waver and fall. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Footnotes: Use your "back" button to return to your place.

1.  Samuel chapters 27-30
2.  Samuel 11:1-27
3. Matthew 26:31-35
4.  Matthew 6:24
5. 1 John 1:9-10
6.  Psalm 51:4 NASU
7.  Walvoord, John F., and Zuck, Roy B., The Bible Knowledge Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc.) 1983, 1985.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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