There is an old saying: Like father, like son. Children learn from their parents, which is one of the reasons it is so important for us to live our faith for our children and talk about Jesus with them. Today we read a negative example of, “Like father, like son.” Isaac and Rebekah moved nearer to the Philistines because of a famine, and Isaac put Rebekah at risk the same way Abraham put Sarah at risk by telling her to tell them she was his sister. They kept up this charade until King Abimelech saw them flirting with each other and he confronted them.
As an aside, this is not the same Abimelech that caught Abraham in the half-truth that Sarah was his sister. Almost a hundred years had passed since that confrontation. This Abimelech is likely a son or grandson of the previous one. Abimelech can be translated, “My Father is King” or “My Father, the King,” so it is very possible that every king of the Philistines bore this name as an honorific.
Telling the truth is so important. This is especially true when another person’s safety, reputation, or wellbeing is on the line. To ask someone whom you love to lie for you is wrong. I find it very interesting that this pagan king knows that it’s wrong to lie and that it’s wrong to take another man’s wife and God used him to remind Isaac of God’s faithfulness and, in a way, His divine protection.
Despite Isaac’s lie, God continued to work out His plan of salvation and blessed him. He blessed his crops, his flocks, and made sure that he kept finding water – despite the conflicts Isaac’s servants sometimes faced. (Water is a precious commodity in an arid land!) This is an important truth for us to hold on to. Even when we are not faithful, God is.
Don’t hear what I’m not saying! I did not say that it’s okay for us to be unfaithful because God is faithful. As Paul says in Romans, “Should we go on sinning so that grace may abound? By no means!” Yet as God continued to love and bless Isaac even when Isaac’s behavior was less than honorable, He continues to love us when our behavior does not reflect our faith in Jesus. This truth is important for those times that we recognize that we have fallen short of God’s will so that we do not give up hope. There is forgiveness when we falter, and God does not throw us out when we stumble.
Eventually Isaac’s wealth and power became so great that Abimelech sent him away. He couldn’t risk having Isaac nearby. Yet he also recognized something in Isaac. He said to him, “You are now the blessed of the Lord.” While Abimelech could not have Isaac live near him, he still desired peace with him because he recognized God’s blessing on his life.
These days, we are the blessed of the Lord. God has given us all things in Christ – forgiveness, joy, peace, salvation, wisdom, eternal life, and every abundant blessing belongs to us. The world still pushes us away, but I wonder if we recognize the blessing we are meant to be for this world. We bring real hope and love, life and light, to the hopeless, loveless, dying and lost. As we hold out the faith we have in Jesus and live in faith, people are blessed and they have the opportunity to come to know Jesus.
Father, thank you for all of your blessings. You are so good, and you are greatly to be praised! Help me to recognize your blessings and use them to Your glory so others may believe in You, too. Amen.
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