LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

When the men of the place asked him [Isaac] about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.  Genesis 26:7

         Can you believe it?  Isaac repeated the exact same sin as his father, Abraham.  Afraid of the resident king and aware of his wife’s utter beauty, he felt he had to lie and spread the word that his wife was really his sister. Isaac’s plot was identical to his father’s sin.

         Oh, the power of a bloodline.  Joyce Carol Oates, a modern day author, said that “We are linked by blood and blood is memory without language.”  Absolutely true.

         Did Abraham tell Isaac the story of selling Sarah?  I wonder.   If Abraham had revealed the story of his own lie to King Abimelech and how tragic the outcome would have been without God’s intervention, I doubt that Isaac would have been quick to repeat it.

         I am quick to tell my children the family stories I am most proud of but I’m shy to reveal my past mistakes and God’s redemption.  I feel I must protect my reputation at all costs.  How many parents die with 50% of their stories left to be a collection of mysteries?

         But let me give Abraham the benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps he did tell Isaac the story, and with great passion.  Isaac could have grown up making a vow under his breath, “I’ll never do what my father did!”  How many young adults breathe these kinds of inner vows in anger?  They spend their lives endeavoring to be UN-like someone in their family.  But, by default, they are just like them and often can’t see it.

         Such a vow made without God in the equation is powerless.  The spiritual pull of a bloodline is a powerful force and I’d be foolish to underestimate it.  Holy legacies are passed down but so are UN-holy ones.  How can I be saved from repeating my parent’s sin?  By acknowledging their sin before God, asking God to forgive them, and trusting God to wipe all effects of their bad choices from me and my children.  Only the resurrection power of God can stand up against entrenched generational bondages and win.  You and I need not be victims of our past in any way.

Is there anything in the lives of my ancestors that I need to walk away from?  Don’t let me make excuses.  Amen

Journal Question:  As you think about your family, even your own behavior, have you ever said… “That’s just the way we are.”  Or, “That’s just the way we do things in our family.”  Name one or two traits that are specific to your family that you’re willing to pray about today.   Is your allegiance to God or to your family?

And the LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.  Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands.  So Isaac settled in Gerar.”  Genesis 26:2-3,6

God told Isaac to dwell in the land.  “Dwell” means resident alien.  He is camped out there in ‘Promised Land Territory’ but it’s not his.  Not yet. The promise is right in front of him, right outside the flap of his tent.  How difficult.  He has to live amongst pagans.

Has God called you to dwell in a place where you are the outsider?  Others are clearly in control, and comfortable, and you are spiritually out of sync with the majority.  All you want to do is pack up and move on.  It could be a city where you live, a church that you attend, a job where you work, or even a difficult family situation that appears to be stuck in dysfunction.  You spend your idle time planning your exit, dreaming of it.  For Isaac, it was Egypt.  God said, “Don’t go!  Dwell!”

My family and I were in such a place some years ago.  We lived amongst some who despised us and acted out daily with aggression.  We were in a season of great loss, extremely vulnerable, and each time we voiced the name of the town were we lived, it was bitter on our tongue.  We begged for God to move us.

He didn’t.  His Word to me one morning in prayer came from Psalms.  “Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”  There’s that ‘dwell’ word again.  Our family was to sanctify our home, be faithful to God, and make that little corner a place where God’s glory shone.

God moved us three years later.  (Yes, the three years seemed like an eternity.)  But I do have the gift of hindsight to recognize the treasures in the darkness.  Our faith grew, our spiritual muscles toned, our ability to endure hardship increased, and never did we feel closer to Jesus than when we needed Him so badly.

There were times you said, “Go!” That was hard but it was not as difficult as the day I heard you say, “Dwell.”  I looked to escape but You invited me to live in You.  I’m so glad I did.  Amen

 

        In a few minutes, our wonderful neighbors will walk out of their house to move some distance away into an assisted living facility.  We said our goodbyes last night and acknowledged the struggles that change brings.  They’ve lived here many decades on this beautiful piece of property.  It sits on a river and they’ve been generous to share it with friends and family who wanted to come and camp on their property.  It is not uncommon to see thirty families there over a holiday weekend.

         Old age has overtaken them. Their health has been deteriorating and we’ve been part of a few discussions about the property being too much for them to handle. Though there is relief with leaving it, their hearts are still heavy.

         You and I should struggle with change as well.  Painful changes bring losses that are felt for years and can sometimes threaten to cripple us emotionally.  Phases of our life come and go.  Children grow up and leave for college.  The house is empty like a tomb.  Children get married, leave their childhood bedroom, and never sleep in it again.  Parents die and the roots to a home need to be severed.  Spouses die and the change from married to widowed can seem overwhelming.  Is there comfort?

         I was asking the Lord this morning how I should view the changes in my life.  I’ve seen a good number and there are only more to come.  I pictured each one as an item on a list to check off.   But checking it off in exchange for what?  An eternal home where there is no change!  Each painful marker I pass (and I grieve as I do), I make my way further down the road to that changeless place.  Heaven will not force one difficult adjustment on me.  Once I arrive and settle in, it will dawn on me that I can take a deep breath and relax.  There will be nothing foreboding.

         Until then, I wrap my arms around a Savior who is unchanging.  He walks with me through each phase and promises to bring me safely home.  Check marks are bittersweet for though there are losses, the ultimate destination is in sight.  Right now, I can taste ‘changelessness’ through my relationship with my God who is unchanging.  He is bringing me through every valley on my way home to His presence.

You laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you will remain; You will change them like a robe and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell securely.  Psalm 102:25-28

HOLDING GOD IN CONTEMPT

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way.  Thus Esau despised his birthright.  Genesis 25:34

         Why does it often seem that those who appear to have everything think little of it ~ when those who are without would sell their souls to get it?  The one who has it all can think nothing of his blessings.

         Esau was the firstborn.  He would enjoy a double portion of his father’s inheritance.  He would also be the recipient of God’s promises within the covenant.  Instead of standing in awe of these blessings, he thought nothing of them.  He despised everything that came with being the firstborn, including God’s promises for the future.  His cavalier attitude was on full display the day he come in from hunting, smelled Jacob’s stew, and offered to give Jacob his birthright for a portion of the stew.  An even trade?  Not even close.  But the absurdity of the exchange reveals how much he held his birthright in contempt.

         I can read the story, think about Esau’s choice, and mutter “How foolish!”  Yet, holding God in contempt for the promises He has made to me is easy to do.  I’ve done it.  I read a promise and, in a bad moment, shake my head and turn the other way.  “Yeah right, like God is really going to do that for me!”  My contempt causes me to cite the numerous times I feel God didn’t keep His promises. I punished Him by exchanging the benefits of His covenant for the lies of His enemy.

         When it appears that God doesn’t come through for me and, instead, sets the stage for my unbelief, it is time to exercise faith ~ not judgment.  In the dark moments of Jesus life, it could have appeared to Him and everyone close to Him that His Father failed to love, protect, and preserve His life.  Hindsight shows that God had a plan of redemption for His Son and kept every promise to sustain Him.  I cannot judge God by the dark moments of my life either.  That which can cause me to hold God in contempt are the very moments that are shrouded by insufficient spiritual vision.

         You and I are recipients of the same covenant God made with Abraham and all His descendants.  They are staggering because God’s love and favor upon us is staggering.  We should be grabbing each promise and clutching it to our hearts with wonder and humility.  Thanksgiving, not contempt, should mark the demeanor of every blood bought child.

Forgive me for every time I rose up to sift your promises into two piles; those You keep and those You don’t.  Wash away the sin of my unbelief.  Amen

Journal Question:  Name one promise God has made to you that you don’t believe.  Can you admit that you’ve allowed experience to dictate your disappointment, anger, and unbelief?  Let faith repair the breech.  Take a new stand about this one promise and ask God to write the beauty of it on your heart.

CHURNING OVER FAMILY ISSUES

When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.  Genesis 25:24-26

         What Esau had, the privilege of being the firstborn, he cared little about and ended up trading his inheritance for an indulgence in a red meat stew.  What Jacob wanted, he didn’t have, and ended up using deception to gain what was not his.  Each had different cravings.  What they so desperately desired was in the hands of a brother.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  This contrast of interests and personalities is much like Cain and Abel.  That didn’t end well either.

Nothing stirs up our flesh like family rivalry.  The personality and gifts of one child is celebrated in the family more than the uniqueness of another child.  A parent favors one while the other parent favors another.  From birth, affections and privileges can be divided.  It would appear that harmony among the children is doomed from the start.

Some siblings spend their lives at odds.  The tension is never resolved.  Family inheritances only add to further alienate relationships.  Even in old age, the stuff of youth is rehearsed.  A brother or sister is despised all the way to a deathbed.  And let’s face it; all of our past seems like yesterday which keeps the wounds fresh.

What can heal cravings for love, respect, favor, and wealth?  How can life-long prejudices dissolve?  Someone new must arrive on the scene to offer things greater in value than old cravings.  Someone has ~ and His name is Jesus.  Healing for severely fractured families is possible but only as they come together to love and worship Jesus.  As each one’s appetite is transformed by seeing the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ, the stuff that has comprised their arguments seems miniscule.  Every family member can come to realize that what they have been fighting for is a trinket compared to the gifts Jesus offers freely.  And, He is no respecter of persons.

Perhaps you have a life-long angst inside of you regarding other members of your family.  All you have to do is think about a person and your insides are churning.  Being loved by Jesus and becoming emotionally engaged with your spiritual birthright and coming inheritance melts away resentment.  What you seek, you already have in Jesus.  It may be hope deferred, but it is real and it is yours.

 

Open our spiritual eyes to see the value of You and everything You long to give to Your children.  Help us re-orient so that our hands are clutching You instead of things that perish. Amen

Journal Question:  What family unrest still eats at you?  What is so unfair that the hurt eats away at your flesh like a cancer?  What are you trying to extract from another family member that you could abandon for what Jesus offers?  Explore this in prayer and understand that today can be the day you turn a page in your history.

I CAN’T BEAT GOD WITH TIME

The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”   Genesis 25:22-23

   Rebekah is pregnant with twins.  She wouldn’t be the first to feel the angst of a child in her womb.  Much can be revealed there for the bad, but also for the good. One of Rebekah’s children fought with a sibling.  Many years later, Elizabeth’s baby in her womb would erupt for joy when he sensed Jesus in Mary’s womb.  We are naïve to think that we, also, were not affected by life around us while being carried to term.

Rebekah is wise and goes to ask the Lord about this ‘striving’ within her.  God prophesies that this spiritual rub between the children will be historical.  What is small now will involve nations in the future.  One will prevail over the other, one is destined by God to rule.

When God opens His mouth to speak, I can count on the fact that it is already history.  If I don’t like what He has proclaimed, I would be wrong to think that I can set out to change things with great effort.  To say under my breath, “Oh yeah?  Things may be this way now, but just wait!”  How foolish.  Can any man beat God?  Can any think of waging a contest with Him and believe they’ll win?

What God declares has always been true, is true today, and will always be true.  He is unchanging.  This is hard to grasp when I’m surrounded by humans who change their mind all the time.  Most of the things I felt strongly about in my youth, down to my favorite colors, have changed with the years.  But God?  I can’t beat His plans with time and ingenuity.

How did things turn out for the twins?  God’s prophecy prevailed as it always does.  One nation, born from the one God blessed, ruled over the other nation for years to come.  In 2 Samuel, King David (the blessed twin’s line) conquered the Edomites (the 2^nd twin’s line) and they remained under his control for 130 years.  No amount of fighting, whether in the womb, as toddlers, as adolescents, or as grown men, would change what God had decreed to Rebekah on that day.

There are parts of scripture that are easy to like and accept.  But there are others that can cause internal struggle.  Trusting God is a choice when I stumble over one of His ways.  I can think it ought to be different and then set out to prove it, only to reach utter futility.  God’s Word always prevails.

I learned the hard way that I am not exempt from what You have blessed and cursed.  Your Words rule over my life, but rule with power and love.  I’m so glad I stopped fighting.  Amen

Journal Question:  What fight do you need to give up today?  What war with God have you waged and how is that affecting your life, and affecting your heart?  Are you ready to believe that you will see futility ahead and consider repenting of pride and rebellion?  Ask God for the humility to learn from history.

WHEN I CAN’T MAKE IT HAPPEN

Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.  Genesis 25:20-21

         Again, God’s chosen family is visiting the grief of barrenness.  The irony of this is profound.  God gives Abraham a blessing that he will be the father of many nations.  But then he and Sarah can’t conceive; they can’t make anything happen to fulfill the promise.  God has to miraculously provide a child, Isaac, and the same blessing will fall to him.

         Now, we see that Isaac takes a wife and the same blessing is upon his shoulders.  But he and Rebekah can’t make it happen either.  They have to cast their burden upon the LORD for Him to miraculously provide again.

         When deprivation marks my path, I step up and give everything I have to change my circumstances.  I invest all my ingenuity to make something happen.  The best that I can produce is an Ishmael because I use someone outside of God’s will to produce a counterfeit.  It takes a while for me to learn that the promises of God are good only if God produces them.

         You may be living out this ironic plotline.  God has called you to do something, go somewhere, and He opened a door.  You rearranged your life to follow His leading.  Then, all seems dead. Dave Wilkerson calls it ‘the death of a vision.’   Most holy callings visit this temporary place.  They experience the frustration of barrenness and can’t make anything happen.  God promised, they thought, but now nothing is working.

         God is making sure that holy callings stay holy callings.  If I am in a seemingly dead place, the wrong thing to do is force something to happen.  The best thing to do is cast all my hope on God, declare myself bankrupt, and pray for His miracle to come.

I echo King Solomon’s prayer.  ‘I am but a little child and do not know which way to go.’  Infuse my journey with divine sparks.  Amen

Journal Question: Are you lacking the very thing you believe God promised you?  What has been your response to this emptiness?  Have you tried to produce a counterfeit?  Have you accused God and backed away from Him?  If today’s devotional has birthed a change of perspective, how?

SIBLING RIVALRY

         Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah.  Genesis 25:9

         This tiny gem of a verse can be missed.  It’s sitting on the edge of a long genealogical list and normally, it’s the part I’ll want to skip.  This morning, the meaning of the sentence hit me. The two brothers were alienated from each other.  Their estrangement began with fighting and Sarah would have none of it.  She ordered Abraham to cast out Ishmael and his mother from their household.  Hagar and Ishmael nearly died in their exile in the desert, and would have, if an angel hadn’t rescued them.  Hatred.  Resentment for being banished.  Would not all these run deep in Ishmael’s heart?

         Yet, they come together to honor and bury their father.  In their grieving, they found something in common.  Perhaps they even forgave each other.

         Oh how difficult it was to be siblings in the O.T.  Cain killed Abel.  Jacob and Esau’s rift is legendary.  Joseph’s brothers hated him enough to sell him off to slave traders.  Only Moses and Aaron were a successful pair, leading the children of Israel out of Egypt.

         Are you in unity with your siblings or are there hurts that run deep? A brother wronged is more unyielding than a fortified city; disputes are like the barred Gates of a citadel.  Proverbs 18:19  Family wounds are old, personal, and entrenched.

         Hosea says the same thing.  “Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’ Hosea 2:1

         Not all family wounds will be healed.  It takes two to reconcile and each must deal with the truth of the offenses.  But it only takes one to forgive.  By forgiving, I poise myself on the line of reconciliation and pray for my brother, or sister, to meet me there in truth and humility.

Nothing is too hard for You, Lord.  Reunite and bind together what is broken.  Loose families of grudges, misinformation, and pride.  Amen

Journal Question: Consider the relationship with the one from whom you are estranged.  Who is likely to make the first move toward truth and forgiveness?  What would it take for you to be willing to be the first?  Cast all your hopes on Jesus in prayer and ask for the faint beginnings of a miracle.

I CAN SEE IT FROM AFAR

These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.  Genesis 25:7-8

         How many parents die before seeing their child become secure financially, or come to Christ and give Him their life, or emerge out of a dark period.  I have personally seen people hang on, though near death, because they need closure with a member of the family.  Can such unrest turn to rest even though answers to prayer are not yet realized?  Oh, yes.  It’s called faith.

         Abraham lived 175 years yet he didn’t see the long-term promises of God fulfilled.  The writer of Hebrews described it. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar.  Hebrews 11:13 Abraham didn’t see all his descendants with his physical eyes but he did see it with spiritual eyes.  He could die peacefully, in full assurance of what would come after him.

         Most of us live in the in-between stages of life; in-between praying for something and seeing it fulfilled.  While we wait, how will we wait?  Is there deep frustration with a God who appears to be taking too long to answer or is there joyful expectancy in what God will do?  The undercurrent of the first is unbelief.  The latter is fueled by faith.

         I remember talking to a retired missionary couple, mentors to me, about a wayward son who showed no sign of coming back to the Lord.  They shed many tears in prayer, admittedly.  But when I asked them about the joy that marked their life, even in the midst of their son’s detour from the kingdom, they hugged me and assured me.  “We are joyfully confident of what God will do.”  They both died before their son returned, but soon after they died, he did embrace Christ and has a thriving medical practice blessed by God.  Both his parents saw his future with spiritual eyes.

         God’s waiting room is the place where faith is either cultivated or destroyed.  The enemy is very present there, attempting to tip the balance to unbelief and anger.  How can faith win?  How can I be sure of what is unseen?  Believing in the character of God and the promises He’s made.  Nothing and no one should be able to steal my confidence.

Some of your promises may be fulfilled outside my lifetime.  If I’m not okay with that, show me what I’m missing so I can find peace.  Amen

Journal Question:  What is your greatest unanswered prayer?  Are you despairing or joyfully confident?  If not the latter, what is the block?  Nail it down.  Is it a character of God issue, a refusal to believe that His promises are for you, or something else?  Ask God to show you.