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           The chapter begins by Sarai, Abrams wife, telling Abram to sleep with her servant as a substitute wife sense Sarai was barren and couldn’t conceive. This was normal in that time frame, if a women was barren it was a sign of disgrace and her husband would then have a mistress to create heirs with. However, God had already told Abram that he would have as many descendants as the stars in the sky, so by acting on this “normal” and “worldly” behavior, it was showing a distrust in God and what He had promised Abram. Sarai was at fault for taking matters into her own hands and making a plan out of her distrust in Gods promise, Abram was at fault for following through with that plan. God is faithful, His word stands, no matter what the world around us might say, Gods word is above all else. Its important to remember this when you are faced with a time of struggle, when the world might tell you its ok or normal to do one thing, even though it goes against what God has already commanded you or promised you.

          Because Abram and Sarai took control of the situation, their marriage suffered. Sarai was angry that the servant gave Abram a child and she was incredibly jealous. Most women would be jealous and angry if their husband slept with another woman, but she chose this path for her and her husband and was now forced to deal with the uncomfortable consequences.

          Sarai took her anger out on the servant, Hagar, who was just following orders. Hagar chose to run away and when she did an angel approached her and told her to go back, that she was with child, a boy to be named Ishmael. God didn't want Hagar to run from her problem, He wanted her to go back and face them. It is uncomfortable to face ur problems and easier to run away, but trusting in Gods help and guidance to fix the situation we are in helps us to grow and learn.  Running away wouldn't have taught her anything good.

          We learn in this chapter three main mistakes and how to not repeat them. From Sarai we learn not to take matters into our own hands, to seek Gods guidance in all that we do. From Abram we learn not to go against what God has told us to please someone else, and when problems do arrise we are to help find a solution instead of ignore the problem all together. When Sarai told Abram how angry she was with Hagar he didn't do anything to help fix the problem, he told Sarai to deal with it however she wanted. Sometimes we need our spouse to help give us knowledge when we are being too stubborn to see rationally, Abram should have prayed with Sarai about the problem and encouraged her to seek Gods grace and guidance rather than act out of anger. And from Hagar, we learn not to run away from our problems, but to seek God on how to face them.

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           After Abram rescued Lot, the Lord came to abram in a vision and told him not to be afriad, that the Lord was his shield, his exceedingly great reward. Abram then asked God what God was going to bless him with, sense Abram was childless, the heir of his house wasn't his offspring.  God brought Abram outside and told him to look towards heaven and count the stars if he could, and thats how many descendants he shall have.

          It doesn't say what Abram was afraid of, only that the Lord told him to not be afraid. Regardless of what was keeping him unsettled, God knew it and told him to not be afraid, because God is with him like a shield. We need to always remember that God is with us, he is our shield and we are commanded not to be afraid of anything. Abram had a good relationship with God, not because of his actions, but because of his faith and trust in God. Remember, it doesn't matter if you go to church every Sunday or teach a bible class or help others or read your bible daily, its your faith and trust in God that makes your relationship strong. All those other things are good things to do, but they wont get you into heaven, they wont make you deserve to go to heaven, our actions will never be enough. Thats why we need Jesus, we need a relationship with him, all those other things are great to do, but not enough on their own. Abrams relationship with God was strong because of his faith and trust, not because of his actions.

          Abram wanted to know for sure that he was doing what God wanted, so he asked God for assurance when God told him that he would bless him and he would inherit the land and have many descendants.  We are fortunate to have the bible to refer to when we are unsure if we are following God's will. So God gave Abram another vision, he showed Abram that his descendants will be strangers to a land that is not theirs and they will serve them, and they will afflict them for four hundred years. God will judge the nation that they serve and after they will come out with great possessions, and as for abram, Abram would go to his fathers in peace, buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation they would return to Abrams land for the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete. When the sun went down and it was dark there appeared to be smoke coming out of the oven and a burning torch. The fire and smoke suggests Gods holiness and his righteousness and shows Abram that his covenant was real.

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           During Abrams time, it was common for wars and rivalries between kings. Most cities had kings during this time and the conquered cities paid tribute to the victorious king. Chedorlaomer was a king and had five cities including Sodom pay tribute to him for twelve years. The five cities he was taking tribute from rebelled on the thirteenth year by refusing to pay, Chedorlaomer reacted quickly and reconquered them all, and when he defeated Sodom he took Lot (Abrams brother) along with his family and all their possessions. Lots desire for the best of everything put him into environments that were full of sin and in turn attracted more sin. His greedy outlook on needing the best put him by a city that he really didn't need to be around, and it led to chaos. One person escaped and told Abram that Lot had been taken as a slave. So Abram and his 318 trained servants went and rescued Lot and his family from Chedorlaomer and got back all of his possessions. Abram showed courage and straight and incredible trust in God when he went to rescue Lot, the odds were against him but he knew God was with him. He was also prepared, his men were already trained and prepared for a moment like this. Abram knew the risk he was taking and knew it would be easier to sit back and not do anything, but he was selfless in his act to help Lot. Lot chose a selfish path filled with material possessions and he may not have deserved the sacrifice by Abram but Abram teaches us that it is not our position to say whether a person is deserving of help or not, if you can help someone you should. Abram had the men and knew they could help, so he didn't hesitate when it came time to help Lot. The king of Sodom went out to meet Abram when he was returning along with the kings who were with him. Melchizedek, king of Salem who was a high priest blessed Abram and gave knowledge to the fact that God delivered Abrams enemies into his hand and gave him a tithe.  But when the king of Sodom tried to give offerings to Abram he refused them, because he didn't want an ungodly king of sin to be able to gloat and tell people that he made Abram rich. Abram wanted all to know that al that he possessed was because of God, and that it all came from and belonged to God, accepting anything from the king of Sodom would have taken away from God and Abram selflessly wanted nothing to do with that. He was fine with the other men taking their portions if they so chose too, but Abram knew where his loyalties stood and knew that God provided him with all he needed and more, leaving no reason to be greedy and take from a king that would discredit all God has done for Abram. It is important that when people look at us they see what God has done for us, not what we have done for ourselves. We should show people that we are blessed by Gods doings, not our own merits.