Battle Ready: Suiting Up For Life's Battles

Genesis chapter 14 is often entitled: “The War of the Kings.”

As we rejoin the story of Abram today, you will remember that Abram and Lot returned from Egypt and Lot chose the fertile, well-watered areas of Sodom and Gomorrah; He was making decisions based upon what he saw. He was walking by sight.

In contrast, Abram was walking by faith, trusting God to lead his life and provide according to His will and purposes for his life. He was walking by faith.

Lot and Abram provide a vivid, 3-D picture of how we can chose to live our lives. We can chose to live by faith or by sight. We can trust our own decisions; or trust God’s direction. Every one of us have a choice to make.

While this historical event went down in the annals of Biblical history, it is also one of those chapters in scripture where God’s fingerprints are deeply embedded in the story. It is obvious that His hand is at work here and He is also providing a type of allegory for everyone’s life and the battles we all face that test our faith.

Simply stated, there are life lessons in this historical document that speak volumes to us about dealing with our own daily battles with sin, life’s challenges, and struggles to trust God.

The allegory is found in the response we find in those who were caught up in the middle of the battle. What we find is that “they ran.” Ever felt that way?

Today, when it comes to your daily battles; running is the Biblical response. Yet, it might be different than you think.

Transitional Sentence: Let me direct your “run” today. When battles come your way God wants us to remember:

I. There’s Always A Problem That Gets Us Running

vs. 1-4- “And it came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of ]Goiim, 2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 All these kings came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).4 For twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.”

Explanation:

Let me quickly summarize what is happening in Genesis 14. In Genesis 14 we find 9 kings at war; two sets of alliances:

a) The Weak Alliance- 5 kings were from the area Lot lived in. (Sodom and Gomorrah were

2 of the 5)

b) The Strong Alliance- 4 kings who dominated and bullied everyone else. This was an ancient

alliance made up of the Kings of the East who were descendants of Nimrod.

The strong alliance appears to be similar to what England was to the America before the Revolutionary war. They were the “mother country” and the weak alliance was like the colonies who were forced to pay taxes to their mother.

Yet, history often records (even in our situation) people long for freedom so we read in verse 4: “Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer (I call him Mr. Cheddar cheese for short it’s easier to pronounce) for twelve years, but the thirteenth year they rebelled.”

It was no surprise that the strong alliance defeated the weak, and because Lot moved down to Sodom, he ended up caught in the scuffle and made Lot and his family slaves.

Let me pause and say this: “And you just thought you have problems right?”

Have you ever dissected the anatomy of your problems? What do we know about problems?

a) Some problems are because of the fallen world- Jesus said in John 16:33- “In this world you

will have trouble.” The Greek word for trouble is “Thilpsis” is actually a picture of pressing

down, compressing and constricting – to stack upon or strangle.” It’s about things that wear

out and wring us out.”

Can I tell you something? There’s not a person alive on this planet that that isn’t acquainted with trouble.

Do you remember what Job said? He said: “For man is born for trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”

b) Some problems are because of my foolishness- Lot’s problems began with who he chose to hang out with. In Genesis 13, Lot slipped into Sodom because it looked like a great place to live. He chose Sodom based on what he saw, not how God was leading.

Isn’t this where most of our problems originate?

1) Eve fell into her temptation because the fruit looked “good to the eyes”.

2) Genesis 13 leaves us as Lot “pitched his tent even as far as Sodom”.

But now in Genesis 14, he’s living IN Sodom. And when Sodom gets attacked, Lot gets swept up with everyone else in Sodom. If you are hanging out with the people of the don’t be surprised if you get caught up and get into their trouble when they get into trouble. He ends up as a POW.