Day 6 Lenten Journal/Journey

It seems has if we have been plagued with differences with others lately?

Perhaps a conflict with a family member, a close friend, a friend, a neighbor, a fellow employee, or a church member has left a hole in your heart.

Perhaps you haven't experienced the conflict yet, but you see one looming on the horizon; threatening like a severe storm, you know it seeks to unleash havoc upon all the relationships around you.

You would like for there to be peace and good will, but the more you try to avoid the conflict, the more rapidly the conflict heats up or persists. There are differences amongst you that you cannot deny or overlook. Sooner or later you will have to deal with head on. What will you do?

Abram gives us some insight as to how to deal with differences with others. From this passage, he was dealing with a close family member, which is not unlike our family or close friends.

The conflict may not have been between them personally, but it threatened to do so as the herdsmen of Lot and Abram began to fall into competitive rivalries which eroded into bitter disputes between them over the best pasture lands and watering holes from which they fed and watered their livestock. Ironically, this began to happen because God had blessed the herds of both owners. Yet what had been a blessing to Lot and Abram soon became the focus of a conflict that bubbled just below the surface of their relationship. What would they do?

Abram, the senior and perhaps most spiritual if not the wisest of the two took the initiative to speak to Lot and clear the air between them. He called a meeting between them to determine the future of their corporation. It is clear that Abram valued the relationship of Lot far more than any potential profits he might have reaped. So Abram proposed the breakup of their corporation, and allowed Lot to have the opportunity of the first choice between them. "Is not the whole land before you?" Abram asked, "If you go to the right I will go to the left," etc. Lot took Abram up on the offer, and made the first choice and chose what he perceived to be the best that was out in front of him. This was a risky venture, because Abram stood to lose a lot of money in the breakup. But God spoke to his heart and assured him this would not happen. Instead, Abram gained far more than he might have lost in the deal. Following this meeting, Abram went back to Mamre and built an altar of worship to the Lord confident that He would look after Abram's interests, he offered a sacrificial offering there.

Often for the sake of peace we try to forestall most conflicts, especially when we sense they might not be resolved peacefully. However, Abram knew that to delay a conflict is usually to make it worse until the issues are brought out upon the table. Wisely, Abram sought to diffuse the conflict and proposed that they part company before a bitter battle ensued. We must also be prepared to lose money or our pride as we offer the terms of peace- as Abram was. Still, Abram would have lost far more than money had he allowed the conflict to continue. It certainly would have cost Abram the relationship of Lot. The simmering conflict might have boiled over into bloodshed. No one wanted something like that to happen. God has called us to peace.

How do you deal with differences? What threatens the harmony in your relationships today? Would you be the one that takes the high ground and defer to the other even though you know in your heart it is not fair? If you have, you have not only done the right thing, but you have also trusted God for the results and left the dealings in His control. Can you do this today?

Prayer: Dear God, I see conflict looming on the horizon. I don't want it to come, but there seems to be nothing I can do about it. Help me to preserve the good will and love of the relationship within the storm as much as is possible for me to do so that I may continue to glorify You.