Defending The Brat

Hahahaha...yall, that picture straight cracks me UP! I literally "LOL" everytime I look at it, haha.
I'm thinking this kid is some-kinda-pissed, hahahaha.

Anywho.

I was skimming thru Genesis this morning, refreshing my memory...

Because my kids ate my brain...

Something stood out. (COULD be that it was underlined and highlighted and there was scribbled notes all around it..)

Some of us know the story of Abram (Abraham) and Lot. For those who don't, you can find it in Genesis 12-19. For the purpose of this blog, we are focusing on chapter 14. (if you read the entire story of Abram and Lot, you will understand why I called this blog, 'Defending The Brat'...Lot is the brat in question)

At this point, Abram and Lot had seperated and Lot had chosen the fertile valley near Sodom and Gomorrah(a total brat move and another blog for another day), but little did he know that there was trouble awaitin' him there.

Unbeknownst to them, the kings of several different people groups were joining forces to pounce on the king of Sodom. You see, For 12 years Sodom had been subject to a certain kingdom and in the 13th year, they rebelled and gained their freedom. The king of Elam was like, "Errrmmm...no. I think not." So in the 14th year(when Lot decided to move into the 'hood) there was a power struggle fittin ta happen. The king of Sodom catches wind of it and gets the king of Gomorrah to side with him...

So Lot moves on in, sets up shop, and thinks life is hunky dory.

And then....

Middle Earth is not such a happy place, Frodo.

The kings and all their combined forces descend upon the valley of Siddim

Cant you just see it?? I TOTALLY have the picture in my head...not unlike Lord of the Rings...lol...hey, I'm a fantasy nerd...cant help it. Anyway...they are FLOODING down the hills into the valley in swarms and droves of war cries and weapons...

And Lot is like, "Oh crap."

The thing about that valley? There were tar pits all over it. You would THINK that since Sodom and Gomorrah were IN that valley, that they would know about these pitfalls, but they didn't.

Yeah. Not good.

As the battle progressed, the armies of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into the pits and fell captive to the invading forces. The allied armies plundered the cities and carried off all of the people and their resources....and that's not all they carried off...

They took LOT, all his people, and everything he owned too!

Poor guy was a classic victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.



In the meantime, Abram was up in the hill country, a good piece away from his nephew completely oblivious to what was going on in the valley below. Some one escaped and made a bee-line to Abram to let him know that Lot had been taken captive.

Once he heard of Lot's capture, Abram didn't waste anytime. He called out the 318 trained men born in his household (THREE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN...and I thought MY house was crazy!!) and hot-footed it down to retrieve his nephew. I mean, that joker chased them down, and when he caught up to them, during the night, Abram divided his men to attcak them and the Word says he "routed" them.

By definition "routed" means:

a. A disorderly retreat or flight following defeat.

b. An overwhelming defeat. 

c. Decisively defeated in combat [syn: beaten, conquered, overcome, overthrown, overwhelmed, vanquished]

You need to grasp the gravity of this...Abram descisively defeated the allied armies...4 different kingdoms' armies combined...

With 318 men.

If that ain't a God thing, I dont know what is...

Anywho, When Abram came back, he didn't just have Lot and all HIS people and belongings. He brought ALL the captives and resources that had been stolen.

Needless to say the King of Sodom was beside himself and came out to meet him in the valley.

Melchizedek, the king of Salem(and priest of the Most High God) met him too...with a party tray...and Abram gave him a tenth of everything that he had brought back. (The very first tithe)

The king of Sodom was so relieved and grateful that he told Abram, "Dude. Thanks so much. if you will just let my people come home, you can keep all the stuff you brought back....as a thank you." (the bible according to Nicki)

Abram refused, not too politely. He told the guy that he didn't want anyone to be able to say that they had made him what he was.

END NARRATIVE

Okay. Here's what I see:

First of all, Lot shouldve never even been in the valley. He wasn't strong enough to withstand the temptations that the life of ease afforded him, but what REALLY stood out to me was the fact that the valley that was so fertile, was full of tar pits....and that the people who lived in that valley had no idea they were there. When the time came for them to come out to do battle....the fell into these hidden traps and could do nothing but be taken captive by the enemy.

We need to understand that just because a direction seems easier, doesn't necessarily mean that its the direction we need to go. It may appear to be fertile, but there are hidden pits all around us there and the very moment when we think victory is ours, we fall.

Another thing I see is that Lot was an innocent bystander in all of this...sort of...I mean he didnt have anythign to do with the war, so in that aspect he was innocent, but again...if he hadn't been there in the first place, he never couldve been taken captive.

Just being in the wrong place can sometimes lead you to a captivity that you really didn't have any control over. You have no control over the 'wars' being waged around you...I mean, Lot had no idea that there was this behind-the-scenes drama going on...all he saw was this lush valley and he was drawn to it because it wouldn't require as much effort to maintain his family, heards, and crops...but did his ignoranc eof the drama keep him from getting carried away?

No.

The enemy does not care if you are privy to the goings on of his plans...infact he PREFERS that you are not. He WANTS you to have a false sense of security. Then, when your 'champions' come to defend you...because you have planted yourself in the valley of pits, not only YOU, but those who would defend you fall and become slaves.

The next thing I see is that when Abram heard about what had happened, he IMMEDIATELY gathered his household of TRAINED men and took off...and it didn't matter that Lot had chosen the best of the land and left Abram the hill country. Abram knew that he was blessed no matter WHERE he went, so that kind of petty stuff had no bearing on his relationship with Lot. (HO! That'll PREACH!)

How many times do we see or hear of one of our own falling or being captured and everything being stolen from them and we turn a deaf ear to it.

God Help Us.

We will disguise our apathy under the false pretense of, 'They are reaping what they have sown.' or 'They have to learn some how'....and sometimes, we are really just smug because we feel like they deserve it.

Reaping what they sow?? When was the last time YOU needed  rescuing? Where would YOU be if someone had said that of you? Where would YOU be had someone not come in and spoken life and truth into your circumstance?

Learn what?? How to be lazy, judgemental, and uncompassionate?

They deserve it?? We ALL deserve the cross....

Instead of being religious...instead of being Pharisees...instead of turning deaf ears to their cries, let's be like Abram and bust it to get to them...IMMEDIATELY.

We don't need to pray about it. We dont need to discuss it with e'rbody else. We dont need to wait for God to "direct" us or to tell us to do it.

God didn't tell Abram, "ABRAM, THOU SHALT GO RESCUE THINE NEPHEW{echo}"

He didn't have to! Abram KNEW it was an injustice. He KNEW it was wrong and he was not about to let the enemy have one of his own.

We should have that same mentality. When we see the enemy carting off our own (which btw, is mankind as a whole...NOT just believers), we should get royally pissed about it and take off after them. 

Another thing? (I know, I know..lol..but there's just SO much!!AH! LOVE IT!)

Abram had TRAINED men who were born in his house. I wonder, "hmmm....who did the training?" 

Well, duh. Abram did. Not only was he surrounded by experts for such a times as this, but he was the one responsible for their education in the art of war.

PPL! We are SUCH LAZY TERDS when it comes to this! No wonder we get our butts kicked when we DO go after the captives! We never take the time to train the next generation in the art of war and then we THROW them into battles they arent capable of fighting... We look around wondering were the soldiers are at and we stand there witnessing the 'routing' of this generation and IT'S OUR FAULT!

Oh, God.....Forgive us....

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" 

Prov 22:6

You know? I'm beginning to think this scripture has alot to do with the art of war in addition to biblical principles...given the time period in which it was written...just a thought...

Next thing:

Abram didn't just bring back Lot and all his baggage. He freed EVERYONE and recovered all theirs too.

We cant be so blinded to the needs of others that we only go in to rescue the ones we know. There are so many people who are going into the same captivities as our loved ones, but we close our eyes to them, believing that someone else (who is 'called' to that) will rescue them...

Ive got news for you. If you go in to rescue ANYBODY, you are called to that...for ALL the captives.

Another thing:

You know? I'm pretty sure Abram didn't beat Lot to death all the way back home with every wrong decision he had ever made....because Lot kinda already knew it.

Why is it that we feel the need to do that? Ppl aren't stupid. They know HOW they got where they are, but they KNOW why. They dont need us to preach at them about the evils of their choices. They need us to be turthful about it, but they do NOT need to be thumped in the head with our self-righteous anger about having to come rescue them...again...END RANT

Last thing:

The king of Sodom wanted Abram to take all the possesions that he had recovered as a thank you for what he had done, but Abram refused it.

Notice it says, "the KING of Sodom"

Kings had a habit of bragging about stuff...name dropping...Kinda like WE have a habit of doing...

You know what I'm talking about...

Someone you poured into starts excelling because of your investment and suddenly when ppl begin to recognize their potential and they start being sucessful, you get all puffed up and are like, "eeeyup...I did that. They wouldnt be anything if it wasnt for me..."

Yeah. My Daddy kinda spanked me about that, even last night...er...this morning I should say.

Abram didn't want ANYONE to be able to say, "I made him who he is".

The fact is, GOD makes us who we are and our OBEDIENCE is what causes us to be lifted up as a banner...

Do we gain from being poured into? YES!!! A million times, yes! But it is our choice to put that information and investment to use that raises the bar, not the person who did the pouring.

God gets the glory....not any man.

Ok! I think I'm done now!