“And he (Abram) moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.” (Genesis 12:8)
“Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.” (Genesis 13:12)
Few people in western culture live in tents anymore…
Our accommodations are in the upper percentiles of modernity, convenience, and class…
But make no mistake…
Spiritually speaking…
Everyone pitches a tent somewhere…
The texts above quickly reference a split between Abram and Lot…
An uncle and his nephew decide to go in different directions…
There was a disagreement which rose between them…
The nephew (Lot) was given first choice of moving his life, family and operation any direction…
The uncle (Abram), would by default go the opposite direction…
Lot, being enamored with the resources and beauty he saw on the surface, chose to pitch his tent towards Sodom…
You remember Sodom, right?
And her sister city, Gomorrah?
Two appropriate cities to illustrate much of our current culture…
Yep…
This isn’t going to end well…
And it didn’t…
But before we race to the familiar ending, let’s be sure we get the beginning…
It started with pitching a tent…
Let me suggest that pitching a tent is analogous to where your heart wants to take you…
Lot may not have actually “lived” in Sodom, but his tent location tells us a lot (no pun intended)…
Lot wanted to be as close as possible to a place that repulsed God…
Abram’s tent was pitched in what we will know as Canaan…
Abram wanted his tent to be pitched in the center of God’s promise…
Canaan (an illustration of God’s promise and destiny) versus Sodom (an illustration of God’s displeasure and wrath)…
Where are you pitching your tent?
I ask this question because I am amazed when I look through social media feeds how many tents are pitched towards Sodom…
Who am I to judge?
It is true, I cannot evaluate with eternal certainty where any person may stand with the Lord…
No one would stipulate faster than I that every person who claims Christ as Savior and Lord certainly can develop their own convictions as they are led of the Lord…
Don’t post Matthew 7, to me quite yet…
But I can certainly see when a tent is pitched towards Sodom…
Just how close is too close?
Where is the line?
How do you know if you are simply up to it -or- perhaps crossed over it?
When is your tent actually pitched in Sodom’s city limits?
Hey, I am all for relevance and reaching every city, including Sodom and Gomorrah…
But there is a difference between reaching Sodom and promoting Sodom…
There is a difference between missionary activity and setting your tent stakes in a direction where you fantasize about and participate in the activities of Sodom…
Lot was allured by Sodom…
He loved the sights, the smells, the imagery, perhaps the glitz of this city…
How do I know?
When given the choice…
He chose his direction…
I see Facebook pictures, IG posts and the like and I am amazed at where people pitch their tents…
I mean…
If it looks like Sodom…
And it smells like Sodom…
And it talks like Sodom…
Then perhaps a detective would rightly surmise, such a person has a tent pitched around Sodom…
Again, no judgment…
Just observations…
It doesn’t take a prophet to see where a tent has been pitched…
Just a suggestion from a guy who has decades of ministry miles under his belt…
Every now and then it might be good to ask the Lord if your tent stakes need to be uprooted and you need to pitch your tent closer to Canaan…
A pitched tent can tell you much about a person…
That pitched tent eventually cost Lot his family…
Don’t be Lot…
Be Abram…
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