Genesis 13:14-18

New Living Translation

After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession…Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”

For Meditation

The passage for today is a specific promise to Abraham, which none of us can claim. However, it has some principles the believer in Jesus can follow for a fruitful walk with Him. 

The conditional timing in the Promise is noteworthy. “After Lot had gone…” (Genesis 13:14). Everything God promised Abram as an inheritance was already waiting for him the day he entered Canaan. Like a Will that opens an inheritance to the inheritor only after he satisfies a condition, the Promised Land document remained sealed until Lot moved away from Abram. When they parted ways, God showed up and dazzled Abram with an unbelievable view of what He had ordained for Abram and his uncountable descendants. This promise would test Abram’s faith to the highest summit.

When God tells us to look as far as we can see in every direction, He means to showcase His riches, majesty, and goodness. He intends to give us an assurance that we lack nothing in Him if only we would abide by His word and faithfully walk with Him. But that is our problem as believers.

On the day of our salvation, God called us to come out from the world and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17), but our love for the world restrains us. We love ourselves and others more than Christ, so we do not see the riches of His grace lavished on us in salvation Ephesians 1:7-8). God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3), but what proportion of these do we see and enjoy?

Talk about the extent of His love toward us. We don’t know until God gives us the power to grasp the dimensions of it in Christ and the measure of His fullness in us (3:18-19). God revealed this love when Christ died for us while steeped in sin (Romans 5:8, but do we grasp its recesses?

God has seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). He has promised us glory in Christ (Colossians 1:27) and to reign with us (2 Timothy 2:12) as heirs and coheirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). 

These are but a few of His kingdom’s blessings and inheritance to us who believe. What God promised Abraham foreshadowed these in Christ for us. 

The Lord is telling us to look far and wide and survey them. He tells us to lift our eyes and see the ripe field, ready for harvest (John 4:35-36), and take up the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20).

Maybe we are not seeing well because there is a Lot in our lives. Like Samson, we may have a Delilah in our hearts, so we cannot see the riches of His grace in Christ for us. 

May He deliver us into the open field of His glory for a changed and shaped focus on Christ for fruitfulness, amen!