God’s Promise to Abram — Genesis 13 Daily Word

After resolving conflict with his nephew Lot, Abram receives God’s remarkable promise of numerous descendants and vast land, strengthening his faith in the covenant.

Genesis 13:14-18 Daily Word — After wisely resolving the conflict with his nephew Lot, Abram receives a remarkable promise from God. Along with the command to look in every direction, the covenant to give him descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth strengthens Abram’s faith all the more.

Abram Receives God’s Promise

1. [Scripture]

[14] The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, [15] for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. [16] I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. [17] Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” [18] So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD. (Gen 13:14-18, ESV)

2. [Daily Word]

# The place where Abram and Lot are staying is inhabited by the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

Knowing this, Abram proposes that the two of them go their separate ways. He graciously gives his nephew Lot the first choice. Lot then lifts his eyes and looks out over the Jordan Valley, and in verse 10 he sees that the whole plain as far as Zoar is well-watered everywhere, like the garden of the LORD and like the land of Egypt, so he chooses to settle near Sodom. However, Lot overlooked one crucial fact: as noted in verse 13, the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD. If Lot were to live among them in Sodom, he too would be drawn into sin. Even so, heedless of this danger, Lot departed to the east in pursuit of what seemed good to him.

# God speaks to Abram.

After Lot had departed from Abram, God told him to look northward and southward and eastward and westward from the place where he was standing, and promised that all the land he could see would be given to him and to his offspring forever. *God said, “Lift up your eyes and look.” This expression means “to look carefully and attentively.” It is a call not to look with human eyes full of greed, but to look with spiritual eyes at the purpose God has hidden and prepared.

[2] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:2, ESV)

When we look with spiritual eyes and consider what God will do, we find that He has personally prepared things on our behalf. Therefore, what we must do is hold on to great dreams and vision within God, and press forward with confidence. It is then that God works through us.

God promises Abram that the land he now sees will extend to his descendants and belong to them forever. This is the blessing Abram was to receive — something God had prepared from the very beginning. Yet there is one more thing we can learn from this passage: what Lot chose with his own fleshly eyes was ultimately not truly his. This is because it was not something God had granted him.

We too must have spiritual eyes. In every situation and circumstance of our lives, we must not judge everything by our own standards and our own thinking. Instead, we must think spiritually and ask: How can I bring glory to God? How can I be used by God? This is the judgment we need to make. We must remember that this is the blessed life God desires for us.

# God declares that He will give the land in sight to Abram and to his offspring.

The offspring mentioned here refers to the descendants beginning with his son Isaac. Ultimately, this passage declares that God would give Abram descendants where he had none. Furthermore, God is saying that He would re-establish His kingdom through Abram. So in verse 16, He promises that He will make Abram’s offspring as numerous as the dust of the earth. And the statement that “if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your offspring can also be counted” is a figure of speech using irony — meaning, “just as no one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring will be so many that they cannot be counted either.”

God then tells Abram to rise and walk through the length and breadth of the land. This does not mean that every piece of land he traverses in every direction will be given to him, because the land God intends to give is already determined. Nevertheless, what is clear is that the land to be given to Abram is indeed vast. And so what Abram must do now is to trust firmly in God’s word and actually walk through the promised land with that conviction.

In truth, there are things God has given to us as well. The way to confirm and experience what He has given is to believe and move forward in faith.

(Mark 11:24) [24] Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24, ESV)

It is our hope that today, too, we will be people who hear the word of the Lord, believe it, and press forward in faith.

God’s promise, Abram’s faith, the blessing of obedience, the faithfulness of God, the faith of the altar

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com