There came a time in the lives of Abraham and his nephew Lot, so the thirteenth chapter of Genesis records, when they found that they could no longer dwell together because the land in which they were, was not able to support their combined herds and flocks. Furthermore, trouble arose between their respective herdsmen. Abraham, desirous of an amicable solution, bade Lot make his choice of the land he desired for his own, saying that he himself would take what was left.
Both of these men looked from the same spot. Each beheld a horizon peculiarly his own. Lot's enclosed a fertile valley wherein he conceivably visualized great increase in his wealth. He chose the well-watered basin of the Jordan, doubtless failing to recognize that a desire for personal gain was luring him away from God into the temptations and woes of materiality. Sodom, where he took up residence, was a city of much wickedness. In the course of a war waged by the several kings in this vicinity Lot and all his goods were captured, only to be rescued by Abraham. Later Lot was divinely preserved in the destruction of Sodom, but his wife, disobeying the angel's command, looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot's horizon being limited by the illusory claims of matter, his accomplishments were accordingly limited and unimportant.
On the other hand Abraham, trustingly accepting the land which was left, knew that his destiny was in the hands of God. He had followed divine guidance in leaving his homeland; and wherever he went he built altars unto the Lord and called upon His name. His quest was not primarily for pasturage but for God's directing, in accordance with the eternal law which Christ Jesus later stated (Matt. 6:33), "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
