Read Genesis 26.
God's covenant to Abraham is repeated here and passed on to next generation. Isaac hears firsthand the same three components: land, offspring, and God's personal blessing. Though chosen and blessed by God, like his father Abraham, Isaac manifested the exact same character weaknesses of fear and lying.
After the embarrassing scene of being found out, God blessed Isaac with such abundance and the power of prosperity that Abimelech had to ask him to leave. This is surely not the same "Abimelech" of chapter 20, seeing that about 90 years have passed. In spite of Isaac's character flaws, he built an altar and worshipped God. Even Abimelech stated, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you."
After observing this second generation, here are four lessons :
1. God blesses us in spite of us of our behavior, not because we are perfect. He loves us because we are His children. We belong to Him.
2. All godly people are human and possess character flaws. This reminder should keep us humble and dependent moment by moment on the Holy Spirit to think, speak and behave in a way that pleases Him.
3. Our behavior does not change the promises of God. His word is eternally reliable.
4. Being a godly person is no guarantee that our children will be, nor that they will always make godly decisions. The sin nature is passed on to them, too. A parent who loves God tries their best to train their children to live according to God's Word and set a consistent, genuine example for them, praying daily for their heart's response to Him. As they go out on their own, the joy comes when their personal faith is evidenced in public worship and others are able to declare, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you." It does not get any better for a godly parent than this.
No comments:
Post a Comment