Rocks or Grass?

Finally Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen. After all, we are close relatives! The whole countryside is open to you. Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate. If you want the land to the left, then I’ll take the land on the right. If you prefer the land on the right, then I’ll go to the left.” Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them.                                          Genesis 13:8-11a NLT

What happens to you when you really learn to trust God, when you know he is for you, when you know that he is really out for your best? You stop being a grasper, a person whose eye is always on “the main chance.”

That’s what happened to Abraham. He had come to the land God had promised to him and his family. But then, afraid of a famine, he had left it and gone to the good land of Egypt. There, afraid for his life, he had persuaded his wife to deceive the Pharaoh and lie about her relationship to her husband. But when the Pharaoh learned about the deception, he not only did not kill Abraham, he sent him away wealthy! I can imagine him saying to Sarah on the way back to Canaan. “I think we have met a god we can trust.”

It was in that light that, as God continued to bless Abraham and Lot, and their flocks continued to grow, and they needed to separate, that Abraham could allow Lot to choose. Now think about that. Abraham is the sheik, the head of the clan. He has absolute power over everybody in the clan. He could easily say to Lot, “Here, boy, you’re going to take the poorest land, and like it.”

Instead, as they stood there on the rocky central ridge, looking down on the rich green of the Jordan valley, Abraham said to Lot, “My boy, you choose where you would like to go.”

It did not take ten seconds for Lot to choose the grass in the valley. Who wouldn’t? What was going on? Why did Abraham do that? He did it because he trusted God. Abraham knew that if he ended up with the rocks he could trust God to take care of him. Better rocks from God’s hands than grass that we have grabbed for ourselves. From the rest of the story, we know that indeed the rocks were better than the grass. But Abraham didn’t know that as Lot headed away down the hill. What he did know was that whatever comes from God’s hand is best. Have you learned that, really learned it? Do you trust him?