Genesis 13:10-11 Lot looked. He saw the whole plain of the Jordan spread out, well watered (this was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah), like God’s garden, like Egypt, and stretching all the way to Zoar. Lot took the whole plain of the Jordan. Lot set out to the east.

When God commanded Abram to move, he faithfully brought his nephew Lot along. But as it happens sometimes, Abram and Lot’s people quarrelled. The shepherds fought over the pasture, and Abram, who didn’t want conflict, suggested that they part ways.

Honourable as he was, Abram gave Lot the chance to choose first. And of course, Lot chose the best. The most beautiful valleys and the most fertile land for the vegetables and animals to flourish. But the land lay dangerously close to Sodom.

Although the world around him seemed healthy and promising, it still held great dangers. Later, a war broke out during which Lot and his family were taken away. It took a strategic plan to free Lot. Eventually, Sodom had such an attraction for him that he later went to live there, and we know what eventually happened to Sodom.

While Abram lived in a deep, personal relationship with God, Lot, on the other hand, had a struggling relationship with God. You see, when Lot was given the choice of land, he chose the best, but he chose with his own eyes and not with God’s perspective. Lot’s self-centeredness made him take the entire lush Jordan Valley, but in securing his desire, he was utterly blind to the red lights of Sodom. And, ultimately, the city sucked him in.

As the leader and the one being called by God, Abram could have chosen first, but he chose reconciliation over his legal right. His greatness lay in his willingness to sacrifice personal gain to pave the way for peace. It was not always easy, but Abram remembered God’s promise: that He would give him a country and a great posterity. Abram did not have to grab the best. He trusted God for that.

We are constantly facing choices. More often than not, we instinctively gravitate toward what seems best, most beautiful, and most beneficial for ourselves. It’s not necessarily wrong, but is it what God wants? It’s only within an intimate relationship with God that we can make good, healthy, and right choices.

True wisdom lies not in what seems best to us, but in God-given vision. Like Abram, we must learn to choose by faith, not by feeling, for only when we live close to God do we see with His eyes and choose right.

Prayer
Father, I’ve made many wrong choices in my life, and I’m so sorry for that. Help me work on my relationship with You, not having to make decisions on my own.

Questions
With which eyes do you choose, yours or the Lord’s?
Where do you ignore red lights for short-term wins?
Are you choosing peace above right and advantage today?

Now do this
Think back to a choice you may have made based on how you felt. Ask God to teach you to see with His eyes next time.
Today, take time to pray before you make a decision, even a small one. Ask, “Lord, what is Your will in this matter?”
Choose peace over being right, and be willing, like Abram, to make room for others rather than always taking the best for yourself.