01.05.2017 – Old Testament: Gen 13.5–8

To read the Bible in a year, read Genesis 12–14 on January 5, In the year of our Lord 2017

By Don Ruhl

The Lord blessed Abram and his nephew Lot mightily, so much so that the land could not support their livestock,

Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren” (Genesis 13.5–8). 

Abram saw the problem. Then he addressed the other person in charge, proposing that the strife should not exist between them and why. His proposal, which you will see later in the text, shows his gracious spirit.

Questions:

• What do you do when problems exist in your family?
• Do you cause problems or seek to solve them?