January 11, 2025 - Genesis 26-28

An interesting but expected dynamic taking place, here.  God renewed the covenant with Isaac, saying, “And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (26:4-5).  The faithfulness of Abraham, in its effects, was carried down to the next generation.  Isaac benefitted from his father’s faithfulness.  But Isaac also mirrored his father’s lack of trust.  Settling in Gerar, “When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, ‘She is my sister,’ for he feared to say, ‘My wife,’ thinking, ‘lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,’ because she was attractive in appearance” (26:7).  The very thing Abraham did!  Twice!  Did Isaac learn this tactic from his dad?  Lots more going on here, of course:  Jacob blessed by Isaac, the relationship between Jacob and Esau, Jacob’s dream at Bethel and, of course, God’s promise to Jacob:  “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land.  For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you (Gen. 28:15).  A good reminder, though, that we are always influencing others either for good or bad.  May it be the good.  Always, though, the promise stands, that God will never leave us.

When the dark waves round us roll,

And we look in vain for aid,

Speak, Lord, to the trembling soul,

“It is I; be not afraid.”

When we dimly trace Thy form

In mysterious clouds arrayed,

Be the echo of the storm,

“It is I; be not afraid.”   -- William Walsham How (1868)