Thurs.’s Devo - Victory

Read: Genesis 13:5-15:21; Matthew 5:27-48; Psalm 6:1-10; Proverbs 1:29-33 As Abram and Lot traveled and their crops and possessions grew, their shepherds began to quarrel over wells and green grass for their herds. Abram and Lot met and discussed the problem. Abram told Lot they needed to separate and go different directions so they would have enough land and the quarreling would stop. Abram gave Lot his choice of land. Lot chose the green fertile land of the east which had wicked cities and civilization. Abram would go west. When Lot had left, God told Abram to look in all the directions because He was giving Abram all the land…even Lot’s. Abram settled in Hebron near the oak grove belonging to Mamre, the Amorite and built an altar to the Lord. War broke out with nine of the wicked kingdoms. Five of the kings had been subject to King Kedorlaomer of Elam and they decided to rebel and stop paying him. King Kedorlaomer and his five allies faced the other four in the area by the Dead Sea and defeated the four. Lot lived among the four defeated kingdoms so he and his family was taken captive. One of the captives escaped to tell Abram. Abram gathered his family of 318 men and his allies Mamre with his relatives Eschol and Aner and went to fight King Kedorlaomer. They caught up with them at Dan and attacked the king from Elam. Abram won and recovered Lot and all the people and spoils of their war. The king of Sodom, where Lot was from, and Melchizedek, the king of Salem, met in the valley of the Kings. Melchizedek was not only the king of Salem (heavenly Jerusalem) but also God’s High Priest. He brought bread and wine and he and Abram had communion. He blessed Abram with God’s blessing and blessed God for giving Abram victory. Abram gave Melchizedek one tenth of his spoils. Then Abram negotiated with the King of Sodom. The king of Sodom wanted his people and told Abram he could keep the spoils. Abram refused to take anything of his lest he take credit for Abram’s success. He did ask that his friends Mamre, Eschol and Aner be paid out of the spoils. Later, God told Abram that He would reward Abram greatly. Abram lamented that a reward was useless without an heir to give it to. Right then his heir was his servant . God said that he would give him an heir and it would not be his servant but a son from his own loins. Then God told him to look up into the sky and count the stars. That was how many descendants God would give him…enumerable. Abram asked for a sign and God told him to make kill a three-year old heifer, female goat and ram plus a turtledove and a young pigeon. He was to cut them all down the middle. As the sun was going down, Abram went to sleep and God spoke to him. He told him that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land for 400 years as slaves. Then God would bring them out with great wealth. After four generations his descendants would return here to this land. God would punish the nations that enslaved them and they would someway with great wealth. As it grew dark, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. God made a covenant with Abram. He told Abram that he had given this land to his descendants all the way from the border of Egypt to the rest Euphrates River. It was the land of Canaan. (Remember when God cursed Canaan and gave Shem his land. This is the result.) Jesus continues his sermon in Matthew. He is going through the Ten Commandments giving the spiritual side to it. God’s laws are not just physical acts but to truly obey you must have your heart in the right place. Our actions flow from our hearts. Committing adultery is not just an act but it starts with the heart. Jesus said that if your eye (what you are putting before you) causes you to sin, then get rid of it. In their day, men were putting their wife away without giving them a writ of divorce, a legal document of divorce. This caused her to commit adultery if she remarried because she wasn’t legally divorced from the first husband. Jesus gives a different twist to fairness. He told them to not try to be fair but give more than what was required and don’t be upset if you get treated unfairly. He told us to love our enemies and those that persecute us because anyone can love those who love them back. Jesus loved those who crucified him. He was our example. Lord, help us to love and forgive and endure unfair treatment for your sake and your name. May Your name be glorified.