Isaac dug again his fathers Wells (The Conflict)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-15-2006

 

My Worship Time                      Focus:  He Dug Again His Father’s Wells (The Conflict)

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 26:15-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “15 Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth.

16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.’

17 And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there.”

           

            There was conflict between Isaac and Abimelech and this was because Isaac had great riches and this must have frightened Abimelech so he sent Isaac away and Isaac obeyed him and left their land.  In order to convince him to leave the Philistines filled in the wells that Abraham had dug and Isaac had no way of watering his flocks and herds. 

           

            It is a good possibility that Isaac was being disciplined by the Lord because of the lie that he told Abimelech concerning his wife.  This is how Proverbs 16:7 puts it, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Make my ways pleasing to the Lord so that I can be at peace with even my enemies.

 

The Word of God has been a challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord concerning our investments with Andrew Lech, to continue to pray over this and to continue to ask God for wisdom on how to pray for this situation.

He dug again his father's wells, (The Blessings)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/11/2006

 

My Worship Time                  Focus:  He dug again his father’s wells, (The Blessings)

 

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 26:12-14

 

            Message of the verse:  “12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; 14 for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.”

           

            Isaac lived in the land of Gear for a long time according to verse eight, and God blessed him while he was in the land.  The question arises, just as it did with Abraham and will also arise with Jacob, is why did God bless these men and their families when they lied and deceived others so much?  I think that there are different answers to this question, and the best one is that God had promised to bless them, and that is all the answer that is needed, yet there is another answer and that is that God was blessing them for the sake of the covenant that He gave to them.  Paul wrote the following words to Timothy, “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”  Another reason for the blessings is that it was done for the sake of Abraham, just as in the case of believers today it is done for the sake of Jesus Christ, and even perhaps another believer who has gone on before us.

           

            The last part of verse fourteen says that because of these blessings from God the Philistines envied him.  I think that this is even true today of believer’s who are blessed by God that others envy them.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These verses have a lot to do with the lesson in our Bible study from yesterday and that was on “God Only Wise,” taken from “Knowing God,” by J. I. Packer.  The lesson deals with the wisdom of God and how God’s wisdom is perfect and it also deals with how God moved in the lives of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph in different ways to bring about in them a life that was pleasing to Him and at the same time used them for His purposes.  God does the same thing today to His children, for each child is an individual whom God uses in His own special way (His wisdom) to bring out the best in them and to use them for His purposes.  I think the thing that is so awesome to me is that God does all of this with sinful man, for that is all that He has to work with here on planet earth.

 

The Word of God has been a challenge to me, and it has also refreshed my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to give me His wisdom and to mold me and make me into what He wants me to be for the praise and honor of my Great God.

 

 

           

Isaac lied like his Father, Abraham (Gen. 26:7-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-10-2006

 

My Worship Time                                                     Focus:  Lied like his father, Abraham

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Genesis 26:7-11

 

            Message of the verse:  “7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife," thinking, "the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful."  8 It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.  9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?" And Isaac said to him, "Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’"

10 Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."  11 So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

           

            It is not so unusual to see children do the same things that their parents do, as I have seen this in my own family in the case where there were children who seemed to act in many ways as their father did, and yet they never even knew their father.  Isaac may or may not known the lie that his father Abraham had told on two occasions, but he did the same thing by trying to protect himself at the expense of his wife, and also at the expense of the covenant that God had given to his father and is passing onto him.

           

            Isaac lied because it was easy, he did not depend upon the promise of God that was given to him, therefore he did not demonstrate the faith that God wants his children to have, for there are many circumstances that come up in life that make it easy to forget the promises of God and succumb to the easy way out and that can be lying, as it was in Isaac’s case.

           

            One interesting side note on these verses and that is that the word “caressing” used in verse eight is from the same root word as Isaac’s name, which means laughter, but I don’t think that is what Abimelech saw him doing with his wife.  Some things are better off left behind closed doors.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I must confess that there have been times in my Christian life when I too succumbed to telling a lie and not depended upon the promise of the Lord, but hopefully I will have learned from these mistakes and trust the promises of the Lord even thought at times it may be difficult to do so. 

 

The Word of God was again convicting and challenging to me as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust in the Lord and the promises in His Word and not lean on my own understanding, but in all of my ways acknowledge Him and He has then promised to direct my path.  To trust the Lord to continue to teach me contentment.   

The Temptation to Run (Gen. 26:1-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-09-2006

 

My Worship Time                                                               Focus:  The Temptation to Run

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 26:1-6

 

Message of the verse:  1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 The LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 ‘Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.  6 So Isaac lived in Gerar.”

 

I can remember a sermon that Pastor Burns gave to our church on the first Sunday of a New Year that was entitled something like “Digging again your Father’s Wells,” and it had to do with Isaac repeating the same sins that his Father Abraham had done.  While Isaac did not go down to Egypt during this famine, he did run from it and he did go to the same place where his father Abraham had gone, and that is Gear and to Abimelech king of the Philistines.  This probably was a title that these kings had for it was about 100 years since Abraham had gone there and unlikely that that king was still alive.

 

It seems that history does repeat it’s self and people have to do the same things over and over again, things that are sinful and wrong, in each generation because Satan has the same temptations to give out and mankind has the same nature.  Mankind can seem to be more intelligent because he has the ability to build upon the things that have been learned and therefore his knowledge gets greater, yet mankind only seems to find more clever ways to do wrong things.  There are more powerful weapons to kill more people, there is radio and TV and the internet to help increase communication yet is many times used for sinful purposes thus repeating the same sins but doing it in greater numbers because of the increased technology.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life:  Knowing that I will be tempted and tested as I go through life I need to trust the Lord to use the tests and trials to make me better and not submit to the temptations that come from the evil one to bring out the worst in me. 

 

The Word of God has be convicting and challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord as I go through the trials that He has sent me into, and to remember that the lessons comes after the tests.  Continue to learn contentment and to seek to in every way acknowledge the Lord in every way so that He will direct my path.

Birthright (Gen. 25:29-34)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-08-2006

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  Birthright

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                 Reference:  Genesis 25:29-34

 

            Message of the verses:  “29 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; 30 and Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.’ Therefore his name was called Edom.  31 But Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’  32 Esau said, ‘Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?’  33 And Jacob said, ‘First swear to me’; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.  34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

           

            Here are some of the facts that are known here concerning this birthright of Esau’s:  God had told Rebekah that the older, that is Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob was a schemer, and therefore he was trying to scheme his way into helping out what God has already promised to him.  Here is what Mr. Clarke has to say about birthrights, “Authority and superiority over the rest of the family. 2. A double portion of the paternal inheritance. 3. The peculiar benediction of the father. 4. The priesthood, previous to its establishment in the family of Aaron.”

           

            It seems that Esau did not care so much about this birthright to sell it for some food when he could have gotten something to eat someplace else.  I would suppose that after he had time to think about it he realized that he made a mistake and thus regretted it for a long time afterwards.

           

            I think the bottom line here is that of no one was trusting in the Lord to work out His plans for this family, and because of this they seemed to be all somewhat out of step in their lives.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Because of the fact that God is so very much higher than any human being that I need to put my complete trust in Him even thought many times things do not work out the way that I want them too.

 

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I must say that because of the results of yesterday’s election that I am very upset, and yet I know in my heart that God is in control of all things including this election.  The abortion issue is the one thing that is most upsetting to me and I know that it is heartbreaking to God as well, however again I must trust the Lord for I know that He has a plan for this country, even though it may not be what I want it to be, and He has a plan for all of His children who live here.  There are many wonderful promises in His Word that tell me that He will take care of me and all of His children, not that any of us deserve it.  Last night while being upset about this whole process that seemed to be coming down I was reading from the novel that I have been reading, “Fifth Seal,” and there was a prayer in it that seemed to lift my spirits:  “Blessed are you, O Adonai, who delivers us from evil.  Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day.  In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Messiah!”  I realize that this prayer was written in the context of Jesus’ first coming, yet that is my hope, and should be the hope of all believers that Jesus will return and take us to be with Him forever.  

A Divided Home (Gen. 25:24-28)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-07-2006

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  A Divided Home

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                 Reference:  Genesis 25:24-28

 

            Message of the verse:  “24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.  25 Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.  26  Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.  27  When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.  28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.”

           

            One of the things that I can see in these verses is God’s grace, but I can also see God’s sovereignty in these verses.  God does his will through sinful people, for the Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the Bible also says that we all have a sin nature, or the old nature from Adam.  This of course is true of believers, as they are the only ones with the two natures.  By reading Romans 7-9 this morning right before I began this study it seems that I see this in a different perspective than if I had not read those chapters, but that is the way it worked out for me this morning.

             

            These verses tell of a divided home, and they also cover a lot of ground in a very few verses, for first we see the twins born and then we see them grown up.  “Esau probably means hairy, but he had another name, Edom, which means red.  The name Jacob comes from the Hebrew word (yaaqob) that means ‘may God protect’ but because it sounds like the word aqeb (‘heel’) and aqab (‘watch from behind’), his name became a nickname: ‘he grasps the heel’ or ‘he deceives.’” 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe tells of a friend of his who had a piece of paper under the glass on his desk which read, “Faith is living without scheming.”  This was not the case with Jacob, for he came out of the womb scheming and he continued that way until he fought with the Lord much latter on in his life, and it could have been at that time when he finally came to know the Lord in a personal way, for his life changed after that.

           

            “The fact that God had already determined to give the covenant blessing to Jacob didn’t absolve anybody in the family from their obligations to the Lord.  They were all responsible for their actions, because divine sovereignty doesn’t destroy human responsibility.  In fact, knowing that we’re the chosen of God means we have a greater responsibility to do His will.”  (From Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Genesis)

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are a couple of things that stick out to me in this section of Scripture and the commentary that I read on them, and that is the part where I don’t need to scheme to get what I think is the will of God done in my life, for faith does not need any scheming.  The second thing I want to take with me is the highlighted statement above and that is that because I have been chosen by God to be His own, I have a great responsibility to trust Him and to try and make sure that I am doing His will in my life, after all it was all because of Him that I am His child.

 

The Word of God has presented a great challenge to me as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To live my life in the power of God’s Spirit, doing the things that are pleasing to Him, and to continue to ask the Lord to teach me contentment and to direct my path today.

A Distressed Home (Matt. 25:22-23)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11-06-2006

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  A Distressed Home

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                  Reference:  Genesis 25:22-23

 

            Message of the verse:  “22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is so, why then am I this way?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD.  23 The LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.’”

           

            It can be seen that Isaac prayed in verse 21 and now Rebekah prays in verse 23, so this is a good situation when both spouses are praying to the Lord.  Rebekah was having a difficult pregnancy and that is the reason why she was inquiring of the Lord, for the two babies were struggling inside her womb, and this would continue even after their births, for they would be enemies with each other all of their lives and those who would be born in their families would be made into nations that would be enemies all of their lives.  

           

            I would like to point out something that was in the commentary by Dr. Wiersbe that I have believed for a long time, but never have seen it written about, “Conception, birth, and death are Divine appointments, a part of God’s wise and loving plan for His own people.”  (See Psalm 116:15; 139:13-16).  “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.”  “13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.  14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.  15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16  Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

           

            God chose the second born again in that He, by His sovereign will chose Jacob and not Esau.  There is another quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s book that I would like to write here:  “That God has the sovereign right to choose as He pleases, nobody can successfully dispute.  His thoughts are far above our thoughts and His ways ‘past finding out’ (Rom. 11:33-36).  In fact, Paul made it clear that God’s choice of Jacob was an act of pure grace and wasn’t based on any merit in Jacob (9:1-12).  Those who are troubled by Malachi 1:2-3 (‘I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau,’ KJV) must see ‘love’ and ‘hate’ as relative terms (as in Gen. 29:31-33, Deut. 21:15-17; Luke 14:26).  Neither Jacob nor Esau deserved God’s grace any more than we today deserve it (Eph. 2:8-9).  That God chose scheming Jacob is as much a mystery as that He chose murderous Saul of Tarsus.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Deut. 29:29, and the reason that I like it so much is that it put things into perspective for me, and even though I do not understand all the things that happen to me in my life, or the lives of my family, I know that God is in control, and that I have to continue to trust Him each and everyday for He will one day make all things clear that are not clear today and then I will be assured of what I believe with all of my heart now, and that is that God loves me more than I can understand and that He is working things out for my good and for His glory.  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”  I must obey the things that the Bible tells me to obey and trust the Lord for the things that I don’t understand for those are the secret things and they do belong to the Lord.

 

The Word of God has been a very big challenge to me and it has also refreshed my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to teach me contentment and to also direct my paths.