Genesis 26

God In Our Relationships

In this chapter, we meet with Abimelech again. Abraham had had dealings with him in chapter 20, when he had deceived Abimelech into thinking that Sarah was his sister, and not his wife. God had intervened in judgement upon the household of Abimelech at that particular time.

The reason that Isaac meets him is because of a providence which affected him and his household. Indeed, the whole chapter has some striking lessons to teach us about home and family life.

God Will Always Provide

The chapter opens on a sombre note - there is a famine in the land. Not too striking, perhaps in the hot eastern countries in which the biblical narrative is set. But in the Bible, famine is often viewed as chastisement from God (see, for example, Deuteronomy 28:15ff). Whether the famine in this instance is to be viewed in this way we cannot be sure; what is certain is that God's intervention drove Isaac away from his own home.

The wonderful thing was that even in the midst of famine, God did not forsake his covenant people. He came to Isaac, and gave him specific instructions about where he was to go, and how things would be with him. And the blessing of provision which Isaac would enjoy was for the sake of Abraham, who obeyed God's voice and kept his commandments.

The Bible never suggests that it is legitimate for us to neglect our duties and our responsibilities. Time and again it encourages us to work and to provide for the needs of our families. But always we are to remember that God will meet all our needs. "My God" Paul says, "shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). Many believers have found God faithful to his promise, and loyal to his people. The psalmist could say it like this: "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). The great message of Scripture is the message of a covenant making, covenant keeping God, who provides not what we always want, but certainly provides what we always need.

Sin Will Always Ruin

The deception that Abraham acted out before Abimelech is repeated a generation later, with Isaac. He pretends that Rebekah is his sister, rather than his wife. The result is that an estrangement comes in between Isaac and Abimelech. As God blessed Isaac, so that he became rich and prosperous in the land, so Abimelech grew to resent him; and the protection which he promised him in verse 11 is soon taken away as in verse 16 Abimelech sends him out of the land.

There is no blessing at all to be found on the way of sin. God is not mocked. What a man sows he reaps. Instead of trusting to the Lord, Isaac trusted to his own ingenuity and his own resources. He did what Proverbs 3:5 tells us not to do - he leaned on his own understanding. When we turn our eyes away from God, we will be on the road to ruin.

How much have we seen this in families and homes, where sin has brought division, confusion and wreaked havoc! Instead of trusting to God, men have relied on their own self-sufficiency, and the result is seen in broken relationships, estranged friends, ruined lives. Only God can really bring a lasting peace into this sin-sick and sin-ruined world of ours.

Grace Will Always Triumph

Isaac is sent away. But God goes with him, renewing covenant promises and pledges, and reminding Isaac he is not alone.

Sometimes the best lessons in life are learned in hard schools. Even Christ learned obedience through what he suffered. If it was necessary for him so to learn obedience, how much more is it necessary for us? Yet even in the darkest hour, there is light and hope and the assurance of God's peace and assurance and blessing.

And the wonderful thing was that grace even restored the relationship with Abimelech! "We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you" he says in verse 28. There was incontrovertible evidence that God had blessed Isaac, and Abimelech wanted to know it for himself.

If we remain faithful to God, he will bless us. We may end up in strange and difficult situations, but grace can overcome all our failing and all our folly, and can lift us above our circumstances to fix our gaze on eternal things.

May it be so in our families and in our relationships!