The Marks Of A Spiritual Person Series

As we spoke about Genesis 12 last week, we saw that there was a famine in the land and Abram took a natural, commonsensical path and made his way down to Egypt. While in Egypt, we didn’t see Abram erect monuments to or call upon his God - instead he took what he felt was the smartest, most beneficial choice for his future. Unfortunately, this choice took him and his family away from God.

The famine interrupted his trip to Canaan - it was a test of Abram’s faith - which he failed. Instead of seeking God’s will during the famine, he went out of God’s will to find bread. As one scholar observed: In acquiring his ill-gotten wealth, he jeopardized the honor and purity of his wife, lost her respect and any sense of self-respect and dignity. A fortune has been amassed, but an opportunity for trusting God has been missed. Despite Abram’s failure, God proves faithful to His promise and intervenes to deliver him and all that he has out of Egypt (foreshadowing a future deliverance of Israel).

Now Abram takes a quiet journey back to Bethel with his extended family and all that he owns. Let’s read from Gen 13:3-18

3 And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which he had made there previously; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5 Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents. 6 And the land could not support both of them while living together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. 7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.

8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are relatives! 9 Is the entire land not before you? Please separate from me; if you choose the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.” 10 Lot raised his eyes and saw all the [f]vicinity of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt [g]going toward Zoar. 11 So Lot chose for himself all the vicinity of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. So they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the vicinity of the Jordan, and moved his tents as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were [l]exceedingly wicked sinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. 16 I will make your descendants as plentiful as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted. 17 Arise, walk about in the land through its length and width; for I will give it to you.” 18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord (NASB 2020).

Abrams' story is a story of:

Being set apart

Settling things God’s way

Staying close to God

Let’s look at the first mark of spirituality…

Being set apart (vv. 1-5)

Leaving the fiasco in Egypt where he had made decisions out of self-preservation and self-serving interest, Abram went from the Negev in the south back to the north to Bethel, which means “house of God.” It was a conscious course correction to come back to his relationship with God. In Bethel, he returned to the altar where he first called on the name of the Lord, made a decision to return to a place of fellowship with the eternal and faithful God. Abram had seen that God is faithful and all-powerful, even in the midst of the famine, He is Lord over the gods of Canaan and Egypt. Abram was different now, a changed man - he was being sanctified, set apart to God.

Bethel will continue to be mentioned as a key place in the Old Testament where people would meet God. In Genesis 28, we see Jacob running from his brother, Esau, and how he stopped for the night in Luz. As he slept, he dreamed of a ladder that stretched up from earth to heaven. The angels of God were climbing up and down the ladder as God stood at the top. The Lord spoke and revealed Himself to Jacob as the God of his fathers. When Jacob woke up from the dream, he declared, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Jacob said, “God was here and I didn’t know it.”