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Genesis 25:24-26:35 - Living Water - Part 3
Vs. 16-25 - “Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar,where he settled. 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.
Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water (“Living Water” in the Hebrew) there. But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
From there he went up to Beersheba. That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.”
Notice at the top of vs. 16 - “go away from us, you are too powerful.” Notice God is prospering this family of faith, they are beginning to outnumber these other people groups. They’re bigger than the Philistines and we see these people now being galvanized by God into a nation!
Here’s what I want us to look at. Here’s what’s super interesting, is how we see here how God is able to use the simple actions of other people. They're filling the wells, right? So this is great seeing how God uses the simple actions of others to move His people too where he wants them to be.
When you get out a map and you study these wells, and the names of them, and where they are located - God is moving this guys closer and closer and closer to where He wants them. These people that are bringing forth these sinful actions, they’ll have to give an account before God, but its interesting how God is able to use this.
How many times in our lives can we look back and see how God was using some of these negative things or negative relationships or circumstances in our lives to move us back to where we need to be!
This dude went out to the edge, Gerar was the border - next step - Egypt! God says - “Nope! You're not going there buddy - stop - hold it...” and He slowly moves him back by the negative actions of others to where He wants him to be.
And that’s what God will oftentimes do in our lives as believers - he will use negative circumstances to bring us where He wants us to be. Alot of times we get caught up in prosperity and get caught up in the things of the world - and it takes a few knock-down blows for us to come back to reality and realize that - “Hey, I need to let go of some of this stuff” - or - “I need to let go of some of these ideas I’ve been passing off as the will of God...” I just need to get back to fundamentally what God has called me to be about.
In Vs. 24-25 he finally get’s to where the Lord wants him and we see the altar, we see worship, and the Lord appears to him again! Take note of that! See, when he gets to where God wants him we see communion and worship and fellowship with the Lord once again taking place in the life of the man.
Why is this so important? Notice in vs. 26, its because the world’s watching!
Vs. 26-29 - “ Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”
They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm,just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”
The lesson of the Word of God here is strong! When we are able to handle contention, when we are able to handle strife, when God has used the negative actions of other’s to move us where He wants us to be, and we’ve RESPONDED to that properly - take note - the unbeliever’s are watching! Here the unbelievers were able to see - Man, this guy is handling adversity like a boss, and in the midst of adversity God is just blessings this man!
If you want to make an impact upon the unbelievers that are in your life that are watching you, whether you realize it or not, PRAY that God would give you the same grace here afforded to Isaac to get through the adversity with an attitude that draws others to wanna know - “What in the world do you got going on?” In order that you might have an open door to share the truth of Jesus Christ with them.
Let’s wrap it up beginning in:
Vs. 30-35 - “ Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.”
I don’t know what was going on between these 2 ladies, but these 2 daughters-in-law were driving Isaac and Rebekah nuts! We're told its a “grievous situation.” In the Hebrew the idea is “spiritually grievous.”
But you see, this is just consistent with Esau. And looking at it from this perspective were able to see that the reason the Lord rejected Esau for the purposes of having the covenant flow through him, is that everytime we see this guy he’s interested in only pleasing himself, interested in being happy for the moment and he really didn’t give any forethought as to what would come of the decisions that he would make.
Notice there’s no communication noted here in the text, there’s nothing said about him going to mom and dad concerning the selection of these 2 gals, he just saw these 2 babes and thought - “I’ll make em mine and don’t care what my parents think.” We see Esau thinking of Esau.
In closing, if we choose to live our lives on the trinity of darkness - The trinity of Me, Myself, and I - then we are ordering our lives completely contrary to what biblical Christianity is all about. Biblical Christianity is about ordering our lives after the life of Christ who came - not to be served, but to serve.
At the end of the day, and this is so important, if we will guard the wells of the Word of God in our lives, if we will seek to recognize those things in our life, those activities in our lives, those people and those priorities that seek to stop up those wells and prevent us from going to those wells - if we can identify those and push them aside, THEN we will drink freely of the Living Water of the Word of God.
Our thirst will be satisfied and we will discover ourselves squarely upon the path of coming to know and love our Creator and Savior just more and more. And the fruit of that is going to be not only a growing peace and growing joy, but also a growing capacity to see the hassles and see the grief in our lives as further opportunities from the Lord to just move us further along IN HIM, just like Isaac, leading us to that place in the Kingdom that He has designed for us.
You're gonna see adversity as an opportunity. You handle it that way, and as the world watches THAT, you will be used of God in very powerful and profound ways to impact the lives of those people God has “deliberately” put within your path.
We’ll see you next week as we pick it up in Genesis chapter 27. Blessings to you all.
Last Update: Jan 24, 2021 12:05 pm CST
