Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now there was a famine in the land—besides the earlier famine of Abraham's time—and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar.
The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."
So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."
When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?"
Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her."
Then Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."
So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
Genesis 26:1-11
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After the birth of Esau and Jacob, we read where there is a famine that leads Isaac to visit King Abimelech, yes the same king his father Abraham had gone to before (Genesis 20). But before Isaac speaks to the king, he is engaged by THE King, the one and only all powerful King of Heaven who gives him the following instructions, instructions that also open windows of further understanding into how God guides us in our own Christian walk:
1. “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land I tell you to live. Stay in this land for awhile.”
During one of my sea duty assignments in the United States Navy, I had a shipmate that used to say the following phrase during bible studies:
"God might not always be there when we want Him but He’s always right on time."
In other words, God works within His perfect time frame, not ours, and within that time frame, He also puts us where He wants us to be. Rest assured that anywhere God leads us, He has a purpose for us to go there. All we need to stay open to what He wants us to do and move as He directs in obedience. He’ll take care of the rest.
Within our scripture passage, God wanted Isaac in Gerar, not Egypt, and Isaac complied with His wishes.
2. “I will be with you and will bless you.”
This is a consistent assurance that God gives to those who place their trust in Him. Unfortunately, it’s one that we have a tendency to too often forget.
You see our enemy, Satan, is very skilled at exposing and exploiting our weaknesses, especially when it comes to stress, anxiety and fear. This worldly life places us in many circumstances that can leave us feeling hopeless and despaired and we can combat this by remembering that our Lord is with us and for us. He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us. He also promised us He would never give us a burden that we couldn’t bear as long as we trusted in Him to help us deal with it.
I don’t know about you but it’s such a comfort to have these promises and so many others from Father who truly does bless us and we need to always remember that.
In our scripture passage, we read where Isaac didn’t exactly show that he trusted God. Just as his father Abraham had done, Isaac lies about his wife being his sister, afraid that he would be killed if he told the truth. I wonder if God was saying to Himself:
“Like father, like son.”
In the end translation, Isaac chose to forget God’s promises. He allowed fear to get in the way of his faith and this resulted in him coming up with his own plan instead of seeking what the Lord wanted him to do. As a result, he ended up placing Abimelech and his people in peril, just as Abraham had.
A quick question:
Do you find yourself in the midst of life’s challenges to where fear and anxiety are knocking on your door?
If so, I encourage you to receive God’s words with gladness.
"I will be with you and bless you."
Our Lord wants to liberate us from our burdens. He wants us to trust and turn to Him.
3. “For to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."
Here, we find God essentially telling Isaac how He will go about blessing him and his offspring.
What makes this interesting is that the promise isn’t necessarily granted based on what Isaac had done but rather on the solid faithful life of his father, Abraham. This has led me to wonder how much this still happens today for I believe this scripture tells us that the actions of our ancestors can go a long way toward bringing blessings to their offspring (conversely, consequences too). We should consider this if we have children to raise or even if children we find ourselves caring for in any capacity. For maybe the best gift we can give our kids is the carryover of a faithful, blessed relationship with God the Father. For when we do, He takes care of the rest, watching over and blessing our children who place their own love and trust in Him.
In Isaac’s actions in Gerar, we see nearly a mirror reflection of his father. They end up in similar situations and disappointingly Isaac repeats the same errors of Abraham as both forgot God’s promises in the midst of trial while trying to independently work out their matters without Him from a worldly perspective.
One final question:
Do you trust God fully in your life or do you just have a part time faith, a faith you activate at your convenience?
If you fit into the latter, I encourage you to turn to the Lord and perhaps say a prayer like this:
Dear God,
I have failed to follow you and trust you completely in my life. I have forgotten that you told me You would always be with me, blessing me with Your presence and guidance. Forgive me Lord and please help me draw ever nearer to you until that day comes when I will see you face-to-face. Wipe away my anxieties and fears and bring me to the place of peace and rest only found in You. Thank you Lord for this opportunity called life and help me walk best through it in obedience as a believer in Your Son Jesus.
Thank you Lord for all you’ve done, all you’re doing and all you have yet to do. I love you and lift up this prayer in Your precious and holy Name. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment