Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Genesis 26:24-25 NASB

"'I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you...'  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."

The work place can often be the most difficult place for a believer.  In the pecking order of this social structure, the believer, because of their quiet and reserved spirit, can sometimes become the brunt of an unbeliever's insecurity, which is usually masked in cowardly "bravado" against those who won't retaliate. What is the believer to do in these circumstances?  With the help of God, keep working!  Your hard work won't always make everyone happy, but, in the end, it will serve you well, before God and man. This is the story of Isaac with Abimelech, king of the Philistines.  The need was water, which meant digging wells, but "all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth... Was this reason to quit?  No!  "Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of his father Abraham... But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, 'The water is ours! ...Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too..."   (Genesis 26: 15-21).  Have you ever felt like you're faith has been used and abused?  In a working world of dog-eat-dog, the Christian faces his greatest challenges.  This is where the rubber meets the road.  Will the faith I hold really hold under this kind of pressure?  Here is where the word of God is especially precious.  Under these circumstances, the LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "'I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you...'  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," (Genesis 26:24-25).  Listen weary soul.  Don't fear. Take courage. Your faithfulness to your responsibility will not go unnoticed.  The LORD knows exactly where you are and He won't leave you alone.   Look at the end of this story:  Abimelech came to Isaac and said, in Genesis 26:28, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you," and he made a covenant of peace with Isaac. Then the writer makes this interesting comment:  "Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac's servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, 'We have found water,'" (26:32).  So, my friend, keep digging!  Faithfulness will finally produce cool, sweet water.  God will see to that!

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