Author: missionspaul

I have just arrived in Kenya, a place I know well and where I have had the privilege of seeing a few boreholes being drilled, bringing life-saving water to many communities. How fitting then that I read these next few verses.

There is a famine, and Isaac stays rather than go to Egypt to escape, as his father had during the previous famine. Instead, he moves around looking for water. He finds it.

“Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. ²⁰ But the herders of Gerar quarrelled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek,because they disputed with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, but they quarrelled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. ²² He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarrelled over it. He named it Rehoboth,saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.” (Genesis 26 v 19-22)

After every dig and every breakthrough, Isaac faced opposition, except for the third one.

He continued until he found a place where there was room to flourish.

Some people won’t dig with you. They won’t be part of the breakthrough. But they will want to claim every benefit of it. Wisdom sometimes says, ‘move on. You’re not here to become embroiled in every complaint and land-grab. Walking on from some battles is the best path to take.

Rehoboth waits for you.

The first well was Esek, which means ‘dispute’, and the conflict was over control. Resist and move on from such arguments. God is in control, not man.

The second well was Sitnah. It simply means ‘opposition’ and how people can begin opposing you during a time of celebration, I don’t know, but they do.

Many years ago, when I was a Pastor of a church plant, after a few years of digging the soil through prayer and fasting, we had a breakthrough, and many young people came to faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit was being poured out; it was a wonderful time. However, it was also the season of the most complaints from Christians who wanted to control what was happening. I learnt the importance of keeping going and not letting people shut down the move of God. Eventually, we grew and indeed flourished. We entered a Rehoboth season.

Is it time for you to dig again, to reopen wells, to search for the life-giving streams of Living Water?

Is that to reopen the prayer place, which has been filled in with many other things? Is it pursuing the promises of God again? The well is still there. It’s just been blocked up.

Abraham had gone down to Egypt when the famine had previously struck. But God told Isaac to sow in the place of famine. God wanted to do something new. He wanted to do something in that place of famine. There are miracles within the famine of our lives.

“Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. ¹⁶ Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.” ¹⁷ So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. ¹⁸ Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.” (Genesis 26 v 12-18)

The result of obedience was God’s greatness upon his life. He became a threat to the Philistines. God’s purpose for your life is for you to receive His greatness upon you. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. The conditions may not be ideal for you right now, but God doesn’t need perfect circumstances to bring blessings to your life. There are times to escape, as Abraham did when he faced famine. But there are seasons when God says – “stay and sow”.

Remember who you serve. The one who transforms a few loaves of bread and fish titbits to feed a multitude, who splits rocks open to quench the thirst of millions, and who in famines can produce a harvest that causes the world around you to be envious.

The blessing in your life can also bring opposition.

Maybe you have known this same kind of opposition. The enemy of our lives desires to block our spiritual vitality. If your days of anointing and intimacy with God are more in the past than the present, then it could be that the wells of your heart have been filled in with discouragement and doubt.

What would it look like to reopen those wells in your life? To clear away whatever has blocked your access to God’s presence.  Are there promises over your life once given that need a new season to breathe again?

This season may be difficult, but you can thrive in that difficulty.

The same lie told to the same person out of the same fear, treating the wife with the same disrespect, making her feel expendable. It is the next generation that is not learning from the mistakes of the previous generation.

“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.” ⁸ When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. ⁹ So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” ¹⁰ Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹ So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” (Genesis 26 v 7-11)

When will the next generation be better than the one before?

• When we stop allowing fear to dictate the moment, and we start to have faith for tomorrow.
• When we focus more on being different in the crises of life.
• When we stop relying on what we have inherited and realise we need a conviction experience that forged that inheritance, for ourselves.
• When we stop using people as collateral damage for our gains.

• When we start living better than those outside of the faith.
• When we stop creating false versions of ourselves.
• Perhaps the greatest response to the questions is this:-
• When we stop believing we are better and therefore exempt from the mistakes of the previous generation.

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.

“Now there was a famine in the land – besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time … 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….” (Genesis 26 v 1-3)

Abraham had gone down to Egypt when the famine had previously struck. But God told Isaac to sow in the place of famine. God wanted to do something new. He wanted to do something in that place of famine.

The wisest thing would be to do what his father had done.

The wisest thing would have been to choose common sense.

No. Not on this occasion.

The wisest thing is always to respond to the appearance of the Lord to you in whatever form that is.

Isaac was told to stay in the crisis.

The Lord spoke 5 things to Isaac:-

· Do not go down to Egypt. Don’t look at what the last generation did, and don’t look at what seems obvious in the present. Ask the question: Lord, what path are you closing that I keep trying to force open? What “Egypt” am I running toward that you’re protecting me from?

· Live in the land where I tell you to live. Living is the option. You will live. The Lord promises to show him where. Ask the question: Lord, where are you already speaking that I haven’t been listening? Show me not just where to live, but how to truly live—fully present and fully alive—right where you’ve placed me.

· Stay in this land for a while. Even though every part of you may want to leave, stay. It is time-limited—for a while. This indicates that the Lord hasn’t forgotten Isaac; this is a purposeful season. Ask the question: Lord, what are you doing here that requires me to stay? What am I being prepared for that can only happen in this place, in this season?

· I will be with you. Staying is not staying alone. It is staying in His presence, with the Lord. He doesn’t leave—He stays with you in the difficulty. Ask the question: Lord, how can I recognise your presence in this hard place?

· (I) will bless you. The blessing and provisions were not to be found in Egypt’s grain stores of plenty but in the proximity of God’s presence. God doesn’t need Egypt. God doesn’t need circumstances to be right. Ask the question: Lord, what blessing are you offering that I’ve been overlooking while searching for different circumstances?

A moment on the lips is a lifetime on the hips. A phrase that seems to have been around for a lifetime, warning us of high-calorie cakes and desserts, which lead to weight gain. What follows in these next verses seems most ordinary and happens every day when the urgent drowns out what is essential. In a moment, the tomorrow of Esau’s life seemed so far away to his need of today. In that flash of a moment, his life changed forever.

“Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” ³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” ³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.” (Genesis 25 v 29-34)

Think of the characters who acted as Esau did. If only they had made a different decision at that moment. Aaron created a golden calf for worship to please people; Koran, Dathan and Abiram slandered Moses and died; Samson found Delilah and lost his eyesight; Eli kept silent with his sinful sons and lost God’s presence; Uzziah became proud of his achievements and became leprous; Moses struck the rock twice and missed the Promised Land; there are so many. None of these people needed to end the way they did. If only they had considered before they acted.

If Esau had acted differently, “Jacob, I’m exhausted. Let me rest. Then we talk.” Perhaps his birthright would not have felt worthless compared to satisfying his appetite.

What are you about to trade in? What will you regret tomorrow?

Our health? Our integrity? Our children’s presence? The list goes on and on.

• If we name what we are so willing to let go of, then maybe we would reconsider.
• If we check those vulnerable moments and call for wisdom before we make rash decisions, then maybe we would reconsider.
• If we had a better self-awareness of our ‘appetites’, and when they kick in, we have a way to deal with them, then maybe we would reconsider.

It’s not a guarantee we won’t make mistakes, but considering before we act is good wisdom.

We are moving into one of the most dysfunctional of family stories. Isaac and Rebekah are married, and they have twins. Isaac favoured Esau, the older twin and skilled hunter; his father loved the BBQs Esau cooked, while Rebekah favoured Jacob, the younger son. Division has emerged in marriage.

“When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁵ The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.²⁶ After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. ²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skilful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (Genesis 25 v 24-28)

Imagine the scene. Jacob comes out, grasping at his brother’s heel, as if trying to pull him back. He doesn’t want to be second. He obviously doesn’t know he is in the line of the covenant promised child, Christ. Neither do his parents. Their division and his grasping are pointless. For God has a plan.

Most divisions and competitive ambitions are pointless. God has a plan.

Esau, the one you can see and feel the hairs of, is the firstborn. Jacob, the heel-grabber, the one born second but wants to be first, the deceiver, will be the main character of the Bible story.

They grow and follow different pursuits. Then comes the major schism.

“Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”

We know that sentence could have been written so much better, fairer, and more loving.

Isaac loved what he was getting from his son (the wild game). Rebekah just loved.

What must it do to a child to know one of their parents doesn’t love them as much as the other sibling?

Do we love conditionally?

Do we love those who feed our ego and satisfy our appetites?

Do we spend our lives grasping at heels, jealous of what was given to others?

The story is beginning. We know the end.

Importantly, we know God has a plan that can navigate the divisions, deceptions, and selfish ambitions within families and friendship circles.

Now for the other brother, the youngest, the promised child, Isaac.

“This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aramand sister of Laban the Aramean. ²¹ Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. ²³ The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” (Genesis 25 v 19-23)

There are so many similarities among the next generation descended from Abraham and Sarah.

Isaac’s wife, Rebekah, is barren. A few verses later, we read that Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born. So for 20 years (v20), they prayed for her to conceive. I am sure you know the experience of praying for something for a long time. Prayer often needs persistence. But notice the difference within the similarity. Unlike his father, Isaac didn’t take matters into his own hands. There was no new Hagar in this story. Just patient intercession.

Then God answers only to find that what should have been a joyous occasion was actually a painful one. Sometimes the new chapter of our lives contains new complications, questions and struggles. The question that is often cried, ‘Why?’ is uttered. When was the last time you prayed that prayer? ‘Why God?’ Sometimes the gift is wrapped in confusion.

Again, a mirror of the story already told: ‘older will serve the younger’. Like Ishmael not being the main character, it comes up again here: Esau will serve Jacob. Man’s expectations of what will happen are again overturned by God. People around you may assume one thing today; they may have their predictions, but God’s purposes often challenge and usurp man’s understanding.

Your life may not be making much sense right now. Bring it before God. It makes sense to Him, and His plan will roll out and bring glory to His name.

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Before we read the family line of Ishmael, let’s remind ourselves of a few things.

Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar.

Sent away into the wilderness so that Isaac (the promised son) could have the freedom to grow.

God found Ishmael and his mother and promised that a nation would come from him.  These verses are the fulfilment of that promise.

¹² This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. ¹⁷ Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. ¹⁸ His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility towardall the tribes related to them.” (Genesis 25 v 12-18)

The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah would mention these tribes in their prophecies. I have emboldened the interesting part of the hostilities amongst them.

Families have break-ups and break-downs, don’t they? You might be in one of them right now. Yet somehow, the struggles do not mean you step outside God’s purposes. God manages to work through the complications and strain of imperfect families. He will still fulfil His purposes despite us.

The whole passage is full of amazing grace.

The fact that it is recorded is one thing. The main character of the story is Isaac, whose bloodline will lead to Christ.

But here, the Bible story pauses to record the other brother on the margins of the main story. You may think you are not important, not the centrepiece, an add-on, but you couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of what God thinks of you. He sees you. He sees your family.

• Your life can be one long struggle, but you can know the blessing of God at the same time. The struggle doesn’t disqualify you from the blessings.
• Look at the blessing – the twelve sons that became tribes, the long life of 137 years. Look at the pain – the hostilities. See the honesty? You don’t have to pretend everything is fine in order to be thankful for the good that God has done. When I was a Pastor, people came to me often and said, ‘Pastor, my testimony is nearly ready to give.’ They were referring to the fact that God still hadn’t completely healed them, or they hadn’t quite secured that promotion yet. I changed things. I began asking for testimonies of the cancer members and those without jobs to testify to the blessings and purposes of God within the presence of struggle and pain.
• God works through the mess. He won’t wait for us to get ourselves perfected. He just carries on working through our dysfunction. Struggle doesn’t mean you are outside of His purpose for your life.

I’m not sure how many funerals I have conducted over the years, but they are always unique, even if the ceremony is the same. That’s obviously because we are all different.

When I read these next few verses, I at first skipped past something that caught my eye the second time. It was the occasion of the funeral of Abraham.

“Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.” (Genesis 25 v 7-11)

Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham (but the son of Hagar and not of Sarah), was with Isaac, the promised son, born to Sarah in her old age.

It may have been some time since they had been together. Isn’t that the case even today? We have no record of whether they had seen each other in the intervening years.

Isaac was the heir to the covenant given to Abraham, and Ishmael became the father of twelve rulers. They live separate lives with separate families, but on the occasion of their father’s death, they stand together to bury him. Death had brought them back together. Grief over their father was the uniting factor.

Maybe they had so many differences, one being their age, that they would never be walking together in life. But they each shared a love for their father. They both would carry something of his image and standing at the cave of Machpelah were two sons in grief. Well, we don’t know the extent of that grief, so I am presuming there were tears; maybe they both gave eulogies? Did they embrace? This certainly wasn’t a 30-minute crematorium slot. This funeral would have lasted a while and would have taken time to work it all out together.

But that is the word, isn’t it? Even if it was the very last time. They were together.

It is never too late to stand together with your brother, sister, parent, child, etc. It is never too late to call that friend. You see, they, too, despite your many differences are made in the image of God, just like we all are.

It’s never too late to come together. Even at a grave side.