10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, … 11 So Lot choose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
Many times the easy choice contains hidden difficulties. Not all difficulties are equally easy to spot. Sometimes we choose what we think is the easier course only to later find out that we were wrong. Lot looks at the surface of the issue. He sees the flat, well watered plain and easy living that would result and he moves. He doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the reputation of the cities and the people. All he sees is the abundance of easy life that flows from the plain. In a desert climate the presence of water makes life easy. The alternative is rocky and hilly without the fertile soil and abundant water. Which would you choose? I have to admit that my first gut reaction was to take the plain. But choosing the plain has some hidden, eventually fatal pitfalls. If Lot could have looked into the future I can bet he would have chosen NOT to go to the plain. His wife died as a result of living in the plain. In fact, the plain has such a strong pull on Lot that he almost lost his own life as well. Notice the small word “whole” in the text above. Lot did not want to settle for just part of the abundance of the plain, he wanted it all to himself. That selfishness is probably at the root of his difficulties. He wanted the easy life and he was not willing to share it with anyone else, let alone his relative Abram. Lot seems to have taken a very different path from Abram. As we learn later, Abram continued to be concerned about Lot, even though Lot turns his back on Abram. My wife works with the homeless. She met a young man who left his parents without a word and have had no contact with them for years. He now rides the trains as a hobo. I can only imagine the sadness in these parents. They have no idea where he is, or even if he is still alive. Even if their relationship had been terrible, I bet they still worry about him. Are we choosing what we think will be the easy path just because it looks easy and we are lazy? Are we grabbing more than we need out of fear or resentment? Maybe it is time to reject the plain mentality and choose the harder path for a change.
The Arnold Journey 