Good Morning Friends,
“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.’” (Genesis 26:1-7)
Faith and fear are two competing and
contradictory attitudes.
The problem is that even men and women of
great faith don’t exclusively live in faith. Times of fear also dominate our
lives and our actions. The story above from the life of Isaac emphasizes that
reality. In that one story of just seven verses we see Isaac act in great faith
-- and we see Isaac respond in fear, too!
When famine struck the land the prudent thing
for Isaac to do was to leave that land and seek a land that was not
experiencing the famine. But God spoke to Isaac and told Isaac to stay where he
was – in the land of famine and that He would provide for him and his family. It
wasn’t prudence that kept Isaac in Gerar, it was faith. Isaac believed what God
spoke to him. Isaac trusted God to provide.
But when the men of Gerar asked about Isaac’s
wife, he responded in fear. He told the men that she was his sister, not his
wife. It wasn’t faith that made Isaac respond that way – it was fear. He was
afraid that the men of Gerar would kill him in order to take his wife. Where
was Isaac’s faith? God had promised to provide for Isaac – couldn’t God protect
his wife? Of course God could protect Rebekah, but Isaac didn’t see that,
instead he gave in to his fear.
Faith and fear – are seen in the same man in
just a short span of time. I would think Isaac was two-faced and strange,
except that I see the same dynamic at work in so many other followers of God –
including myself! There are times when I respond to God in faith. There I times
when I give in to fear. And I know that the same is true in your life.
Thank God that He was patient with Isaac – thank
God that He is patient with us!
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment