A famine in Canaan –
Abram moved to Egypt,
Where he saw food in abundance.
‘Sarai, my love,’ he pleaded with his wife,
‘Pretend you are my sister,
For you are lovely to behold.
In case they kill me for the sake
Of your beauty!’
Abram’s faith?
So down Abram went
With Sarai, Lot and family.
Pharaoh beheld her beauty –
Taking her into his house.
But God plagued Pharaoh
For Sarai’s sake,
Until Pharaoh understood why.
‘Why?’ asked Pharaoh
‘I could have married her –
Another man’s wife.’
‘I was afraid,
For Sarai’s sake.’
Abram’s trust?
So he gave her back,
And more besides,
Sending Abram off
With all that he had
Back to Canaan –
Giving him more than before –
Sheep, oxen, male donkeys,
Male and female servants,
All for the sake of Sarai.
Abram’s faith?
God had just given him
A fruitful promise –
Trust?
What do we do with God’s promises?
Do we trust?
Do we have faith?

After this Abram and Lot separated because both families had become so large, that the land couldn’t hold both of them. (But not before Abram had gone back to Bethel and Ai, back to the same altar and had called again on the name of the Lord.)

There was tension between the two families.

‘Let’s separate and go our own way,’ said Abram to Lot, as they looked out over their possessions, ‘Our herdsmen are beginning to argue.’ He said this just as an argument was about to erupt again about the animals. What animals could feed where. ‘Let us not argue.’

‘Ok!’ Lot agreed.

‘If you take the left, I’ll take the right, or the other way round, whatever you prefer.’

So Lot looked and saw that the way towards Jordan, in the east, that land was well watered, a bit like Egypt, and would be able to support his flocks splendidly. But the land to the west was arid. So he went eastward towards Sodom and Gomorrah, finishing up just outside Sodom.