Genesis

Genesis 13: God gives the promised inheritance

Begin in prayer

Before we read Abram's generous choice and God's renewed promise, let us bring our quarrels and desires before the Lord. Ask Him to help us see the lasting inheritance Christ gives and learn the peace that grows from trusting Him.

Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

Psalm 16:5-6

Father in heaven, please open our eyes to understand the gift that rests on Your promise. Show us Jesus and the lasting inheritance He gives His people. Make us more like Him, willing to seek peace and share what we have. Please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Abram returns from Egypt to the place of his altar near Bethel and calls on the LORD's name. His herds and Lot's have become too large for the land to support together, and their herdsmen quarrel. Abram asks for peace and offers Lot the first choice of where to settle. Lot chooses the fertile Jordan plain and moves toward Sodom, whose people sin against the LORD. After their separation, God promises Abram the land he can see and descendants like the dust of the earth. Abram then moves to Hebron and builds an altar, answering the promise with worship.

As you read Genesis 13, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God gives the inheritance by promise, so His people can seek peace without grasping for gain.

Abram returns from Egypt to the place of his earlier altar, bringing his need back before the God who keeps His word. His wealth now creates a pressure famine did not, since two growing herds must share pasture already occupied by other peoples. Abram seeks peace as a relative and gives Lot first choice, trusting that God's gift does not depend on winning the quarrel. Lot sees fertile ground, while the account warns readers that Sodom's people sin against the LORD and their land will face destruction. Then God directs Abram's eyes across the land and repeats that He will give it, making the gift rest on His word. The promise of descendants like dust comes to the same childless man, so God must provide the heirs as well as their inheritance. Abram answers with a move to Hebron and an altar, receiving the promise in worship before possessing its fullness. Paul explains that Abraham's inheritance reaches beyond Canaan to the world through faith in Christ (Romans 4 verses 13 to 16). Those who trust this Savior can release a disputed advantage because their lasting portion is secure in God's promise.

How does Genesis 13 show us that God gives the inheritance by promise, so His people can seek peace without grasping for gain?

God's faithful care frees Abram to seek peace with his relative.

Abram returns to the place of his altar and calls on the LORD before the quarrel over pasture unfolds. Their herds have grown beyond what the shared land can bear, and settled peoples already occupy it. Abram offers Lot first choice, refusing to use God's promise as a reason to fight for advantage. Christ gives His people peace with God, freeing them to serve others without making every right a quarrel.

God exposes the danger beyond the land Lot finds attractive.

The Jordan plain is fertile, and Lot chooses it for himself before moving his tent as far as Sodom. The narrator interrupts the attractive view with a warning about the city's wickedness and coming destruction. Good pasture cannot make a life safe from the God against whom its people sin. Sinners need Christ's mercy and wisdom, because visible gain can leave them close to dangers their eyes have overlooked.

God promises the land and descendants Abram cannot secure for himself.

After Lot leaves, God tells Abram to look in every direction and repeats His promise to give the land. He also promises descendants beyond counting, though Abram and Sarai still have no child. Walking through the land answers a gift God has already promised, rather than earning it.

Memorise

Arise, walk through the land in its length and in its width; for I will give it to you.

Genesis 13:17

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what selfishness must I ask Jesus to forgive in my quarrels?

After Abram gives Lot the first choice, God says, “for I will give it to you.” Abram can walk the land and worship without having to seize his inheritance from his relative. Abram's future rests on God's word before he has a child or possesses the promised land.

Our grasping shows how little we trust God's goodness, and our quarrels leave us guilty before Him. Jesus came to give His people peace with God, bearing their sin and its punishment at the cross. He died and rose again, and the reconciliation He accomplished is enough to bring His people home to God. The promised inheritance belongs to those who share Abraham's faith in the Savior, as Paul explains (Romans 4 verses 13 to 16).

Come to Him, turning from selfish gain and trusting His finished work. He forgives every sinner who repents and believes in Him. If you trust Christ, the promise gives you freedom to pursue peace and hold possessions with open hands. Please bring the quarrel you are protecting before the Savior who has secured a lasting inheritance for His people.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God's promised gift let Abram seek peace, and earthly gain could not make Lot safe from judgment. Jesus bore His people's sin and rose again, giving forgiveness and a lasting inheritance to everyone who repents and believes. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that His inheritance rests on promise, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so leave time for each one to ask for help in a quarrel or a choice if they want to.

For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

Galatians 3:18

Lord God, thank You for giving what Your people cannot earn or secure by fighting for themselves. Please turn us from selfishness to trust Jesus and His sufficient work. Help us seek peace, weigh our choices by Your Word, and give with grateful hearts this week. Keep our hope fixed on Your lasting promise. Amen.