Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Genesis: Chapter 26

This is a chapter filled with the simple 'stuff of life' -- not grand drama, but abundant living in the presence of God.  One thing I see bears out the adage "God has no grandchildren."  While strengths and weaknesses are part of the earthly heritage of all, God deals personally with each.  While life circumstances may repeat in our lives and our children's,  God's ways don't change and He is faithful to be present with the next generation. 

Early in the chapter, we see God tell Isaac he needed to stay in the land of promise; and he did just that.  Like his father, like each of us, Isaac made some mis-steps.   When he feared the people of Gerar would kill him for his wife, he followed his father's mis-step and lied to protect himself.  His fear revealed a need to trust God more fully; God superintended the situation and helped Isaac learn a lesson he would shortly need.  I'm encouraged to trust God's timing as I consider this--even our failings work for future good when we finally heed the Lord's ways.

The next episode we see Isaac being treated unfairly but trusting God whole-heartedly!  There is a time to fight but I suspect it is not as often as we tend to think.  Undoubtedly God used Isaac to reveal Himself to the people of Gerar through this; we can trust God to work through us as we trust Him too!

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