All of a sudden Abraham packed up and moved to another country [Genesis 20]. Moses does not say what inspired him to do so. Our dear professors believe that Lot’s shameful affair gnawed at Abraham’s heart [Genesis 19:30-38]. No doubt his neighbors made use of it, saying, “Come now, you call yourselves prophets? Your talk and your walk agree like day and night, and are as harmonious as strings of sheep-gut and wolf-gut.” Oh, what a pain it is to have a wicked, wayward pox of a kinsman for whose sake one’s ears are always getting rattled!
In any event, just as Abraham wandered on and on, so do we also in our life. For here there is no lasting city [Heb. 13:14]. Let no one think that he is tied to his house with chains of iron. We walk and wander in this life only so long before we must move on to the eternal one, and blessed is the man who at long last is taken on that journey.
Abraham tried to escape his cross but went from smoke to fire, from sawdust to the mill. There was just as much hardship and annoyance in other lands as where he had dwelt before. Oh Lord Jesus, help us to sit still in our little place in life, bearing our cross with due patience; for there is, to be sure, a cross to bear in every place.
Herberger, Valerius The Great Works of God: Parts Three and Four: The Mysteries of Christ in the Book of Genesis, Chapters 16-50 56