The Blessed of the LORD

The Blessed of the Lord

Genesis 26:23-35

Connection/tension

How many of your neighbors or coworkers know you are a Christian? How many of them would want to know more about the God you worship because they have sensed his presence through an interaction with you? It could have been through a humble or kind word you said, a perceptive question you ask, or a deed of service or love.

What I'm talking about is rare because we increasingly live in a culture of fear and isolation, where it’s normal to be unacquainted with the lives of others and for them to be unacquainted with ours. It’s also not normal to push past the surface of polite “hellos” or smiles and waves.

Yet, it we live in isolation from those who don't yet know God, how will people who don't know him yet ever experience him through us? If one way God reveals his presence & through the presence of his people, then isn’t getting around unbelievers in wise ways one of the most important things we can do? Before we explore these questions more in the story, let's talk about where we've been.

Context

Isaac has faced an onslaught of testing. Famine drove him to Gerar. Gerar brought him into contact with Abimelech, an envious pagan King who seized walls from Isaac. On one hand, Isaac has already faced the threat of famine and fled to Gerar. Then in Gerar, he faces the threat of an envious people and flees also from there. He is a man on the run, facing death in a foreign land, and so far, it was his fear that caused him to fall into the sin of lying about his wife being his sister.

That’s where we have been; now to where we are going. This morning, we will see that Isaac’s freedom from fear changes him into a man who can love others like the gospel. In relation to use, you put that, “freedom from fear changes us into people who can love others like the gospel.” Let’s see these things unfold in this story,

Revelation

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

Isaac is wandering in the wilderness. He and his servants are digging holes in the ground, looking for water, so his small clan can survive.

He arrives at a place known to the Israelites as "Beersheba.” It does not appear yet to be an established place, but rather, the place will receive its name because of the story that's about to take place here

Two recurring things happen to Isaac in these chapter: he faces severe tests, and God shows up and helps him in his tests. (cf. Gen 26:2). Like the vision from before, God identities himself as "the God of Abraham your father." Now, God leads with this statement, making this part of his identity even more emphatic

Why is this important? There is a story of God's faithful dealing with Abraham over decades Isaac would have been familiar with. God revealed his character to Abraham so Isaac and every generation to follow (including our own), would trust him.

The repetition of the same of events between Abraham & Isaac’s lives (cf. Gen 21:22-34) shows that God works in the same pattern across the generations: he treats his people better than they deserved So, what pattern will define your life if you follow the God of the Bible? The God of heaven, who made you will treat you better than you deserve, especially in times of testing when you need rescue.

These stories are told in patterns because they are not about just what happened, but about what always happens for God's people. Like Isaac before us, we are beset with fearful circumstances, and our God wants us to keep taking steady, courageous steps forward to do his will.

God next gives Abraham a command and then a reason for the Command. Can you find the command? It is, "fear not,” the most common command in Scripture, and perhaps the most difficult to obey. Isaac faced fear from a hostile environment (famine) in the beginning of this chapter. Now, he faces it all over again from hostile neighbors.

These envious, hostile neighbors are already afraid themselves, insisting Isaac move away since he is "mightier than they (v. 16).” They are living in the sinful, unredeemed version of fear which we experience as anxiety and control. Isaac himself demonstrated this same response earlier in this chapter when he lied about his wife, claiming her to be his sister. When we are living with anxiety/control, we carry around a sense of dread. Sometimes we know what it’s coming from- sometimes it’s just there and we don’t know why. Often, we will pursue sinful outlets to soothe it and cause it to quiet down for a while.

God has another path for Isaac and for us. His path is "fear not, for I am with you." Faith is the pathway out of anxiety and control (that is, having relationship rather than having control is the true way to address our feelings of dread). We tend to think that a process will give us the sense of relief we need (if I just do x,y,z, my heart will calm down).

Yet, a process is not what brings rest to our hearts, it’s a person. It comes from a decision that my ability to manage things and others is not my ultimate source of good; rather, even if I fail to manage all those things, yet I know my God, I will still be alright forever. When we, with the help of God, keep making that decision day by day, and become less focused on controlling outcomes than in relating to God and others, a sense of wholeness rather than anxiousness starts to characterize our hearts.

God also says to Isaac, "[I] will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake." Why is this important? God is reminding Isaac of his Father’s life before him, of the faithfulness he demonstrated to Abraham, and insisting that he will keep all the promises he made to Isaac in the same way. Faith depends on promises rather than circumstances. Fear loses when we believe God's promises are more powerful than everything we are afraid of. God is introducing himself to Isaac as someone he can flee to rather than try to manage his fear with his own resources apart from God.  

25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

In response to God's word, Isaac’s life suddenly becomes a picture freedom from fear (we see it in seed form in this verse, but it becomes clearer as the story in the passage goes on).

So, What is going on here? A sense of God’s generosity fills Isaac’s consciousness, and his sense that heaven is on his side and there will always be an abundance he enjoys from God, moves him to want to start sacrificing what he’s received from God back to him. A confidence in God’s generosity dismantles the stinginess in our hearts and helps us being to live with generosity and service towards God and others. He’s no longer sacrificing his wife as before (lying that she’s his sister), but rather, giving of himself as one who knows he’s well taken care of.

When you become completely convinced of God's abundance toward you, you become a superpower in this life. Like Jesus, you become willing to lose whatever God calls you to obey his will (since you believe he will provide for you so much better than you could for yourself). This simple belief is what enabled Jesus to live so radically and powerfully he rescued the nations from sin and death. God wants us to live with this same supernatural pattern.

This is the opposite of the prosperity gospel where you give to receive. Rather, we give because God has gave first to us and has already promised to keep meeting our needs.

Now, we will see these realities play out in Isaac’s dealing with Abimelech,

26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”

We can begin to see what great impact God's presence is having on Isaac. This king and his chief officials are approaching Isaac to engage in diplomacy. God is elevating this pilgrim and wanderer to dealing with the kings of this land as if he were one (this is foreshadowing the future of Isaac’s descendants being the undisputed rulers of this land when God gives it to them). God’s presence rather than your job title or social media following will give you the weight you need to speak meaningfully and authoritatively to others.

Isaac opens the negotiation w/ an honest and direct question, "Why have you come to me…?” He's not afraid to name the tension between him and his neighbors. Godly courage confronts sin- it doesn’t hide it to get along- not in families, not in friendships, and not even with our neighbors and coworkers who do not know God yet. When someone does something that directly wrongs us, it often is good to bring it up in calm, respectful clear ways. You may be one of the first people the encounter who don’t either hide from conflict or become toxic and demeaning immediately.

This bold statement produces the following, amazing response,

28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.”

What in this statement that Abimelech says is so striking?  We see plainly that the Lord has been with you... And "You are now the blessed of the Lord." Somehow he knows. His language even echoes God’s first call to Abraham that “I will bless you” (12:2).

Abimelech has watch Isaac’s wealth and power increase dramatically and without apparent explanation when he was among them (v. 16). He saw it continue to rise counterintuitively even after his servants pursued him into the wilderness and continued to seize his wells- threatening even his life (how can you survive without water?) (v. 22).

“Goodness and mercy” simply follow this man around whom God is determined to treat far better than he deserves- this is the template of how God treats his people.

God caused this pagan kind to recognize that his presence was upon his man. Isaac didn’t have to overpower this pagan king to get him to seek peace with him- rather God’s presence was what was overpowering. We will deeply impact the people around us not by the force of our personalities, our checkbooks, or even our physical presence, but rather by the overpowering beauty of the fruit of the spirit that abounds in our lives and testifies to the power of the presence of God upon us.

In the time of the Apostles, they had the same experience, as their own enemies were astonished with them and recognized that “they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). This is why our first core value is “be with the Father.” We will hardly ever make disciples unless people first sense the presence of God on us in our manner of speaking and acting. Yet, how will they sense his presence if his presence is not actively being enjoyed by us? If we are cut off from the presence of God, how will they experience God through us? Your times of God don’t just matter for you- they matter for everyone you meet.

On your own, you are powerless to change your neighbor's outlook towards you or your God. Yet, when the of king of heaven intervenes, hearts and lives begin to change. This king still has a long way to go (he denies the clear wrong he has done to Isaac), yet there are some seeds of change in him how he begins seeking peace rather than war.

The people we minister to will likely not change dramatically overnight, yet if God shows up, they will change.

30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

Isaac responds by providing his neighbors with a feast, which gives rise to this amazing sight. In a land beset with famine, and envious, hostile relations with neighbors, here is Isaac, a man of God, eating a meal of peace with these very neighbors.

Could there be a clearer picture of the gospel than this? Two earthly kingdoms formerly at odds come together in peace over food and drink just as the kingdom of heaven comes together with God’s earthly people over the food and drink of the gospel and the Lord’s Supper.

Also, please note that this is the most connected to heaven that Abimelech likely has ever been. For him to feast and commune with someone who has the presence of God on them is for him to encounter the presence of God. For so many people, they don’t need an argument, but they need a personal presence to show them what God is like. Christianity is “caught” as much as its “taught.”

If this is so, it makes eating meals with people who don't yet know God or are just starting to follow him one of the most important things we can do. Food and drink symbolize both our need for God and his willingness to provide (Gen 1.29). So, what better context to minister to someone? It's been said of Jesus in the gospel of Luke that he only went from one meal to the next. And Rosaria Butterfield tells us to we must use our homes and supper tables to turn stranger into neighbors and neighbors into family of God through the gospel.

Fear is not gripping and controlling Isaac at this moment, and he’s finally able to give a clear picture of what God is like rather than before when he lied about his wife. Instead, he’s able to offer his dinner table and his peace to a man who has been an affliction to him, yet is the very kind of person God loves to rescue.

It’s necessary for us to “be with the Father” so we can “make disciples.” Jesus was a fearless giver to others because he conquered his fear with faith- and invites us to follow him. Fear makes you stingy; the gospel makes you generous.

For those of you here who do not yet follow Jesus, he wants to have peace with you. It’s why he offered up his own son to death- that’s how much he wants peace with you. Just as Isaac provided this meal for Abimelech at his own expense, so God provides for you in Jesus at his own expense. Will you believe in him and surrender to him today?

Now, the Philistine king leaves in peace and then this happens,

32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

Amazing "that same day” shows us that this is no coincidence. God if affirming Isaan's agreement of peace of Abimelech. Isaac “survives” in this hostile environment not by fighting with others or mastering them, but with accepting terms of peace and serving them. “He lives with peace with everyone as far as it depends on him” and faithfully represents God (cf. Rom 12:18). And God affirms his behavior by lavishing on him another source of water.

God loves to bless and provide for his people in moments they are surrendering to him. If you want to experience God’s provision, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, even physically, be about his work; he will give you all you need to fulfill his purposes for you.

Isaac names the well, “Shibnah” which sounds like the Hebrew word for "seven" or " satisfaction" (indeed, 7 in a number of completion in the Hebrew mind). And the name of the city that rises there is, "Beersheba" which means something like "well of seven" or "seven wells."

The point is that he is living in conditions that point to God's surprising and abundant provision. On one hand, he's a pilgrim in a land of famine and covetous neighbors. On the other, he's living in a well-watered place like Eden.

Is not this our lives as Christians? Living both in hardships, contusion, and heartache on the one hand, and at the same line, and at the same time receiving surprising, over-the-top provision from God that blows us away when we pause to think about all he’s done for us. If following Jesus incredibly hard? Yes. Is it incredibly good? Yes.

Then we see in verse 34 a small incident at the end of this passage,

v. 34, "When Esau was forty years old..." This passage ends on a somber note as we see Esau fail after his father's success. In contrast, he seems to also be seeking alliances of peace with his neighbors, yet does so through inter-marriage with them.

 Isaac’s feasting and communion with his neighbors happens within healthy boundaires where he sacrifices of himself, yet never sacrifices any amount of his allegiance to his God. ]

On the other hand, Esau’s intermarriage with the people of the land represents a lack of boundaries, where he brings their pages allegiances into their household, and produce a bitterness and strife over two different ways of life and two different goals.

God calls us to sacrifice so that others can know him, yet never to sacrifice any part of our allegiance to him in the process. If you find yourself compromising to connect with someone who doesn’t know God yet, you are not leading them closer to God, you are just taking steps yourself further from him.

Conclusion

I want to share a recent Story of how I've seen these realities from this passage in action. There's a group at a guys who meet weekly to read the gospel of Mark at my place and to ask God to make us mighty evangelists. Isaac Kangas suggested we go hand out food at Lake St and Hiawatha Ave on good Friday before the gathering. I felt fear both before going to this intersection and at moments we were there.

Yet when I arrived, Isaac and Aron were handing out warm, fresh steaks at the park on the SW corner of the intersection. They were especially connecting with an older lady, whom they were listening carefully to. She explained to them that she is an immigrant from Ghana, has HIV, and described herself wo "dying". And she invited those two guys up to her apartment to pray for her and pray over her apartment. Why would she do that? Because she sensed on those men and she wanted more of it. She can feel her need acutely as her illness weakens her and it made her more sensitive to God’s abundance in that moment.

Steaks and listening ears were pathways for her to experience what God is like. They created an atmosphere of peace and communion in what otherwise felt confusing and hostile. Our lives were not mastered by fear in that moment, rather by a God who is greater than fear. What fear does God want to free you from so that you live with a greater abundance towards others? What is keeping you from a lifestyle of hospitality, warmth, and welcome? These things show the gospel so it’s meaningful when we proclaim it.

Maybe for you it's the fear of inviting someone new or different into your home. For my family when growing up, it was fear that our home was not clean enough. Or perhaps, you feel socially awkward or incompetent at preparing food.

Yet, this story is meant to shape our belief and lives around God’s abundance rather than around the things we are anxious about. He will take your weak contributions and make them strong. Don’t allow fear to keep you from taking risks that will bring more of God into your life and the lives of others.