Verse of the Day 1/5

Through the Bible - Genesis 13-15, Romans 5

 

Good morning,

If you've been following along and reading the "blended" read through the Bible plan above, you must have noticed the correlation between Genesis and Romans, and if you started reading in the Psalms you've probably seen more.

 

Genesis and Romans deal with sin and its consequences.  They show us the attributes of a life of faith with Abraham and the results of leaving God to follow a different path.

 

Yesterday we considered the downward progression to sin in Psalm 1 culminating at the end of verse 1 with "sitting in the seat of scoffers".

 

The Old Testament reading is now involved in the lives of Abram (Abraham) and Lot.  They were related to each other, but more than that they were friends.  They prospered to the point where they could no longer stay together, they would have to seek separate pastures for their herds.  Abraham settled in the country and Lot was drawn to the city.  For today's verse we'll go to Genesis 13. 

Genesis 13:12-13 (English Standard Version)  Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

MacArthur writes that "Lot's decisions put him in dangerous proximity to those cities whose names would become a byword for perversion and unbridled wickedness."

 

He became like the man in Psalm 1 yesterday as we read from Genesis 19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.  The gate, in those times, was where the leaders and people of influence would meet and make decisions.

 

The lesson for us is not be drawn to and seek on our own to sit in places of authority of our own will and desire, telling ourselves that we will have a positive influence on the others.  More than likely they will have more of an influence on us.  Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because the wickedness was so great that you "couldn't find ten good people there". Gen. 18:33(CEV)  Lot had not made an impact for God.

 

Our mission is to follow God to where He leads us, to know Him and to make Him known there.

Blessings,
Mike

mikevw@bellsouth.net
mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Genesis 13:11-18 (English Standard Version)

¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. ¹²Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

 ¹⁴The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, ¹⁵for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you." ¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD