Genesis 13: Responding to God

¹⁴ The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. ¹⁵ All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷ Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the LORD. -Genesis 13:14-18

Genesis 13 begins with an argument and ends in worship. Abram and his nephew Lot find themselves in conflict over land usage for their animals. Abram suggests they divide their livestock into two areas, offering Lot the first choice. Lot chose the “good” land. Abram took the other portion.

God then showed up and made a big promise–Abram was promised the land of Israel. He was told to look at it, walk through it, and check it out. He did, moving his tents to Hebron (still an active city today).

But there’s one last detail worth noting–Abram responded to God in worship.

We’re told Abram built an altar, a place to honor the Lord for the blessing he had received. When I wrote out these words, I found myself convicted. When God blesses me in a special way, is my initial reaction worship? Not always. And not enough. When God acts, we act in response. He blesses, we worship. That’s how Abraham lived. It’s how we are called to live as well.

UPDATE: Also, a quick thanks to Dave at Armchair Theology for featuring Holy Writ on his blog. You can check it out here.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.