In Genesis 13 there is a striking contrast of vision. On the one hand, we see Lot “lifting his eyes” and gazing at lush fields that look like Egypt, even the garden of the Lord. This posture represents what the apostle John labels the “lust of the eyes”. Lot’s heart is driven by tangible prosperity, the hope of securing happiness right now.
On the other hand, in the same chapter Abram also “lifts his eyes”. However, his vision is altogether different from that of Lot’s. His gaze is not directed by what is within his grasp. Instead, it’s the promise of God that captivates and focuses the eyes of his heart. God says to Abram,
Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 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.
How strange it would have been to be Abram! At the time this promise was given, he did not have a single child; he did not own a square-foot of land. His only security regarding future blessing was the word of God. There was absolutely nothing else to anchor his hope.
And, of course, this is a position that is familiar to Christians today. Although we have a lot more grounds of confidence than did Abram (the Bible is no small gift!), there are still a lot of unfulfilled promises for which the only solid ground we have to stand on is the word of God. The hope of resurrection, of a new heavens and new earth, of the return of Jesus – these are all out of our reach and beyond our ken. Very little in the modern world reinforces such expectation. And yet, like Abram, we hope against hope (c.f. Rom. 4:18). We profess together that there is nothing firmer and more trustworthy than the integrity of an impeccably faithful God.
Now, the idea I want us to reflect on this week is what comes right after the reiteration of God’s promise in Genesis 13. God says to Abram, “Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” What a picture this is: Abram trapsing through Canaan, exploring an inheritance that is both his and not-yet-his at the same time. Abram’s situation shatters the mindset so characteristic of human life. We naturally live by an ethic of carpe diem, seize the day. Such logic makes intuitive sense to us. Live for what we can enjoy right now. Happiness is not defined by expectation; it is defined by consumption.
But this was not the calling of Abram. Abram was summoned to live by tomorrow, not today. The horizon of his happiness did not just stretch out into distant years of life; it extended far beyond the grave itself.
I love the thought of Abram walking up hills, exploring valleys, wading in rivers – all part of an inheritance kept in reserve for a distant future. While the rest of humanity was striving to suck the sweetness of a perishable moment for as long as possible, only Abram could allow time to pass without regret. Abram and Abram alone could say with utmost confidence, the best is yet to come.
Thinking of Abram measuring by foot the boundaries of promise ought to inspire us to a spiritual practice. In Ephesians 3, Paul pens one of the most glorious prayers in the Bible. He petitions the Father that believers might be granted the strength needed to comprehend “what is the breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ. Now, in praying this, I don’t think Paul is expecting us to be passive – as if the love of God will be mystically made visible like the sky after the rising of the sun. Rather, I think Paul is suggesting that we as believers have a wonderful privilege to do something similar to what Abram did millennia before. If Abram was invited to explore the dimensions of Canaan, which was the blessing of God, we have a calling to explore the dimensions of Christ, who is the greatest blessing of God. Indeed, this is the chief privilege of our lives. What could be more rewarding – or ravishing – than the happy task of searching the unsearchable riches of Christ! Like Abram, we ought to get busy walking up and down the Scriptures to look out for the far edges of our inheritance in Christ. The result will be breathtaking. We will begin to understand the significance of Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him”.
Many of us are in hard places right now. Let me encourage us to follow the example of Abram. Don’t live in the suffocating narrowness of the present moment. Instead, lift your eyes to the horizon of promise and take time this week to explore the breadth, length, height and depth of an inheritance that can only be measured by God himself.
By Joe Barnard
