Living by faith, not by sight

Introduction

So last week, we saw how God made some key promises to Abraham, even though none of these promises seemed likely at all:

-Abraham didn’t have any land, but God promised that he will become a great nation

-Abraham’s wife was old and she couldn’t have any children, but God promised that they will have many children.

-Abraham seemed cursed, but God promised that he would be blessed, and that through Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

And we saw that Abraham believed and trusted in God despite his circumstances. This is living by faith: believing and trusting in God based on who God is and His promises alone, rather than living by sight which is trusting in our circumstances or abilities.

Imagine you are planting seeds in the ground, and you need lots of fruit to grow. But the thing with growing plants is you can’t see what’s happening underground - from the surface it looks like nothing is happening for a long time. But you’ve got nothing to eat, and it’s really important that you grow a big crops for food to survive!

living by sight is when you want proof that the seed will successfully grow before you plant it. It’s saying, ‘I’m not going to plant this seed, unless I know for sure it’s going to grow well. I’m not going to plant this seed unless God clearly shows me evidence that it’s going to grow well.’

living by faith is different - rather than trying to look for proof that the seed will successfully grow, you trust that the soil, the sun, and the rain will do their job. Even though you don’t know how good the soil is, or you can’t see the process of the seed growing underground, you don’t know what the weather and season will be like, you still trust God and plant the seed. Even though you don’t have the evidence in front of you, you still trust God.

So living by sight is trusting our circumstances or abilities, it’s living by evidence; living by faith is trusting in God despite our circumstances or abilities, despite the lack of evidence.

And we see this living by faith or living by sight, played out in two important figures today: Abraham and Lot.

Let’s read Genesis 13.

1. Living by sight - Lot’s response

So let’s look at Lot’s response first - living by sight.

The first few verses here are a bit of background. Remember, Abraham and Sarah went to Egypt, and there they became very rich. They were kicked out of Egypt, and had to come back to Negeb because Abraham lied to the Pharaoh. Because Abraham and Lot his nephew had now become rich, there wasn’t enough space and resources on the land for both of them, and their servants were getting into fights. So Abraham tells Lot, ‘you choose a piece of land and go there, and I will go the other way’.

So how does Lot choose what land he wants? Read Genesis 13:10–11 “10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.”

What Lot does is what most of us would do as well. Lot checks out the land and works out which part would be best for his survival - he looks towards the east, and he finds land that is well watered, land that is good for crops and for his animals.

He chooses where to go based on the evidence he can see and observe. Things he can see that will guarantee his success.

Don’t these verses sound really familiar though? It’s similar to when Eve took from the fruit of the tree in the garden of Eden. Read Genesis 3:6 “6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Both Eve and Lot see something that is good to their eyes. Then both of them determine what they see is good. And then both of them choose and take what is good.

What both Eve and Lot do is they trust in themselves, rather than trusting in God.

For Eve, it was no longer trusting in God for what is good. She now wanted to determine for herself what is good.

For Lot, it was no longer trusting in God that he will provide all that Lot needs. Lot was now going to trust on himself, his own analysis of the land, his own judgement, his own abilities, trying to manipulate his circumstances to try to guarantee his success and survival.

And what you trust in, ultimately reveals what you worship. They were no longer worshipping God, but themselves. Both of them commit the sin of idolatry.

This is living by sight - no longer trusting in God, but trusting in things that we can see, hear, feel, things that give us evidence. So many of us live this way. We don’t rely on God, so we now have to to rely on ourselves, our abilities, our circumstances.

That’s why it’s so devastating to us when things go wrong with ourselves, our abilities, our circumstances, because what we have been relying on to survive and gain ultimate happiness and security has now disappeared. If we relied on God for our ultimate things in life, our happiness, our meaning, our security, we would never lose these things, because we can never lose God.

2. Living by faith - Abraham’s response

So then what’s the other way we should live? It is living by faith - and we can see this in Abraham’s response.

Remember, Abraham had received great promises of land, lots of children, and blessing. But when this situation between him and Lot came, he could have easily tried to secure this promise of God himself, either by kicking Lot out of the land, or by Abraham himself choosing the best land for himself. But Abraham doesn’t do either, and he let’s Lot choose the land. On one level, this is a foolish thing to do because it potentially put’s God’s promise at risk - what if the land Abram was left with was bad land, and he wouldn’t survive? That means God’s promise will never come true.

But unlike Lot who looks and trusts in the things he can see and observe, like how much water is in the land, Abraham doesn’t look to these same things. What does Abraham look at? Read Genesis 13:14–16 “14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 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.”

Lot looks for evidence that he can see.

But what does Abraham look at? What God commands him to look at. God says ‘lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are’. Abraham doesn’t try to determine for himself what to trust in; he obeys God’s command alone, and looks at what God tells him to look at alone.

And what does God command him to look at? Not for visible evidence like Lot, but the things unseen - God’s promises.

God commanded Abraham to look from where he was, looking at all the land northward, southward, eastward, westward and he all the land he sees is land that doesn’t belong to him. Lot sees healthy watered land that will guarantee his survival; Abraham sees land that is filled with enemies.

But what God is asking Abraham to see is not the enemies in the land, but God’s promise about this land. God says ‘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.’

And Abraham chooses to trust in what he can’t see - God and His insanely great promise about giving him all this land even though it was all occupied by someone else. Abraham didn’t choose to see the evidence like Lot, but Abraham chose to look to God and His promises.

This is living by faith - choosing to trust in God and who He is, a loving and gracious and providing God, rather than choosing to trust in what we can see. Not trusting in our abilities, or circumstances, and desperately trying to manipulate and improve those things to secure our own happiness and security, but trusting in God alone, even if our circumstances seem otherwise.

Conclusion

So what is it that you are trusting in? What are the things with which you are living by sight? You can work it out easily, by thinking about what would devastate you if you lost it:

Is it your talents and abilities? If your reputation as the smartest person in the class, or your position as the best player on your sports team, was to disappear one day, would that make you feel less about yourself? Would that destroy your identity and how good you feel about yourself? That’s living by sight. We need to trust in God for our identity.

Is it money or other material possessions? If you lost money, or your house, or any other precious belonging, would that make you extremely anxious about life and how you are going to survive? That’s living by sight. We need to trust that God provides for his children.

Whatever it may be, through the story of Abraham and Lot today, God is calling us to believe and trust in Him, not the things we can see. For everything in your life, look to the things unseen - God and his promises - rather than being like Lot, looking to the things that you can see.

Discussion questions:

What is so important to you that it would be devastating to lose? Is this something you are trusting in more than God?

It is hard to trust in God because he seems invisible. How can we trust in someone we can’t see or feel, over the things we can see and feel?

Things not talked about:

God does provide material success and blessing, like Abram and Lot. Being a believer does not always mean suffering (perhaps the pendulum has swung too far the other way because of the prosperity gospel). But two things:

Jesus does warn against the dangers of material possessions - Matthew 6:24 “24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” & Matthew 19:24 “24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.””

Here we see the effects of greed and self-preservation/self-reliance that comes with material possessions, in the conflict between Abraham and Lot.

In wealth and prosperity, this story shows us two responses we can have. We are not to trust in our wealth, and take the road of self-reliance and self-preservation like Lot. We are to trust in God only, and sometimes that means taking risks, rather than solely relying on worldly wisdom.

The fact that the promise towards Abraham doesn’t even get fulfilled in this life. Faith truly sees beyond empirical evidence, into the unknown, because of the surety of who God is. It puts in trust in something beyond this life. Abraham at the end of his life only a small plot of land, only had Isaac and Ishmael, and no obvious signs of great blessing. And yet he still trusted in God despite the evidence. Hebrews actually talks about Abraham died not receiving the things promised, and yet he still believed (Hebrews 11:13 “13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” ). Faith radically sees beyond what we can observe, and does not look to evidence, and looks to God’s character and promises alone. Faith extends beyond this life, not putting our final hopes and dreams in this life, and hopes and rejoices in the things to come (Hebrews 11:13 talks about that we are ‘strangers and exiles on the earth’ and in Hebrews 11:16 we ‘desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.’). We are able to radically see beyond empirical evidence (our lives, circumstances, abilities) because we ultimately look and trust and put our hopes in not only the things unseen, but the things to come - the future heavenly kingdom of heaven, the new creation.

And we see this heart in Abraham, because in the final analysis of things, he doesn’t seek after the immediate things of this life. Abraham’s heart ultimately seeks and trusts in God and his presence, the things unseen, and things to come, as seen in verse 4 and 18. Calling on the name of the Lord, and constantly building altars. And this is what Jesus teaches us as well: seeking God and his kingdom first, and all these things will be added to us (maybe not even in this life!). Unlike Lot, whose vision is fixed on the things seen and of this earth, the believers eyes are lifted high and above, to the things unseen, and the things to come. This is the orientation and vision and outlook that believers are to live this life - a radically different worldview, approach, final hope and goal, and object of trust and dependence.