22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’
Sometimes we must say “no” to someone else’s thank you gift. Abram has just rescued the king of Sodom for the hands of his conqueror. This has probably saved his life. The king’s gratitude takes expression in the offering of a very large gift. Abram has rescued not only the king and all the other people, but all the possessions as well. The king is thankful and tells Abram to keep the possessions, all the possessions that were stolen and recovered, as a thank you gift. Abram’s wealth would have greatly increased if he took the king up on his offer. But Abram made a prior commitment to the Lord. Notice all the names Abram uses to get his point across. He committed himself to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. Abrams’ commitment is to the every present covenant making and keeping LORD. And this LORD (and by the way, this is God’s proper, personal name) is also the highest God there is, and the Creator of the universe. Abram has sworn an oath to the greatest and highest God who exists and he is not about to break that promise. If only those involved in the attempt at rapid wealth production here in the United States and around the world had made such an oath. We would not be in the financial mess we as a society are in if they had. Abram recognizes the temptation of the moment. He wants nothing to do with anything that would cause him to lose his connection with the LORD. And compromising would mean a severing of the commitment he made. Have there been ‘threads’ of compromise that we have taken that have changed our relationship with the Lord? What are the small compromises we make every day that weaken our relationship with the Lord? Maybe today is the day to begin cleaning our out treasure chests of compromise and placing all our dependence and trust in the Lord.
The Arnold Journey 