Prosper In The Land

Genesis 26: 1- 14

There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

² Then the Lord appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. ⁴ And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;⁵ because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

⁶ So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷ And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” because he thought, “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to behold.” ⁸ Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife; so how could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”

Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’”

¹⁰ And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”¹¹ So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; ¹⁴ for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.

There is a famine in our lands today, and the famine is of God.  We are seeking, searching and finding but in the end we’re still not satisfied. Why? Because God says, He is the vine and we are His branches and without Him we can do nothing. God also says in Deuteronomy 8:18 and we shall remember the Lord, our God, for it is He who gives us the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to our fathers as it is this day. God doesn’t change His mind like we do sometimes, He will not tell us to let our yes be yes and our no, no, if He didn’t practice what He preached.  However, do we? Especially regarding to scriptures? God says His word is good yesterday, today and forever. He has made an oath with our forefathers and would like very much to keep it. But our inheritance from our ancestors can only be obtained by standing in the truth of the bible. We must come boldly to the throne of God in dire desperation, working His charge, commandment, statues and laws. There is no other way. God also states, if we will do this all the nations of the earth will be blessed.  Someone has to stand upright in our world. Be of righteousness and truth to our Lord and the next man, to bring peace on earth. In Romans 12: 1-2 it says, “I beseech you therefore, Brethren by the mercies of God, that we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We are not to approve ourselves, God is to approve us.  And we cannot obtain His approval until we are working out our salvation with fear and trembling to gain it. Our minds have been taken by the enemy and is not up to God to make us love Him. He has given us free reign and dominion over our earth, to love it and Him. So He commands that we choose whom we are going to serve.  We can either draw near to Him, or stick with satan and continue to walk around in confusion in our minds. God asks us to not fear, lie, cheat, steal, etc.  Though, Isaac told a lie to Abimelech, in fear, disobeying God’s commands.  I can only believe he knew it was to further the gospel and bring peace to the lands for God.  He sowed what God required and reaped the benefits.  Prosper in the lands family, God’s way, and bring true peace.

Blessings as we take on the mind of Christ and prosper,

Vincent Young, Christian Analyst.