If You Can Pronounce All Those Names…

Genesis 14 begins with a list of kings and places that are about to go to battle. As I read it this morning it struck me how difficult it is to pronounce these names: “Chedorlaomer, Shemeber, Zeboiim”, etc… I can imagine the conversation, “Do you remember Shemeber?”. Anyway, after listing a lot of names that I can’t pronounce we read that there is a battle between several of these kings and in the process of the battle, Lot is captured. Abraham goes to his rescue. Then in verses 21-22 there is an interesting conversation between Abraham and the king of Sodom. The king of Sodom tells Abraham that Abraham can have the spoils of the battle, Abraham having retrieved Lot and no doubt other things and people from the kingdom of Sodom but Abraham refuses. He says that he doesn’t want the king of Sodom to be able to say that the king had a hand in making Abraham rich. This is an interesting thought. It appears to me that Abraham did not want to share any glory that was due to his God with anyone else. He wanted God to receive the praise and glory for the victories that Abraham earned and the spoil that he gained…no one else. It’s not easy for us to discern what is a blessing from God or because we serve God and what is just a part of life; a common blessing that is given to all. After all, it’s not just followers of the God of the Bible who are blessed with health and great wealth. But in reality all the credit goes to God. It is a credit to God that even those who care nothing about Him experience many blessings from Him. I hope that you will give all the credit for the good in your life to God. He deserves all the credit.