Imperfect people in Gods perfect plan

Isaac

Genesis 26

(n.b. this is a preliminary report, a more detailed version is due to appear later)

We are in a series looking at some of the patriarchs, key figures in the history of Israel and the genealogy of Jesus. Unlike Abraham and Jacob, Isaac only gets one chapter where he is the focus of attention; this one chapter has plenty of important lessons for us though.

There is a story about a hillbilly family during the depression who decided to head westwards. They came to a city, and Pa decided he wanted to take a look around. They had never seen anything like it. Their wandering took them into a hotel lobby, and they marvelled at all the glass and marble. Pa's eye 's were drawn to an opening into a strange box in one corner of the lobby. He goes over to take a look and while he watches he sees an elderly lady enter the box and then doors slide closed. After a minute or so the doors open again and a beautiful young woman emerges and walks off. Pa calls his son over and whispers "Son, get your Ma in here."

We would often love to have that kind of miraculous transformation in our Christian lives, wouldn't we? An instant transformation into spiritual maturity! The trouble is, there isn't anything "instant" on offer! Isaac is an excellent illustration for us of the process which God takes us through as he transforms our lives, and a long time passes.

We are saved in an instant, but the development of our Christian walk takes a lifetime. We don't coast to heaven once we are born again. The Bible is all about the progressive sanctification in our lives - and we especially see that in the patriarchs.

At the start of our passage we see there was a famine in the land. Back in Abrahams day there was a famine too, and Abraham went off to Egypt to escape from it. Remember, Isaac is the miracle child, born in his parents extreme old age. Isaac could have trusted God to keep him safe through the famine but he didn't. The LORD says "don't go to Egypt" and promises his blessing, reiterating the promise He has made to Abraham.

What happens in v6? Isaac dwells in Gerar and it seems that he puts his roots down there. We know from Hebrews 11 that the thing that marked out the "heroes of faith" in that chapter is that they considered themselves merely pilgrims in this world, they considered their citizenship to be in heaven and they were looking for a heavenly city. It seems that maybe Isaac hasn't reached that stage yet. It also raises the interesting question for us. do we see ourselves as pilgrims in this world? Are we looking forward most of all to that heavenly city or are we too concerned about putting down our roots here?

Isaac isn't perfect, but God moves him on, making life uncomfortable here. Like his dad before him he is asked about his wife and he makes up a lie. Before we judge him too harshly for this it is worth making sure that we recognise the situation he found himself in. In those days the local kings or chieftains had the right to take any woman they wished as theirs, and if she was married they would have the current husband killed in order to have a valid claim on the woman themselves. We even see king David doing this to Bathsheba's husband, Uriah.

Strangely we see the man of God being rebuked by a pagan. Doesn't that sometimes happen to us too? We know that Abimelech was actually spoken to by God, and God told him that it was He who had kept Abimelech from sinning.

(Harry refers to an occasion in his own life when he had managed to get himself into a situation he shouldn't have been in and God kept him from sinning. He has experienced himself Gods keeping hand.)

How does God move Isaac on? He blessed him in riches of crops and land - so that the philistines envied him (v14). (As a warning, how often we end up envying other peoples good fortune.? it really shouldn't be). The philistines started filling in his wells, and rather than taking offence and confronting them, Isaac simply moves on and starts digging a new well until he is left alone. This is perhaps the same kind of submissiveness to Gods well which we often think about in Genesis 22, when Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. Many commentators believe that Isaac was no child, he was probably about 30 years old when his elderly dad took him up, bound him and made ready to sacrifice him on the mountain. Isaac knew something about not fighting back! We could learn from him the wisdom of not striking back when someone comes against us.

At the end of the chapter Isaac went to Beersheba, and notice the order of events in v25. He built an altar. He called on the LORD. He pitched his tent. See the order? He ensured that he put God first now. His first priority was building and altar, making sure that his worship of the LORD was in order. What order to we do things in?

Some of the challenges from Isaacs life:

  1. There are no instant transformations in Christian maturity. It is a lifetimes work learning to trust God more.
  2. We are to be pilgrims in this world, not setting our roots down here and forgetting to look forward to the heavenly city where our true citizenship lies.
  3. What is our order of priorities in our life? Honestly, where does God come as we sort out our day to day living and our long term priorities?

by Harry Smith