DRAWING NEAR
November 22
The Reluctant Patriarch
"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to
come" (Heb. 11:20).
When you disobey God, you forfeit joy and blessing.
Isaac is a fascinating Old Testament character. He was Abraham's long
-awaited son, the covenant child, the child of promise. Yet aside
from that, he was rather ordinary, passive, and quiet. Just over two
chapters of Genesis center on him, whereas the other patriarchs
(Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph) command about twelve chapters each.
In the final analysis, Isaac believed God and submitted to His will.
But overall, his spiritual character seems more reluctant than
resolute.
After a famine prompted Isaac to move his family to Gerar (a
Philistine city on the border between Palestine and Egypt), he
received a vision from the Lord. In it God passed on to Isaac the
covenant promises He had made to Abraham: "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. And 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" (Gen. 26:3-4).
You would think such promises would infuse Isaac with boldness and
confidence, yet no sooner had he received them, then he lied to the
men of Gerar about his wife, Rebekah, because he feared they might
kill him to have her (v. 7).
It was only with great difficulty and prodding that the Lord finally
brought Isaac into the Promised Land, where He once again repeated
the covenant promises (vv. 23-24).
Later in his life Isaac even sought to bless his son Esau after Esau
had sold his birthright to Jacob (25:33). Only after he realized that
God's choice of Jacob was irreversible did Isaac acquiesce.
Isaac is a vivid reminder of how believers can forfeit joy and
blessing by disobeying God. But he's also a reminder of God's
faithfulness--even toward reluctant saints.
Is your obedience reluctant or resolute?
Suggestions for Prayer:
Thank God for His unwavering faithfulness to you. Seek His
forgiveness when your obedience is reluctant or withheld altogether.
Ask Him to teach you to love Him in the same unwavering, resolute way
He loves you.
For Further Study:
Read of Isaac in Genesis 25:19--26:34.
Drawing Near, Copyright 1993 John F. MacArthur, Jr.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
http://www.gty.org
~~~
Genesis 25:19--26:34
19 This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot
Isaac.
20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the
daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the
Syrian.
21 Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was
barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife
conceived.
22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If
all is well, why am I like this?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, Two
peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be
stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger."
24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed
there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over;
so they called his name Esau.
26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's
heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when
she bore them.
27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the
field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah
loved Jacob.
29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he
was weary.
30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Please feed me with that same red stew,
for I am weary." Therefore his name was called Edom.
31 But Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright as of this day."
32 And Esau said, "Look, I am about to die; so what is this
birthright to me?"
33 Then Jacob said, "Swear to me as of this day." So he swore to
him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and
drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
26:1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that
was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the
Philistines, in Gerar.
2 Then the LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt;
live in the land of which I shall tell you.
3 "Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to
you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform
the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4 "And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven;
I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
5 "because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My
commandments, My statutes, and My laws."
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, "She
is my sister"; for he was afraid to say, "She is my wife," because he
thought, "lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she
is beautiful to behold."
8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that
Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw,
and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.
9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Quite obviously she is your
wife; so how could you say, 'She is my sister'?" And Isaac said to
him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die on account of her.'"
10 And Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the
people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have
brought guilt on us."
11 So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, "He who touches this
man or his wife shall surely be put to death."
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a
hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.
13 The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he
became very prosperous;
14 for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a
great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.
15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his
father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they
had filled them with earth.
16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much
mightier than we."
17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley
of Gerar, and dwelt there.
18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the
days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up
after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his
father had called them.
19 Also Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found a well of
running water there.
20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen,
saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek,
because they quarreled with him.
21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one
also. So he called its name Sitnah.
22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not
quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said,
"For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in
the land."
23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba.
24 And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the
God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will
bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham's
sake."
25 So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD,
and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well.
26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his
friends, and Phichol the commander of his army.
27 And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate
me and have sent me away from you?"
28 But they said, "We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you.
So we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us;
and let us make a covenant with you,
29 'that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and
since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in
peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.'"
30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31 Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one
another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in
peace.
32 It came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told
him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have
found water."
33 So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is
Beersheba to this day.
34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the
daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the
Hittite.
~~~
These devotions are posted with permission from John MacArthur's
first (1993) devotional work, _Drawing Near_, and they are also sent
out daily for free to several folks via e-mail.
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In Christ,
Peter
Peter G. Chase :: Columbus, Ohio, USA
pchase1@wideopenwest.com
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