SIN AND GRACE: A ONE-SIDED CONTEST
GRACE PRODS US WITH PROBLEMS AND PROMISES
Genesis 26: 12-33
INTRODUCTION
Toddlers are interesting creatures. Jaimee, our youngest child, is 2
½ years old. She can be very stubborn at times. She wants what she wants
when she wants it, even if what she wants isn’t good for her. She has
discovered that brownies taste much better than fruit and sandwiches.
So sometimes, when it is time for lunch she insists that she must have
a brownie. Our job is to convince her that it’s not good for her to eat
a brownie before she has lunch. Jane and I have a goal for our little
girl when it comes to eating. Our goal is to develop a child who loves
nutritious food and has the self-control and wisdom to eat well. Our goal
for her is born out of our love for her. We want good for her, not evil.
However, from Jaimee’s point of view what we want for her is evil, not
good. She is convinced that eating brownies is way better than eating
healthy food. She does not believe that our will for her is better than
her will for her. Sometimes she cries and she fusses and refuses to eat
the good food. She crosses her little arms, sticks out her chin, and says,
"No, Me want a brownie. No apple. Take it away." She reminds me of me
and of you.
What is God’s purpose for your life? What is God working at in your life?
Most importantly, do you want what God wants for you? Jaimee lets us know
when our goal for her life is different from her goal for her life. If
Jaimee were able to express what she thinks about us when we make her
eat fruit instead of a brownie, she would not attribute goodness, love,
and kindness to us. She believes we are being cruel and unfair and unloving.
So it is with us. God has a plan for your life. He has an ultimate purpose
towards which he is working. His plan is to give us Himself, forever.
God, like a loving parent, wants to give you the best gift in the entire
universe. He wants to fill you with the highest pleasure and greatest
happiness. Therefore, he is committed to giving you himself. "Christ died
for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you
to God." (1 Peter 3:18) But we are just like Jaimee, just like
she doesn’t believe fruit is what she needs; we don’t believe that God
alone is what we need. We have our hearts set on something else, so we
fuss, we cross our arms, we pout, and we’re angry because God is not giving
us what we want.
As C. S. Lewis says, "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but
too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and
sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child
who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine
what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily
pleased." So, like a loving parent, in his infinite love and wisdom, God
prods us along towards the "holiday at sea" by using problems and promises.
He is constantly at work seeking to create dissatisfaction with our current
desires and creating in us a new passion for him and his eternal kingdom.
We see this process in this story from the life of Isaac in Genesis 26.
MAIN POINT
God loves us and so prods us with problems and promises because…
I. Comfortable living creates complacency (vv. 12-22)
I want to remind you of what we discovered about Isaac in the first 11
verses of chapter 26. Isaac is about 80 years old. His two sons, Esau
and Jacob are about 20. They were living in the land God promised to give
to them, the land of Canaan. However, there was a famine in the land.
They packed up their belongings and headed for Egypt, where the Nile River
always provides enough water for irrigation of food. However, on the way,
at the city of Gerar, God appeared to Isaac and told him not to go to
Egypt but to remain in Gerar for a while. Isaac obeyed God and
stayed in Gerar. However, when he was asked about his beautiful wife,
Rebekah, he said she was his sister, because he was afraid they would
kill him if he said she was his wife. The king of the Philistines however,
was not deceived as he was with Abraham and kept an eye on Isaac and Rebekah.
After he caught them making out, he rebuked Isaac for his lying and then
issued a decree to his people. He decreed that anyone who molested Isaac
and Rebekah would be put to death.
Now, in v. 12, we discover that Isaac flourishes in the land of Gerar
because God blesses him. He rents a field and plants some seed. That field
produces 100 times as much as the seed he planted. This is far more than
would be expected in this arid land. Then we are told that he becomes
very wealthy. He buys a bigger and better tent. Rebekah is able to buy
all the nicest carpets and other furnishings. He acquires large herds
of livestock and many servants. He becomes the wealthiest and most powerful
man in this corner of the world. He has gone from near death in a famine-ravaged
land to experiencing the good life. God we are told is the one who gives
him his wealth. His every need is satisfied. He is very content. He has
absolutely no interest in moving from such a comfortable spot. Why bother
to return to the famine-ravaged land of promise? However, Isaac is forgetting
that there is a reason to return. Canaan is the land that God has promised
to give to him and his descendants. God told him to stay in Gerar for
"awhile", not permanently. But Isaac, like us, likes being comfortable.
He cannot believe there is something better than this. Isaac has forgotten
God and the promises of God in his satisfaction with the wealth God has
provided.
The Bible is full of warnings about the trap of material prosperity.
In the book of Deuteronomy Moses warns the people of Israel as they are
about to enter the land of Canaan, "When the Lord your God brings you
into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to
give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses
filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did
not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you
eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (Deut. 6:10-12)
Paul tells Timothy, "People who want to get rich fall into temptation
and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into
ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of
evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6: 9-10)
We are wealthy, affluent people. If you don’t believe you are wealthy,
you are not thinking straight. Granted, some of us are wealthier than
others, but there isn’t a person in here, who compared to the rest of
the world, is not wealthy. Not only that but we live in a culture that
does not know the word, "enough". Advertisers, neighbors, co-workers,
family members and our own desires bombard us with the message that we
need more. Therefore, we must pay special attention to God’s warnings
about love of money. All of us are in danger of believing the lie that
money and possessions are necessary to our happiness. There isn’t
a person in here that is not vulnerable to the same complacency that Isaac
is exhibiting. We are in danger of forgetting God in the midst of our
affluence. The good news is that God is not about to let Isaac or us rest
in our affluence. He has better pleasures than money ever can provide
and so he sends him some problems.
The trouble God sends him is the result of the wealth he has sent him.
Don’t miss the irony. God sends the wealth to Isaac. Isaac forgets God’s
purpose for him because of the wealth. So, God sends him trouble because
of his wealth. The Philistines are jealous of what Isaac has. Like all
jealous people, they don’t want Isaac to have what he has. They come up
with a scheme to make sure that Isaac loses what he has. First, they go
out into the desert around the city of Gerar and fill in all the wells
that Abraham dug during the years he lived in this land. These wells legally
belonged to Isaac because of the treaty his father made with Abimelech.
After they have filled in all the wells Abimelech, the king, goes to Isaac
and tells him that he has become too powerful for the Philistines and
must move away from them. He says that he is afraid that he and his people
will suffer loss if Isaac remains. But his main goal is not to protect
his people but to cause Isaac loss.
Isaac does not quarrel. He packs up his tents, loads his camels, and
leaves Gerar. But notice where he goes and what he does. He moves to the
valley of Gerar. In other words, he doesn’t go very far. This is the place
of abundance as far as he is concerned and he is loath to leave it behind,
especially for a land of famine. He moves maybe 10 miles away. You can
see his plan immediately. He knows about the wells his father dug and
so he is counting on these wells to sustain them. What he doesn’t know
is they have all been filled in. At the end of that first day, he sets
up camp in the valley expecting to find a well. Instead, what he finds
is a well that has been filled in. Imagine the panic that must have gripped
him and the others in his household. They have hundreds, maybe thousands
of sheep, goats, and cattle that are thirsty after a day’s walk. They
did not bring lots of water with them as they expected to find a well.
Children are crying from thirst. Adults are short-tempered because there
is no water. The animals are restless as they suffer through a night of
thirst.
As soon as the sun comes up Isaac’s men begin the arduous task of clearing
out the well. How long did it take them before they struck a spring of
fresh water? That day or did they have to go through another night of
thirst? We aren’t told. But once the well is producing water, he gives
it the same name Abraham gave it, thus establishing his right to the water.
However, a large group of Philistine shepherds show up with their flocks
and demand to be given the well. They say, "The water belongs to us!"
This is not true. The water is Isaac’s both by the work of his own hand
and by legal right, as an inheritance from his father. But he doesn’t
fight. He doesn’t quarrel. He simply renames the well from the name Abraham
had given it and calls it "Esek", which means "Dispute". This renaming
of the well is his way of asserting his legal right to the well. He is
letting the Philistines and everyone else know that though he is not going
to contest the well, it truly does belong to him. The Philistines are
robbing him of what is rightfully his.
He packs up his family again and moves to another of the wells that his
father had dug. Again, he travels through the desert, expecting to find
water at the day’s end and there is none. He again suffers thirst while
his men clear out the well. Again, once he strikes water he names the
well with the same name as Abraham had given it. And again, the Philistines
show up and claim the well as their own. Again, Isaac renames the well
in protest but does nothing to fight for it. He packs his family and moves
to another well. How many of his livestock have perished in these forced
marches without adequate water? How many children have died from thirst?
How many babies have been stillborn? How many elderly people have died
or are sick due to heat exhaustion and dehydration? This is real suffering
that is going on here. This is not just a fairy tale.
At this next well, after again uncovering it while suffering through
more thirst, they wait for the arrival of their tormenters. Anxiously,
they watch the sky for the telltale dust cloud announcing the arrival
of the Philistines to once again take what is legally theirs. But they
never show up. So, Isaac renames this well, calling it, Rehoboth, which
means, "wide places". He says, "Now the Lord has given us room and we
will flourish in the land." Isaac presumes that because the Philistines
are no longer harassing him that he has arrived at the place where God
wants him. He shows that his heart is still not right. He is not in the
land of Canaan, the land where God told him to live. He shows that his
goal is still peace and prosperity, not doing the will of God. God has
moved him out of the place of comfort and complacency but he still does
not want what God wants for him.
God is determined that we find our happiness in him not in possessions
or big retirement accounts or happy families or travel or fulfilling jobs.
So, when we become satisfied with these things he prods us with problems
so we will move towards him.
God loves us and so prods us with problems and promises because…
- Comfortable living creates complacency
- And because…
II. We are easily frightened (vv. 23-25)
Verse 23 is surprising given what Isaac says in v. 22. He has expressed
his certainty that the Lord has placed them in a safe place where they
will be able to flourish. Why doesn’t he stay there? Why does he move
to Beersheba? Why does he do this knowing the risk he runs of finding
another well that has been buried? Beersheba is just over the border into
the land of Canaan. It is the place where Abraham lived for quite some
time while Isaac was a little boy. He is in a sense coming home. But is
he doing this as an expression of faith or for some other reason? Rarely,
in OT stories are we given an evaluation of what is going on. Usually
we must figure out God’s assessment by the context and the dialogue. Look
at what happens the minute that Isaac and his household arrive in Beersheba.
God appears to him and says, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do
not be afraid…." Why does he appear to Isaac the very first night he spends
in Beersheba? Why does God tell him to not be afraid? Why does he repeat
the promise at this time? God appears to him right away in order to encourage
him. Whether he came for the right reason or not, he did come to the land
of promise which is where God wants him to be. God rewards this step of
obedience, however faltering it may be, with a revelation of his loving
presence.
This is often God’s way with us. We struggle with taking a step of obedience
but when we finally take that first tentative step God responds far out
of proportion to our faith. I remember one of the first times I shared
the gospel. I set up an appointment to meet with another student who lived
in my dorm to talk about Christ. I was so nervous that whole day. I kept
trying to come up with reasons to cancel my appointment. I was so afraid
I wouldn’t be able to answer his questions, that I would make a fool out
of myself. When the appointed time came, I knelt next to my bed and begged
God to help me. Then I got off my knees and walked up two flights of stairs
to his room. We ended up talking for at least two hours. He was very interested
in the gospel and began attending a Bible study with me. I remember leaving
his room that night so aware of the presence and help of God. I was so
fearful and unsure and yet he was so present that night. God’s help was
far greater than my faith.
Why did God tell him to not be afraid? He told him this because Isaac
was afraid. He was afraid of the Philistines. He was afraid of losing
all that he had obtained while living in Gerar. He was worried about what
was going to happen to him and to his family in this land of famine. Fear
had more to do with his return to Beersheba than faith. So, God reminds
him of his promises. He overcomes Isaac’s fear with his promise. Faith
must have promises to hold on to. When you are afraid, the only way you
can overcome your fear is through finding a promise from God and holding
on to it. That is what God does with Isaac.
Ten years ago, Jane and I decided that God was leading me into the pastorate
and that I needed to complete my seminary degree. The first obstacle we
faced was how were we going to pay the tuition cost. I was sitting in
my office one day worrying about that very thing. I was trying to pray
but mostly was feeling a great sense of panic. Where was the money going
to come from? I shared office space with the pastor of a church that was
about 90% students. While I was sitting, stewing in my fear, he came and
knocked on my door. He told me that he and his leadership students had
been praying for us and had determined that they wanted to pay our tuition
costs. I was overwhelmed with their generosity and God’s kindness to us.
They promised to pay my tuition. But I did not possess a single dollar
of what he promised. In fact, I never saw any of that money. I sent the
bills to their treasurer and she paid them. Yet, even though I didn’t
have any of the money in my possession, was I afraid any longer? No, I
was not. Why wasn’t I afraid? Why is it that every time a tuition bill
came in the mail I didn’t panic? I didn’t panic because Pastor Min had
made a promise to me and I trusted his word. That is exactly what God
is doing with Isaac and that is exactly what he does with us. God prods
us to himself by making promises to us. Faith holds on to these promises
and so vanquishes fear.
Notice what Isaac does when he gets up the next day. He, for the first
time, builds an altar to God and worships him. Before he does anything
else, even before he looks for water, he gathers his entire household
together and worships God. It seems to me that Isaac has turned a corner
at this point. His heart is not filled with fear. He knows that God is
with him and that he is going to take care of him. He worships God and
calls on God’s name. These are all the marks of faith. People who are
afraid don’t worship God and call on his name. They try to find their
own salvation and so end up either in despair or boasting in their abilities
rather than praising God for his provision and asking him to care for
them. Fearful people are at heart proud people. They are self-dependent
people. They do not submit to God. They do not believe God is good or
that God is strong. Isaac shows that God’s promises have created humility
and faith by worshipping God, seeking God’s help and by pitching his tent
in Beersheba. Unlike what happened at Rehoboth, he doesn’t tell God this
is where he is going to pitch his tent and be fruitful. Rather he pitches
his tent in response to what God tells him.
God loves us and so prods us with problems and promises because…
- Comfortable living creates complacency
- We are easily frightened
- And because…
III. God’s purpose is infinitely better than our purposes (vv. 26-33)
Isaac and his household have just returned from worshipping God and praying.
The camp is in an uproar as they finish setting up camp. Women are busy
lighting fires to cook meals. Young men are keeping the thirsty flocks
and herds in line. A large group of men are busy digging through all the
rubble that is covering the well so they can get water. In the midst of
all this commotion, Isaac sees Abimelech, king of the Philistines, with
his personal advisor, Ahuzzath and his army commander Phicol riding their
camels into camp. His eyes look behind them, searching for the army that
he is sure must be following. The faces of Isaac’s family and servants
show the fear and disappointment they must have felt. "Here we go again",
must have been their thought. "When will we ever find a home that we will
not have to leave?"
Notice, however, what Isaac does. He knows that he is where God wants
him to be and so he does something that he has never done before. He confronts
these Philistines. He challenges them. He says, "Why have you come to
me since you hate me and drove me away from you?" He is not going to back
down this time. He is ready to make a stand here, in the Promised Land.
But then, miracle of all miracles, Abimelech doesn’t demand anything from
Isaac but asks to make a treaty with Isaac. This is shocking, this is
amazing! What is happening here? Look at what Abimelech says. He begins
and ends by saying that it is clear that the Lord is with Isaac and that
the Lord is blessing Isaac.
What has he seen that would lead him to this conclusion? It can’t be
Isaac’s wealth. He saw Isaac grow very wealthy while living with him in
Gerar. But Isaac’s wealth didn’t convince him that God was with him. His
wealth aroused his jealousy and motivated him to try to destroy Isaac.
The evidence that God is with Isaac and has blessed him is that Isaac
has survived their attempts to destroy him. He has survived the wilderness,
the lack of water, and the opposition they have thrown at him. They have
seen him endure suffering and not quit. It is Isaac’s endurance that
convinced them the Lord was with him, not the material wealth that God
gave him. The presence of God in a person’s life is never seen by
how much of the world’s stuff the person possesses. It is not seen in
health, wealth, good job, and nice family. If you want unimpeachable evidence
that Christ has blessed a person with salvation, watch what happens when
they suffer. If the person remains calm, doesn’t panic, has joy and peace,
and continues to love God and people in spite of the suffering, that is
the evidence that God is blessing a person. Anyone can be happy when he
has lots of the stuff of this world. God is obviously present when you
are happy even when it is all taken away.
But also, look at what else Abimelech says to Isaac. First, he recognizes
that Isaac will one day be a great and powerful neighbor and that it would
be far better to have him as an ally than as an adversary. He is seeking
a promise from Isaac that neither he, nor his descendants, will harm Abimelech
or his descendants. He knows that Isaac has just cause to harm him. He
knows that once Isaac grows strong he will not be able to withstand him.
Second, notice his line of reasoning. He tells Isaac that he should make
this promise to do him no harm because he did Isaac no harm. What a crock
this is! Abimelech is trying to maintain the fiction that he had nothing
to do with all of the harassment that Isaac has endured. He is acting
as if the only thing he ever did was issue the decree that anyone who
harmed Isaac would be put to death. We know, as does Isaac, that this
man is lying to him. He is the classic politician. He is the epitome of
a Mafia crime boss. He is behind all the wrong that Isaac has endured
but he did it all under the table. His public posture was always positive.
But it was his henchman that carried out the campaign against Isaac.
So what will Isaac do?
He treats them the way that God treats him. He is kind and gracious.
He does not repay evil for evil or insult for insult but with blessing.
He does not need to make them pay for what they did to him. He does not
need to defend himself. He doesn’t argue with them about the facts of
the case. God is his refuge. He has God and he needs nothing else. He
throws a party for them and then the next morning they have a treaty signing
ceremony and he sends them on their way with God’s blessing. What a marvelous
picture of the calm, joyful, loving response of the person who knows that
life is about God. He lives at peace with all men. He is not quarrelsome.
He does not try to extract his pound of flesh.
Look at vv. 32-33. That day, the second day they have been at Beersheba,
after the treaty is signed and Abimelech and his cohorts are sent on their
way, Isaac’s servants come and tell him that they have found water. The
discovery of this water is the sign of God’s blessing upon Isaac and his
family. What a day of good news this has been! But look at how vv. 33
ends. Our author, Moses, inserts a comment for the people to whom he is
writing this story. He tells them that the name of the town that is next
to this well is Beersheba and that this town is still there when he was
writing this story down for them. Moses is writing this story for the
1.2 million descendants of Isaac as they are waiting to go into the Promised
Land. He wants them to know that Beersheba is still there and will one
day be their possession just as it was Isaac’s.
What Moses is trying to get them to see is that just as God brought Isaac
into the Promised Land, so he is going to bring them in. He is showing
them that the God who made these promises to Abraham and Isaac is the
same God who is making promises to them. There is a future for the people
of God that is infinitely better than any future they or we could ever
create. The NT uses the promise of the land as a picture of God’s promise
of salvation in Christ. God wants to give us himself, forever. There is
nothing greater in the whole world than this. There is a land where there
is no more suffering, no more fear, no more struggle. There is a land
where God dwells among his people forever. There is place for the people
of God that will make all the suffering we endured to get there seem as
nothing. In the joy of that land, all the sorrow of the journey will be
forgotten. But the only people who will be there are those who live by
faith in the promises of God here. Only those who fix their eyes on Jesus
will finish the race and end up in that eternal joy. Are your eyes fixed
on this Jesus?
God loves us and so prods us with problems and promises because…
- Comfortable living creates complacency
- We are easily frightened
- God’s purpose is infinitely better than our purposes
© Copyright
2001 John Swanson.
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material
in any format provided that:
(1) you credit the author,
(2) any modifications are clearly marked,
(3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and
(4) you do not make more than 1,000 copies.
If you would like to post this material to the web, or if your intended
use is other than outlined above, please contact River Hills Community
Church, 2843 West Court Street, Janesville, WI 53545. (608) 758-0943.
mail@riverhillsonline.org
|