Genesis
chapter 26 begins with Isaac facing the exact same circumstance his
father Abraham faced earlier, “Now
there was a famine in the land-besides the earlier one of Abraham’s
time“.
Isaac goes to Abimelech, king of the philistines in Gerar, and there
God reaffirms to Isaac, the promise He made with Abraham. “For
you and your descendents I will give this lands…I will make your
descendants as numerous as the stars… through your offspring all
nations on earth will be blessed“.
God’s promise is for descendants, land and the Savior- wow, what a
promise, what a spiritual high Isaac must have had. God also tells
Isaac the reason He is blessing Isaac is, “because
Abraham obeyed Me and kept My requirements, My commandments and My
laws“.
But we know Abraham was far from sinless! This is a perfect example
of God’s grace, in Genesis 15:6 after God declares His promise to
Abraham we read, “Abraham
believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness“.
Abraham was made righteous by faith and God considers him righteous
from that point on. This is exactly what happens to you and I when
we accept, by faith, Jesus a our Savior. Since Christ became the
sacrifice for our sins, God declares, “I
will remember your sins no more“,
spiritually we become a new creation. We have been made righteous,
not by our actions, but by accepting God’s gift.
Unbelievably,
the very next verse, Isaac tells Rebekah, “tell
them you are my sister”
because he feared for his safety because of her beauty! From the
high point to the low point in one verse. A good reminder to us, 1
Corinthians 10:12 warns, “Therefore let
him who stands take heed, lest he fall“.
This is exactly the same thing Abraham did. We get so frustrated
when we blow it, but so much of our behavior is a learned response.
Often it takes years of maturity before God can retrain us to react
with the mind of Christ. This time Abimelech is a bit more careful
and sees them acting romantic. After rebuking Isaac, Abimelech gives
orders for no one to bother them. God abundantly blesses Isaac, so
much that the Philistine people become envious and Abimelech says,
“Move
away from us, you have become too powerful“.
So Isaac moves to the valley of Gerar, but after digging a well his
servants have problems with the local herdsmen, so they move and dig
a second well and again it is disputed. Finally they move and dig a
third well and there is no more disputes. Interestingly, Isaac names
the first well “contention”, the second well, “opposition”
and the last well, “roominess”. God often uses
circumstances in our lives to bring us to the place He can finally
use us. And the result is king Abimelech comes to Isaac and says,
“We
saw clearly the Lord was with you“,
let’s make a peace treaty. When you honor God, people notice.
The
chapter ends with Isaac in Beersheba and Esau taking Hittite wives.
“They
were a source of grief for Isaac and Rebekah“.
Hebrews 12:16 discusses Esau’s immorality and we are told,
“afterward,
when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could
bring about no change of mind though he sought the blessing with
tears“.
God conforms us into His image and uses us as His tools for His good
works. When we reject God, He can not use us. Will you be an Isaac
or an Esau today?