Providing continuity in the midst of contradictions.

Introduction

Isaac was God’s chosen heir to Abraham. Besides Isaac, Abraham had other children such as his first born son Ishmael, born through Sarah’s servant girl Hagar. Abraham had other children through his other wife and concubines. However, God chose only one heir to continue with Abraham’s line. The heir chosen by God was Isaac. It was through Isaac that God was to fulfil the covenant with Abraham first uttered in Genesis 15: 1-7 “After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”” However, we discover that for the blood line to continue a child had to be born to continue as an heir to the promise.unfortunately, Isaac’s wife Rebekah could not conceiven immediately to produce the heir. Scholars have worked out that Isaac had to wait for 20 years before the birth of his twin sons, Esau and Isaac. To turn an already difficult situation worse we are told that the children were born in a time of famine. It was at a time when there was no food. To make matters worse the family lived in a hostile environment where they were not wanted. In the midst of these contradictions we see the guidance of God and his blessings on Isaac. But Isaac’s godly character is evident throughout the apparent contradictions.

We will examine the passage before us under the title PROVIDING CONTINUITY IN THE MIDST OF CONTRADICTIONS. This is the second in the series entitled: GOD WALKING CLOSELY WITH HIS PEOPLE. We will explore our title under three subheadings, namely:

A call to trust Genesis 25: 19-21 & Chap 26:1-5, 23-24

Like father like son: the sins that hold us back v.7,

Blessed by God and yet hated by men, v 8-33

1 A CALL TO TRUST

We may, ask why does God appear to work against his purpose? In our passage we see a situation where Isaac who was to be a means through whom the earlier promises given to his father were to be fulfilled. Isaac is faced with a number of challenges. To start with his wife was unable to produce the needed heir in 25: 19. Secondly he lived in a time of famine. Thirdly, Isaac was forbidden to go to the one country where he was assured of food. Isaac knew the level of responsibilities that weighed on his shoulders. Among those responsibilities was to fulfil God’s mandate , he had a family to look after, this was besides the flocks of animals he had to look after. How was he to navigate his way through so many challenges?

Faced with the infertility of his wife we see Isaac’s faith rising to maturity. Having waited for 20 years before he could see any offspring. It reminds us of a case of the famous English King Henry the 8th, seeking a male a heir. in his quest to get a male heir we see Henry getting rid of any wife who could not produce for him a male child. in total King Henry married six times. The difference between Isaac and King Henry, was that one left everything to chance and the other one entrusted his matter to God. Isaac chose to pray for an heir, so he prayed that his wife may conceive.

This then begs a question, what then is prayer? The brief answer is that it is God’s ordained means to fulfil what he has already planned to do. Prayer is not designed to alter God’s decree or force Him to act against his holy will. However, having said that, we need to see in Isaac’s case his recognition of God as the only one to whom he could appeal to fulfil what he had promised already promised to his father Abraham. God had ordained that the birth of the next heir to the promise shall come only after Isaac prayed.

There are some who have misunderstood God’s working. A number of extremes can be guarded against. One extreme is to adopt an attitude of believing that if it is God’s will to do a particular thing then any prayer will not make difference. Unfortunately, many without stating it the way I have said it is their attitude to prayer. Such an attitude leads to a prayerless life. It may appear like a holy attitude but it demonstrates our lack of knowledge of God’s working.

The other extreme, is whereby we expect God to give us the things that are already within our means. For example a farmer may expect God to keep weeds away from his farm where he could do the weeding himself; or worse still, at the time of harvest the farmer expects God to gather the crop for him. This second exteme view can be illustratred by the way God dealt with the children of Israel when they settled in the promised land. It is recorded for us that when the Israelites made their first harves manna from heaven also stopped falling. In other words, God was demonstrating that he does not provide when it is within our means to do so. Later in the New Testament Paul addressed a case of believers at Thasalonica whom he called busy bodies. People who did not want to work but expected their fellow believers to provide for their needs.

But we can also fall into another extreme, and that is to think a given matter is too hard for God. Given that God is almighty, we should never limit him. In fact two people were pursuaded that God could not possibly intervene in their situation. One such character is none other than Isaac’s mother Sarah. He laughed and perhaps scorned at the likelihood of herself ever brcoming a mother in her old age Genesis 18: 9-15. W e also read of another person in the Bible, this time in the New Testament, Zechariah when he was informed that his wife would conceive. Zechariah doubted, for that his ability to speak was temporarily taken away until the promised child was born Luke 1:18-20 ““How can I know this?” Zechariah asked the angel. “For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.” The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news. Now listen. You will become silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.””

Yet we see in our text how Isaac trusted God. It was in a difficult time for Isaac’s household, famine ravaged the land where he lived. He had to move to another place called Gerar. There was however a better place where Isaac could have moved to, it was Egypt. Egypt had plenty of food. His father during a previous famine had travelled to Egypt to seek food. However, God told Isaac in no uncertain terms, Genesis 26: 2-3 “The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.” DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT. Here was a promise, and yet the visible reality was such that there was no food. What was Isaaac to do? The choice was to either live by sight or live by faith. Isaac chose to live by faith.

We are sometimes tempted to think that the way a particular believer was led in a similar circumstance in the past should equally apply to all given similar circumstances.The wise course of action is each one seek the mind of God as an individual rather than just copy what others have done. God deals with us differently and as individuals. In fac,t among the patriachs, Isaac was the only who did not go to Egypt when there was a famine in Cannan. The place where Isaac moved to known as Gerah was on a caravan highway to Egypt, Isaac could have easily joined other travellers in search of food

Isaac took God at his word, and later God fulfilled his word as we shall see later in this passage. This incidence shows that God can sustain us in ways far beyond our means or what the circumstances dictate.

2 LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Noteworthy in the lives of Isaac and Abraham is this common trait to lie to protect themselves from potential death. Abraham lied twice, once to a prevous Abimelech and another time to Pharaoh. Here was the son following his father’s foot steps even without having witnessed the sin of his father. We can take it that some behaviours are passed on either by association or by the way we react to circumstances. For others the easiest way to cope out of a seemingly dangerous situation is to tell a lie. Unfortunately, the culture of deception only got worse in the subsequent generations. Jacob deceived his father to get the birth right of a first born. Later Jacob’s sons deceived him by telling him that his beloved son had been killed by an animal when they had actually sold him into slavery. However, lest we think we have a higher moral ground than Abraham and Isaac, many of us are dictated by fear in our actions. AND WE TOO DECEIVE.

As human beings we lie and deceive without realising the consequences of our actions. Yet when the truth is known or our lies are passed on to the next generation the consequences may be far greater than we had anticipated. We DECEIVE to escape immediate punishment and shame. We deceive fearing that the truth is too painful to tells us the consequences of telling the truth are usually unknown. The Bible gives us an antidote to our human fear, the Bible tells us that the fear of God keeps us from sin Proverbs 16: 6 “Iniquity is atoned for by loyalty and faithfulness, and one turns from evil by the fear of the Lord.” Worse still a lifestyle of deception without repentance invites the final condemnation of God.

Despite Isaac’s failing we see other strong characteristcs about Isaac revealed in the latter part of the passage.

This takes us to the third and last sub-heading.

3. HATED AND ENVIED BY MEN BUT BLESSED BY GOD. v 12-33

In these verses we see the envy, the hatred, the frustrations and obstacles that human beings can put in the way of someone theY do not like. Yet on the other hand we see the resilience, the tenacity, the faith and resolve of RIGHTEOUS Isaac. But over and above that we see the God who was willing to fulfil his promises to HIS servant

Let us now explore in detail these aspects as they unfold in these verses. We may ask why will another human being hate another? From the outside we will never know all the reasons why one person is hated. However, we know that you do not need to be the worst human being to be hated. People have been despised for being tall, others for being short, others for simply looking different by the colour of their hair. Those with ginger hair may hate those with dark hair and vice versa.

In Roman times, the olive skinned Romans did not like the pale colour of northern Europeans like the tribes they found on this land. Equally, we find the Europeans despising the dark skinned people whom they found in Africa as being dull, backward, and lacking any civilization.

Believers will be attacked because they are different from the rest of the world.

Our Lord was hated even though he was the holiest man who ever lived. And so cheer up whoever, you are who may feel despised for whatever reason. human beings in their ignorance will despise anyone who is different from them. Isaac was not an exception.

Isaac was exceptionally richer than some of the people he found in the land. When he sowed seed he had a good harvest, v12. In fact we are told he had a hundred fold than whan he had sown. He had many servants. When he tried to reclaim the wells that Abraham had earlier dug they chose to quarrel with him and chase him away, verse 15-16,

When he moved to Gerah to reopen the old wells his father had dug even there they followed him and quarelled with him, vreses 17-21. Yet while they hated him at every point Isaac was getting more blessed. Where others could not find water he found water. He was chased from one well to another until the final one which he named Stinah.

Isaac could have easily been discouraged but the Lord who saw the challenges he was facing followed him and encouraged him. For we read in Genesis 26: 24 “and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.””

Dear fellow believer, your claim to God’s blessing goes beyond that of Abraham. You have a greater claim through the blood of Jesus Christ who gave new a covenant.

Brethren, in our walk with the Lord we should expect to be attacked by the agents of the evil one, but be assured of the presence of him who said in Matthew 28: 20 “teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” The call is for a believer to endure and trust

We later see that when Isaac’s enemies realised that they could not frustrate him, they sought peace with him. As a holy man of God he did not treat them as they treated him. Instead, we read, Isaac gave a banquet for them. The Apostle Peter, writing about the character of our Lord he said, when he was reviled he did not revile in return but he entrusted himself to the faiithful Judge.

Brethren, there is no room for vengeance. Vengeance belongs to God. Your measure of what you call tit for tat may be worse than the first injury you received. Why don’t you leave it to the justice and mercy of God. He knows how to repay fairly.

CONCLUSION: See the faith of Isaac, his endurance and his love. But greater than that the love of God and his ability to keep his promise.