Atypical 2

Abraham & Lot’s Family. Praying for one another.

There are a lot of ways that our families are all different, but there’s one thing that I know for sure. All of our families have disagreements from time to time. And sometimes it happens because you just need a little bit of space from one another. Maybe you’re feeling that right now while you’re stuck at home. Maybe you feel like your family has disagreements and fights all the time. But I want to encourage you and let you know that every family has disagreements. You might feel that those disagreements make your family a little “atypical,” but like we said last week, no family is really “normal” or “typical.”

And I’d challenge you and ask, what if God is calling you and your family to be even more “atypical” than it already is? See, every family has imperfections, problems, and struggles. But “typical” families either try to handle them on their own or never handle them at all. “Atypical” families, on the other hand, invite God into their imperfections, problems, and struggles. Last week we said that there is no family too complex or different for God to use. We talked about the first family, Adam and Eve. We saw how their story went very wrong as a result of their actions in the Garden and how they disobeyed God and hurt each other. But because God is gracious, He used their family to do something amazing: to one day bring Jesus into the world for you and me.

Today, we are going to explore a new family. This family lived many generations after Adam and Eve, and were “atypical” in their own ways. I hope that you know who Abraham is in Scripture, but if you don’t then this is a great time to learn about him. He’s an important person in the history of God’s people, and received a very important promise from God in the book of Genesis. We are going to talk about Abraham’s family, specifically him and his nephew, who’s name was Lot.

Let’s read together (NLT)

Abraham and Lot were like many of our families today. They fought! In fact, they fought so much that if they had continued living near each other, they probably would have grown to hate each other. So Abraham and Lot moved to completely different areas. Lot went and lived in the Jordan Valley, while Abraham went and lived in the land of Canaan. We’ll get back to Lot in a second, but let’s talk a little bit more about Abraham, so you can understand just how “atypical” his family really was.

Read together (NLT)

See, Abraham and Sarah were really old. They didn’t have any kids, but they were visited by messengers from God who told them that Sarah was going to have a baby! Imagine if your grandma called and told you that God sent her messengers to say she was going to have a baby. You’d probably think your grandma was joking with you…or maybe she was going crazy. It was a bizarre situation. My point is that Abraham and Lot’s family were definitely not what we would call “typical” or “normal.”

And even though Abraham and Lot had a long history of disagreements, as most families do. I’m positive that you and your siblings, or you and your parents have had plenty of disagreements, so you probably know what that’s like. But despite their disagreements, when Abraham learned that God was going to destroy Sodom, the city where Lot was living, he had to make a choice. He pleaded with God on Lot’s behalf, and in response to Abraham’s prayer, Lot and his family were saved. If you want to know more about that account, check out Genesis chapters 18 and 19.

Back to L

Last week, we talked about how God can use any family, no matter how abnormal or weird, to do amazing things in the world. But one thing that “atypical” families do, is pray for one another. See, when you’re fighting with someone in your family, the typical thing to do would be to fight back, hold a grudge, or give them the silent treatment. But Abraham chose to do the “atypical” thing when fighting with his family. He prayed for Lot, right in the middle of their conflict. He didn’t wait for an apology - he reached out first through prayer. You can do the same thing with your family.

Right now, with everyone being cooped up at home, and fear being everywhere, tensions are high. But I want to encourage you to pray for your family, and to pray for one another together! Pray for each other when your relationship is going great, and especially pray when it’s not going so well. Don’t worry about finding the right words to say during those times of prayer, because God hears all our prayers, whether they are eloquently said or if they are just a sigh of frustration and a cry for help from Him.

I want you to think about your family for a second. Hopefully you all have an incredibly strong relationship that won’t let anything come in its way. But imagine how much stronger that could be if you prayed for one another, in good times, and in bad.

Thanks everyone, I hope you’re staying healthy and I’ll see you next week!

See, every family has imperfections, problems, and struggles. But “typical” families either try to handle them on their own or never handle them at all.

“Atypical” families, on the other hand, invite God into their imperfections, problems, and struggles.