Let there be no strife... between me and thee...

In tonight's class, God graciously visited us as I taught about avoiding strife, espedially between Christian brothers. I used Gen 13:5-18 to teach about trusting God when there is strife and things aren't going well. (Gen 13:7) And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: .... (Gen 13:8) And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, ... , between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. (Gen 13:9) Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. Abram demonstrates a complete confident faith in God to the point of allowing Lot to take what was apparently the best choice of land for grazing livestock, basically saying I'll take whatever is left. Let's be at peace. He demonstrates a tranquil faith in God. When one is living by faith trusting God, it doesn't matter if there is strife and maybe even selfish attitudes and actions by others that we could interpret as putting us in a bad position. God will take care of us. His attitude seems to be "When I obediently trust in God's character and faithfulness, I cannot lose, although it may look like it in the immediate time frame. But latter on (Gn 13:14-17) God tells Abram to look north, south, east and west because I will give you all of the land that you can see. It is possible that even the fertil land that Lot had chosen was included in this promise. To receive God's promise, we must go the distance (have long term faith that looks beyond immediate circumstances ) with a calm confident trust in God's righteous faithful nature. Rest in God's promise. Fret not... He'll do to trust.