GENESIS 26 THE SPIRIT OF SONSHIP When we begin our Christian life, our spiritual understanding is based on simple faith passed on from trusted instructors who helped us get the meaning of what the scriptures teach. As we read the Bible for ourselves, we gradually find that the Spirit of God opens our own understanding of the word of God. The more we read the Bible, the more light we get from it, that guides our minds, guards our conduct, gives us a more Christ-like attitude and grants us goals toward which we reach so that life is purposeful.
By learning from God, we realize we are sons and daughters of God who wants us to be the best we can be in His service and in our lives. We may be inclined to make changes in our lives when difficulties bring unexpected challenges to our expectations as new believers. Faith is still there, but it is when we realize who we are and that God does not always remove difficulties or move us away from them, that we can become more fruitful by faith that is stronger than the challenges it faces.
Dryness and “dearth in the land” can parch our souls if we are expecting abundant spiritual rain and the dew from heaven all the time. When dry times comes, wait for God to speak before taking action. To be walking with the world can make us unaware of the presence of the Lord. Isaac got off course and went to the edge of the worldly system and was at the far edge of the land of promise. Natural inclination and human knowledge influenced by worldly wisdom, can leave us without a word from the Lord.
Isaac was blessed when the Lord appeared to him and kept him from going farther away. He was also blessed and preserved, when God’s grace moved Abimelech to look out his window and see that Rebekah was Isaac’s wife, not his sister. God blessed him even further by giving abundant returns from the seed he had sown and water in the wells he dug. But the real blessing came when he returned to Beersheba where he belonged. It is when we are by “the well of the oath,” that we have peace.
God’s people are in danger of not hearing the voice of God if they go beyond the borders of separation from the world. We may not realize what is happening to us at first. Holy joy gradually fades into a false sense of security and contentment. Many believers live in that condition all of their lives. Not very far away are those who are ready to take advantage of one who God has blessed, or to oppose with hidden hatred and selective strife. The spirit of sonship in God’s people is an ongoing relationship that has to be guarded and nourished. The growth to maturity and daily spiritual advancement doesn’t happen all at once, and it is not stopped all at once. Being conscious of who we are, where we are and who we belong to, is necessary to successful Christian living and sonship. When we yield to God’s grace in everything, we will find ourselves where God intends us to be.
ISAAC, THE ORDINARY MAN Isaac was a very ordinary man who was the son of a great father. He lived a quiet, normal and peaceful life without a lot of drama or great activity. He was a successful man in his own right, who avoided confrontation as much as possible. This ordinary man was also the father of a great son. An ordinary life is an “ordered” life.
During the course of his life, there were bright spots and some dark times. It is in those dark times we need God’s grace and mercy. When he went to the wrong place for the wrong reason, he was put in a position where he believed a lie was the best way to maintain his life as he knew it. But sin brings discipline. We learn from this chapter how difficult times should be faced and what to do when facing a situation in which we fear for our lives. Some things that happen to us, need to be faced and dealt with, and we should walk away from other things.
Divine Guidance, v.1-5. Famine of one kind or another will arise in our lives, the same as in other generations before us. How we respond to difficulties in life is often motivated by how those who lived before us acted in their difficult times. That way is not always appropriate. To follow Abraham’s journey to Egypt was not the way God intends us to deal with barrenness in our lives. Abraham went there on his own initiative and there were lasting consequences as a result of that choice. The Lord intervened in Isaac’s plan to go to Egypt and preserved him from further difficulties.
When times of emergency arise, we are prone to act quickly rather than take the time necessary to consider the potential consequences of the action. What we do may be allowed by God to teach us needed lessons. Egypt is not the promised land. There are dangers in the world to body and soul because all that is in the world appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
It is essential that we establish guidelines and safeguards to keep us walking by faith rather than by sight. Whether Isaac was right or wrong in going as far as Gerar is not made plain to us in the text. What is plain is that it doesn’t seem like he consulted with God before leaving where he was and going there.
To be sure of divine guidance in testing times, is of great importance to us today. To take action in the energy of the flesh can quickly lead us to a place where we should never be found. It is encouraging to note that the Lord God reaffirmed to Isaac the promise that He had made to Abraham. The instruction to remain in Canaan in spite of the famine, was a confirmation to Isaac that God remained the same and His promises were unchanging in spite of the circumstances in which he was found. This is an important lesson for every believer to remember, take to heart and live by.
Human Sin, v.6-11. Even though we may have personal dealings with God that confirms our faith, that doesn’t mean we are victorious Christians. Gerar may have been sort of a half-way-house for Isaac. He had been told by God to go no farther and was then asked by the inhabitants of Gerar about Rebekah. It was then and there he told a deliberate lie to protect himself. Abraham had told a half-lie; Isaac told a deliberate one. Selfishness and cowardice are both deplorable and sinful. If we let fear take control of our minds, then our words and then our actions will soon follow that lead to a fall.
Human tendencies can be genetic it is true, but they do not have the power to control us. We are responsible to bring every thought into captivity, so that by controlling our thoughts, we are able to obey our Lord when difficulties move us toward human sin. It seems like Isaac’s lie was believed by the people of Gerar for quite a while before Abimelech looked out of a window and saw Isaac and Rebekah behaving as husband and wife, not brother and sister. This Abimelech, like the one before him, knew what was acceptable and righteous and what was not.
When we are rebuked for our misbehavior by those who expect better things of us as Christians, the wise person will accept the rebuke as a reminder from God Himself through a human instrument. It is a sad moment when a child of God has to be rebuked by a man of the world. When those who look on the way we live, see us make a bad choice or take a wrong action, that becomes an excuse to them, for their own misbehavior. Thankfully, Abimelech took action to stop the harm before it went any farther.
Divine Blessing, v.12-17. In a wonderful example of grace on the part of Abimelech, Isaac was able to stay on in Gerar. He was able to use the land where he was to plant seed, and in grace, divine blessing brought a return of one hundred-fold in the harvest. That would have been an exceptional return as far as a harvest is concerned. It was obvious to Abimelech and that people of Gerar that God was with Isaac in spite of his sin.
The people of God often find that in spite of our failures and shortcoming, God honors His people in the sight of men. He deals with us privately in a chastening way to correct us as His children, but allows us to be a public testimony of His grace. Our Lord may not arrange to have us dishonored in public, but discipline and severe correction take place before full fellowship and sonship with Him are restored.
It is not hard to imagine why the “Philistines envied” Isaac. Their envy led them to fill up the wells Abraham had dug, that were essential to Isaac’s prosperity in harvesting a good crop and maintaining his herds. Their resentment was obviously to show Isaac that he was not the owner of the land as far as they were concerned. The necessity of water was such that wells more or less led to a legitimate claim on the property around them. Even Abimelech wasn’t happy about having Isaac nearby, so as a peace- loving man, Isaac moved, but not too far away.
Because our forebearers were people of faith and lived by faith, doesn’t mean we or our generation and the one following will have sufficient faith to leave close proximity to the world. Attraction to earthly success, power and pleasure can be very strong in those who are believers in Christ. To remain close “to the action,” is a real danger. It is a place that is inconsistent to the faith of a child of God to make their home as much like the world as possible. We are passing through this world as “strangers and pilgrims.”
Human Patience, v.18-22. The effect of staying too close to the world and the world system, means we will have to do over and over again, what could have been done once if we were far away. Isaac was reluctant to go too far and was met with strife and opposition. Even though he tried to be diplomatic to those who were around him, the difference between Isaac and them was obvious to them. They had to pressure him to leave or to conform. The peace-loving man, Isaac, yielded slowly and patiently to them. At the same time God was being patient with him. It took a while but finally he got back to where he belonged.
Divine Favor, v.23-33. When Isaac finally got the message, he went all the way to Beersheba. That was where God wanted him to be. The very first night he got there, the Lord appeared to him. He had finally got back to the place of divine favor after all the difficulties he had passed through. It was then he heard God say for the first time, “I am the God of Abraham…” He had nothing to fear when he was where God wanted him to be, doing what God wanted him to do.
When we are right with God, He reveals His truth and His grace to us. The covenant we have with Him, moves us to worship and serve Him like Isaac did when he built an altar at Beersheba. When we are in the path of God’s leading and are restored to full fellowship with Him, we are able to be consecrated to Him, to pray in confidence and are able to be true witnesses to those who know us. When God is first in our lives, we can be a testimony to others and things change for the right for us.
Abimelech and his military advisors went to Beersheba when they heard of, and recognized the reality of the standing Isaac had with the Lord. “The Lord is with you.” “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” When we are right with our Lord, God and men favor those who wait on Him. “Them that honor Me, I will honor; those that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”
The secret of true living is that God comes first at all costs. He gave us a divine revelation of Christ dying for us on the cross and divine guidance is given to guide us into all truth and keep us safe in difficult times. Strength of character becomes evident when divine truth and divine life is personal to us. Moral living can be maintained because of what our fathers gave us. It is in the difficulties we become who we really are in our own character, not just an imitation of our forefathers. An easy life that is simple and uncomplicated, is not a good way to train young people. Separation from the world cannot be overemphasized for a believer’s spiritual health and welfare. Power to live for God comes when we are where God wants us. It is there we have a testimony that influences the world for Christ. We are “in the world,” but not “of the world.”
SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS Isaac was a man of a passive nature. Whether he was insulted by Ishmael, submissive to be bound on the altar or having a wife chosen for him by his father, he accepted whatever came to him in a quiet and morally strong way, all he had to endure.
Actually, Isaac is an example to us of what meekness really is like. In his meekness and strength of character, he became a man of power and might without a lot of fanfare. His success wasn’t in the extraordinary things of life, but in how he lived an ordinary life like most people. He had some failures in his personal life and in his public life, but the general tenor of his life was to live “a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.” Isaac was not egocentric, and that led him to have strength of character that became stronger as the years passed. That unselfishness recommends and reflects on the grace of God.
Most of us live ordinary lives and can learn simple lessons from the simple things that cross our paths daily. When we make mistakes, confess and forsake them and correct whatever it was that led us to do them in the first place. When we have some successes in life, be wise enough to give God all the glory, because it is because of His mercy toward us we are not consumed. When given a place of authority and leadership, maintain a meekness that is evident to be power that is under control. When there are changes that can be made to make things better for others as well as yourself, make them quietly without a lot of comments or commotion. Let God be glorified in all that we do or say in our ordinary lives.