Do you want to run away today? It happens all over the world for the same reasons. Crises. You may belong to a family that did just that. When it got tough, they moved on. But what if being faithful to God means staying put? God’s covenant with us isn’t a formula we learn – do this, and that will happen; but rather it is a living relationship that asks us to listen and obey in each generation.
We have moved from one generation to the next in our reading, and we see that some things are similar and others are very different, just as today.
“Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 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. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspringall nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.” (Genesis 26 v 1-6
So Isaac stayed in Gerar. This was different from what his father had done. He chose to stay in a difficult situation rather than flee to Egypt. As Abraham was obedient in going down to Egypt, Isaac was obedient in not doing so.
However, it indicates far more to us today.
- Isaac’s obedience looked different to his father’s, but it was as necessary as Abraham’s was. Our life is not simply repeating what the previous generation did for our callings; indeed, challenges are unique, but faithfulness to the voice of God and remaining in His covenant with us is the same.
- Isaac chose to remain in the covenant given to his father, and we have to choose to remain in the covenant of Christ. That meant Isaac had to trust the covenant, remain faithful to it and let it shape his life and decisions; and so do we.
- There is no covenant without obedience. Isaac was blessed because of his father’s obedience, and a blessing will flow from his life to his descendants, so long as he too obeys. The covenant of Christ was born through His blood of obedience, and we are now blessed. If we too remain in that covenant, then the blessing will flow through us to the next generation. We, too, leave a legacy, having received one from the previous generation who passed it down to us.
Missions Paul 