A Peaceful Resolution

God Blesses and Recreates

A Troubled Birth

Genesis 26:6-24 The Message 

6 So Isaac stayed put in Gerar.
7 The men of the place questioned him about his wife. He said, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say “She’s my wife.” He was thinking, “These men might kill me to get Rebekah, she’s so beautiful.”
8-9 One day, after they had been there quite a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So, she’s your wife. Why did you tell us ‘She’s my sister’?”
Isaac said, “Because I thought I might get killed by someone who wanted her.”
10 Abimelech said, “But think of what you might have done to us! Given a little more time, one of the men might have slept with your wife; you would have been responsible for bringing guilt down on us.”
11 Then Abimelech gave orders to his people: “Anyone who so much as lays a hand on this man or his wife dies.”
12-15 Isaac planted crops in that land and took in a huge harvest. God blessed him. The man got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy. He accumulated flocks and herds and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy him. They got back at him by throwing dirt and debris into all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham, clogging up all the wells.
16 Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: “Leave. You’ve become far too big for us.”
17-18 So Isaac left. He camped in the valley of Gerar and settled down there. Isaac dug again the wells which were dug in the days of his father Abraham but had been clogged up by the Philistines after Abraham’s death. And he renamed them, using the original names his father had given them.
19-24 One day, as Isaac’s servants were digging in the valley, they came on a well of spring water. The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s shepherds, claiming, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named the well Esek (Quarrel) because they quarreled over it. They dug another well and there was a difference over that one also, so he named it Sitnah (Accusation). He went on from there and dug yet another well. But there was no fighting over this one so he named it Rehoboth (Wide-Open Spaces), saying, “Now God has given us plenty of space to spread out in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba. That very night God appeared to him and said,
I am the God of Abraham your father;
    don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.
I’ll bless you and make your children flourish
    because of Abraham my servant.

For Reflection

"How, indeed," you might ask, "can anyone say that Isaac was blessed when all he faced was jealousy and disregard?"


Isaac lived under God's covenant of Grace.  He suffered for it. Isaac was shunned by those who were jealous of his blessings.

Because God was with him, Isaac did not become vindictive.  He did not let his circumstances dictate his response. Isaac has shown us the way toward peace. In the end, Isaac finds rest in the land God has prepared for him.

So it is with us who believe in God.  The blessing of God is that we find peace where others find self-destruction.  We suffer so that others may find the strength to look beyond troubling times and see God's hand in reconciliation.

Pray

Pray so that you can thrive during troubling times.  Pray so that you can rest in the knowledge that God will work all things for good. Pray so that you can see the divine intention for your life.


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