Genesis 26:1-33 Like Father Like Son

Have a Bible? Go and grab it and turn it to the book of Genesis. If you've never used a Bible, you can use the pew Bible in front of you. Genesis is the first book of the Bible, so you can find it right after the table of contents and different information about your Bible. We'll be looking at chapter 26. If you don't own a Bible and you're using a pew Bible in front of you, we would love for you to just be able to keep that Bible. Feel free to take that Bible with you and take it home. We would love for you to be able to have a copy of God's word that you can keep and use for yourself as you meditate on God's word and see what the Lord has to say to you.

We'll be looking at Genesis chapter 26. I'll be reading from verses 1-33, Genesis 26:1-33, which says this:

There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.” So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.” When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?”Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.” Then Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.” Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him. Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.” So Isaac left there, camped in the Gerar Valley, and lived there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them. Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek because they argued with him. Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Sitnah. He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “For now the Lord has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” From there he went up to Beer-sheba, and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.” So he built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s servants also dug a well there. Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you.” They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you: You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.” So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank. They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. On that same day Isaac’s servants came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, “We have found water!” He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is still Beer-sheba today.

Let's pray. Lord, we pray even in our own hearts now that we would not be stopped-up wells that are incapable of receiving the water of your word. We pray that your Spirit would work in our hearts as we hear, as we see your glory in your word, and that you would speak to us. We could only do that with your help. So we ask that you would help now, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Like Father, Like Son

Like father, like son. I like tea; my dad also liked tea. I like to bowl; I'm bad at it. My dad also liked to bowl; he was good at it. He averaged like 220, I think, at one point in his life. And I, unbeknownst to my dad, did podcasts in high school about video games. And my dad, I found out later at his funeral, was a radio DJ in college. I didn't know that until I graduated. Like father, like son.

We imitate our parents in ways that we don't expect, in ways that we don't even intentionally do. And here, Isaac is no exception. He follows his father's footsteps. In fact, if you've been following through this series of Genesis, and you're reading a chapter like this and listening to the words, you may be thinking to yourself, "I've heard of these things before," right? These things have happened before earlier in the story. And as Isaac follows Abraham's footsteps, he follows his mistakes, and he also receives his father's blessing as well.

As we see Isaac repeat the patterns of Abraham, we understand that the Lord wants us to follow God's promises, not the world's problems. If you see the life of Abraham, as you see the life of Isaac here, God is clear: He wants us to follow his promises, not the world's problems. You see it with these repetitions that happen from Abraham's story into Isaac's. First, we see these repeated conflicts, and second, the repeated covenant.

The Repeated Conflict

Let's start with point number one, the repeated conflict. Start with me from verse number one: "There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham's time. Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. The Lord appeared to him and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about. Stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky. I'll give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.' So Isaac settled in Gerar."

The chapter begins with a phrase, "There was a famine in the land." You may have heard of that before. There are certain things I love to see in good films, especially good franchises where you see different movies go back-to-back. And particularly, I love soundtracks because music kind of plays into our own subconscious and intuitions in ways that we don't expect. In fact, there are certain themes in movies that stick in the back of our heads, right? These iconic sounds like, "Da da da da da." You immediately expect to hear, "Right." You hear the sound, it evokes certain memories, certain themes.

Your Bible does the same thing. When you hear certain phrases like, "there was a famine in the land," it should evoke a certain kind of feeling. Because the last time there was a famine in the land, Abraham went down to Egypt and lied about Sarah being his sister, letting Pharaoh take his wife for the sake of his own life. And now there's another famine just like the one in Abraham's time. And Isaac starts to move geographically from where he's at, southwest, sliding towards Egypt, just like Abraham did towards Abimelech, the king of the Philistines.

Except this time in chapter 26, there's a record scratch. There's a disruption. Before Isaac can step foot into Egyptian soil, God intervenes. And he tells Isaac, "Don't do it. Don't go down to Egypt. Instead, live in the land I will tell you about." You see, every single time Abraham was about to make a mistake like this one, God intervened. When Abraham went down to Egypt, God struck Pharaoh and his household with plagues. The second time Abraham gave his wife over to a different king, Abimelech of Gerar, God warned Abimelech in a dream. God intervenes. And now God warns Isaac before he falls into sin, before he even steps foot in the land of Egypt.

I wonder how you feel when you're warned of sin. Sometimes you can roll your eyes, like it's another nagging parent telling you to put a jacket on before you go outside. Sometimes you may think, "Hey, I haven't actually done anything bad yet. I don't understand what the big deal is." After reading Abraham's first failure and then reading Abraham's second failure, God's warning to Isaac before he goes down to Egypt is nothing short of his immeasurable mercy, his grace. God's warnings are not to be ignored because God's warnings are always true and always good.

It's not just that God is warning Isaac away from something bad, but that he's offering Isaac something so much better. He calls back all of the promises that he gave to Abraham in Genesis 12: that God will be with him and bless him, that he will give him offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. And he points to the positive example of his dad. He's telling him, "Be like your father," not in his disobedience, but in his faithfulness, his obedient, faithful servant who listened and followed God's instructions.

You see the amount of times that God emphasizes his words here in verse 5: "My mandate, my commands, my statutes, my instructions. Abraham listened to me." So, be like your dad. If you do that, you'll receive a people, a place, and power just like your father did. Do you listen to the Lord's commands, his statutes, his instructions, his mandate? There is no one who will enter heaven who does not seek to obey the Lord because his commands are always good. His salvation changes your heart. He inscribes the law into our hearts. That's what Jeremiah 31 says. Those who love Christ seek to obey him.

And Isaac listens to this command, kind of, right? He follows his father's example, unfortunately, not just in his faithfulness but his faithlessness because he didn't go down to Egypt. He followed the letter of the law, but he kind of settles halfway. Gerar is in the exact middle point between where Isaac was and where Egypt is. And as we saw earlier in the story with examples like Lot or Abraham, whenever someone settles halfway between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, things do not go well.

And Abraham stayed in Gerar. And it turns out that Isaac is about to do the exact same thing that his father did. Like father, like son. You can see that in verse 7: "The men of the place asked about his wife. He said, 'She is my sister,' for he was afraid to say, 'My wife,' thinking the men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman. When Isaac had been there for some time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah."

I mean, it's fascinating to see how this story plays out. Isaac goes into Gerar, just like his dad; is afraid of the men of the place will kill him, just like his dad; and then lies to everyone, just like his dad. I wonder whether Abraham ever told his son about this time that he went into Gerar and messed up. I wonder if he ever sat down with his son and shared about the time that he abandoned his wife for the sake of preserving his own life. I doubt it, given that Isaac seems to be so glib and chill about doing the exact same thing.

But you and I know kids are like sponges. I mean, they absorb everything. Sometimes I'll see like an old cousin or someone that I was really close with act up and you'll ask yourself, "Where did you get that from?" And the answer is me. They got it from me. They absorbed my behavior, my patterns, my priorities. And while every single individual is responsible for the sin that they commit themselves, your environment can make certain sins feel normal or acceptable to you. And the truth is, regardless of how normal or acceptable they may seem to you, it's still sin.

And kids, there are things that are worth imitating in your parents and certain things that are not worth imitating, especially their sin. Isaac seems to be concerned with the exact same things that his dad would have been concerned about. In fact, I think this is a telltale sign that his concern about his own life has very little to do with his wife's looks or her own perception. This is not a passage faulting a woman for looking too beautiful. In fact, it's quite the opposite of that. It's not about a woman's beauty, it's about man's cowardice, right? It's about Abraham being incapable of taking ownership and responsibility of protecting his own wife. It's about Isaac here looking at his wife Rebekah and trying to think about ways that he can survive even if it means that she gets taken advantage of.

And Isaac almost gets away with it too. I mean, he lives there, it says, "for some time," an indefinite amount of time. Just imagine years of your life hiding this kind of sin and thinking that you got away with it. In fact, it seems like he's able to secure a really comfortable life coexisting with these Philistines till one day he lets his guard down and he gets caught. Abimelech looks out his window and sees Isaac caressing his wife. A type of behavior that can only be reserved for the privacy of marriage.

And you know what? That kind of behavior is totally fine. It's totally fine; it is technically something totally appropriate for Isaac to do because sexuality in the marriage covenant is good. If you read the Song of Songs, you see passages of Scripture encouraging us to delight in our spouses. For those of us that are married, that kind of intimacy isn't something to cringe at, something to celebrate. But the joy that we experience in marital intimacy is supposed to be a foreshadow of the joy of Christ and being united with his church. That kind of happiness is good. But Isaac doesn't experience anything like that kind of joy. Instead, he gets caught and a chill goes down his spine because there is a difference between privacy and hiding.

That's a funny thing about lies, isn't it? Abimelech should be looking out of the window and feel embarrassed about himself for seeing something that he really shouldn't be seeing. Instead, it's Isaac that's the one that's terrified about doing something that he had every right to do. Because what lies do is they take what's beautiful, the intimacy of marriage, and it corrupts it. It corrupts what's good in creation and makes it bad. Suddenly, Isaac getting caught hiding a truth that ought to be celebrated—Rebekah is his wife.

Is there anything that you're hiding today? Any sin that's gripping your heart? Because what will happen is that in a world where you are supposed to be able to openly celebrate what Christ has done for you, where you can be honest about your failures and walk together as a church family in repenting of sin and pursuing righteousness, you will dive for the bushes. You will close yourself off. You will hold people at arm's length for the sake of preserving this mirage of being okay or assuming that you're good enough. Are you in that cycle of trying to survive? Because you might think that you're protecting yourself, but what that kind of lie actually does is it takes what's good and then spoils it, rotten.

Here's the way that the psalmist describes hiding in sin in Psalm 32. He says:

When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat.Selah Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.Selah — Psalm 32:3-5 (CSB)

Is that kind of freedom, that can lift your burdened heart, sound relieving to you? The only way you can shed yourself of that kind of burden isn't by going deeper and lower into your sin, but by lifting it up to the Lord and letting him wash away that guilt from you, to acknowledge your iniquity, to shed your shame at the foot of the cross and receive the grace that you truly need. Isaac hides in his sin, but God loves him too much to leave him there. So, he finds him and calls him out.

You can see that in verse 9: "Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, 'So, she is really your wife. How could you say she is my sister?' Isaac answered him, 'Because I thought I might die on account of her.' Then Abimelech said, 'What have you done to us? One of the people could have easily slept with your wife and you would have brought guilt on us.' So Abimelech warned all the people, 'Whoever harms this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.'"

I mean, Abimelech calls out Isaac. Isaac deflects: "I thought I might die because of her." You hear the theme music of Abraham looking at Abimelech and giving the exact same excuse. The theme music goes all the way back to the garden. The husband, after falling into sin, points at "the woman that you gave me."

Abimelech is not swayed. He warns Isaac, "You could have brought guilt on us," because whether someone knew it or not, if they took Rebekah and took advantage of her, they would have sinned. So Abimelech warns his people not to touch them because, unlike the child of the promise, this pagan king doesn't mess around when it comes to offending Isaac's God.

And you may think that Isaac would get the message, that he's supposed to listen to what the Lord says and to go to the land that God wants him to be in. But he doesn't do that. You see that in verse 12: "Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, many slaves. And the Philistines were envious of him. The Philistines stopped up all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, filling them with dirt. And Abimelech said to Isaac, 'Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us.'"

Pay attention to words that specify location in this chapter. It says that Isaac "sowed seed in that land." You know what that means? He didn't move. He didn't go anywhere. He stuck around. He sticks around. And yet the Lord still blesses him, demonstrates his faithfulness. Except his blessing, all the stuff that he accumulates, provokes the envy of the Philistines. Envy is when you feel bitterness at someone else's good, where you so covet, so idolize what they have and what you lack, that at the sight of someone else's success, your heart fills to the brim with sin.

And the Philistines have envious hearts. And that envy then spills over in their actions. They fill up the wells that Abraham made. They pack it with dirt so you can't get access to water. It's the same kind of beef that Abraham had with the Philistines coming up yet again in the life of his son. Like father, like son. Except this time, Abimelech, rather than trying to create some kind of conditions where Abraham is able to live and survive with this well, tells Isaac, "Get out of here! Leave, because you are too powerful for us." Too much power. I mean, increased blessing that's rippled out from the promises given to his father. Isaac had amassed too much for the pagan nation to be willing to coexist with it.

Because sometimes opposition from the world doesn't just happen because of our own sin, though it certainly can. You could sin against someone. Someone could have nothing to do with you because you were a jerk, because you were not thoughtful or inconsiderate. But sometimes opposition comes because of God's blessing, because of the righteousness that you produce, because of the fruit that God produces in your life. You see, sin and holiness do not mix. And Abimelech seems to understand that the way that Isaac is living his life, the way that he's amassing blessing, is not compatible with the people living in Gerar. Sometimes the reason why the world doesn't oppose you isn't because you've managed to be super chill and godly at the same time, but because you're not a threat. And the moment that your holiness starts to show in a meaningful way, that's when the thorns of sin start to come out and prick you.

The Danger of Proximity to Sin

And so as a result of Abimelech's urging and declaration, he leaves. Sort of. Verse 17: "So Isaac left there, camped in the Gerar Valley, and lived there. Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. He gave them the same names his father had given them. Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, 'The water is ours!' So he named the well Esek because they argued with him. Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also, so he named it Sitnah. He moved from there and dug another, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, 'For now the Lord has made space for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.'"

Isaac moves like, a tiny bit. Doesn't move very far. He goes from Gerar to Gerar Valley. That's like moving from Anaheim to Anaheim Hills. Like, did you really move? And this beef continues. They continue to have the exact same problems because you know what people live in Gerar Valley? The people that live in Gerar, the Philistines, the same people. So they do the exact same thing. They fill up this well, and they fight over it. And so he names the well Esek, or "contention," or "fighting." He's got beef with these people. He moves to another area. He digs another well. They fight over that one. And so he calls it Sitnah, or "hatred." And then he digs another well that they finally don't fight over, and he calls it Rehoboth, or "space."

Imagine getting in an argument with a family member and you storm out. You move into a room, you slam the door shut, and you're like, "I'm going to name this place peace and quiet." I mean, there's so much beef here, so much contention, so much fighting. And the question that someone ought to be asking Isaac is, "What are you doing there?" Right? Why are you still there? Why are you still hanging around this land? Why so stubborn and sticking around a place with so much misery, so much temptation, so much contention?

Now, there are plenty of places in life that are difficult where the Lord wants you to stay. This is not a call to leave a marriage just because you got in a really bad argument or abandon all relationships that have tension in them. But Moses wants us to think not just about whether or not you and I are practicing sin, but by our proximity to sin. Right? I'm not asking whether or not you currently right now are sinning. Whether you currently right now are engaging in sinful behavior, but are you repeatedly exposing yourself to sin for stupid reasons, tempting yourself to sin? Do you find yourself in Gerar over and over again? Let me tell you, you might not personally be engaging in some kind of outward manifestation of sin, but you will exhaust yourself by having to take care of matters that are not your responsibility.

Listen, I don't applaud any alcoholic for being in a bar all night. That is not honorable to me. It is not honorable for a gambling addict to be eating dinner in a casino. I don't applaud them for their strength or their growth in ability to resist temptation. You may pride yourself in not going down to Egypt while cohabitating and giving up your wife in Gerar. All of us need to take an honest look in the mirror and examine our own hearts. Are you willing to be completely honest about where you've placed yourself? That might be a good conversation to have with a brother or sister in this church that you trust about whether there's an area of your life that you'd be embarrassed to see uncovered or something that you've rationalized away as technically not sin while finding yourself sliding slowly towards Egypt.

Isaac finds himself contending over and over again in this contentious land, and he finally gives it up. He leaves the land of conflict and enters into the land of the covenant.

The Repeated Covenant

Our second point: covenant. Look at verse 23: "From there he went up to Beer-sheba, and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, 'I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.' And so he built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. Isaac's servants also dug a well there."

Isaac arrives at Beer-sheba, and the Lord comes to him, reestablishes his covenant promises to Isaac. And notice how God roots this covenant in Isaac's life. He identifies himself as the God of Isaac's father Abraham. That he will multiply Isaac's offspring because of his servant Abraham. Because Abraham is his father, he will receive God's blessing and presence because, like father, like son. And then Isaac builds an altar, just like Abraham does when he receives God's promise. Like father, like son. And to signify that he intends to stay in that land, he pitches his tent and he digs a well. He's done moving. He's settled into the promises of God. He's finally able to rest in what the Lord has promised for him. It's the kind of rest that all of us should want, the kind of peace that comes from the blessing of God where you can finally just pitch your tent and rest in the house of the Lord.

But then a familiar face comes back into town. Verse 26: "Now Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, 'Why have you come to me? You hated me and sent me away from you.' They replied, 'We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you: You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.'"

You ever see a familiar face that you wish wasn't a familiar face? Your stomach lurch, your spine kind of steels up a little bit. And Isaac walks out of his tent one morning, super peaceful day. He looks out, and from the clouds he could see Abimelech coming from the distance. And his phrase is basically the biblical equivalent of saying like, "Well, well, well, after pushing me out, look who's coming back to me."

But Abimelech doesn't come to make war. He comes to make peace, a covenant that he will not harm you. After all, notice Abimelech's words: "We sent you away in peace." Now, is that true? Uh-uh. Right? That's not what happened. I mean, can you imagine after all this history, all of this contention, well after well, dirt after dirt, even getting jealous of all this amassed blessing that he's received and kicking him out, Abimelech comes in and says, "Yeah, I never did anything wrong." What would you say? I imagine a lot of us would stand up and say, "That's not true. Roll the tape!" Right? You did not send me away in peace.

In fact, that's exactly what Isaac's father Abraham did in chapter 21. Abimelech comes out to make a covenant with him. And Abraham, rather than just making this covenant and making peace, keeps bringing up these wells that got dug up. He goes, "Your people won't leave me alone. You got to deal with this." Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well that his servants had seized. Like father, like son. See, every part of this story rhymes. There's a pattern that Isaac follows over and over again until what happens next. Except this time, Isaac abandons the pattern of his father.

Peace Through God's Promises

Look at verse 30: "So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank. They got up early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. On that day, Isaac’s servants came to tell him about the well they had dug, saying to him, 'We have found water!' He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is still Beer-sheba today."

Isaac isn't vindictive. He doesn't go on some revenge tour. He doesn't hit Abimelech with sass or strife. What he does is he prepares a feast. He swears an oath, and he sends Abimelech away. Not with an "I told you so." It says that Abimelech leaves in peace, located in peace. The day that Isaac sends this king that he has so much history with away from his land in peace, that's the day that they strike water and this well begins to bring forth water.

I mean, what can cause a man to lose his grip on conflict, on this need to be vindicated? I mean, sometimes we do whatever we can to defend ourselves for the sake of survival. I mean, it's the impulse we need in order to protect ourselves, to preserve ourselves, and not become a doormat or get steamrolled by those in front of us. We feel the need to stand up and point our finger or make some declaration to protect ourselves. We will lie. We'll hide. We'll fight until there's nothing else that we can do. And at the root of it, that all comes from fear, doesn't it? A fear of what we'll lose, what people will think, about what the future might bring. Fear that we'll be disrespected, that we'll suffer, or even die. Sometimes we can even look at someone coming towards us seeking to make peace and respond with violence just so that they learn their lesson, that they know that they should never mess with me again.

It's not what Isaac did. And that's not why Isaac made peace. He didn't make peace because Abimelech came acknowledging that he did something wrong and asked for forgiveness. Isaac is able to make peace because he's not afraid anymore. Why? Because the Lord was with him. Miggy brought this to my attention in chapter 26, right? Look at verse 3. When God tells him to stay in the land, he says, "I will be with you." Notice what Moses writes in verse 12: It says that "the Lord blessed him." And then verse 23, God tells Isaac, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you."

I mean, the reason why Isaac has no reason to fear, the reason why Isaac has no need to vindicate himself, is because God has already provided him everything that he could ever need. So much so that when Abimelech shows up in verse 28, he's able to say, "We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you." See, Abimelech didn't necessarily recognize his wrongdoing. He did recognize the Lord's blessing on Isaac's life. And in Abimelech's covenant oath, Isaac is able to see the fulfillment of an even greater oath: that God will make his offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, that God will give his offspring all of these lands, and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed by his offspring.

You see how a beef about wells is the pettiest, tiniest distraction that will tunnel vision him away from being able to see all of the blessings that God is fulfilling before his own eyes in real time. That Abimelech coming to Isaac and asking to make a covenant is God's promises materializing before Isaac's own eyes. I mean, how could you not rejoice over that kind of provision, in front of that kind of covenant? Knowing that the Lord is at work in your life is the thing that can deflate that pressure that pushes us towards doing dumb things for the sake of self-preservation.

I mean, do you want real relief from conflict? From constant strife? From swelling hatred? From endless wars? That kind of safety doesn't happen by domination. It only comes from deliverance. You and I don't need a solution or a final solution. What we need is a Savior. I mean, what greater promise exists for you and I than the covenant that God makes with you through the blood of Jesus? See, the greatest threat that we face isn't anything in this world that seeks to overwhelm us. James 4:1 asks,

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? — James 4:1 (CSB)

See, what James is saying is, "The problem is not what's out there. It's what's in here. What's in here overflows to what's out there." That the envy, the anger, the sin that captivates your heart overflows in your conflict with those around you. Our greatest problem is our sin, our lies, our hatred. And because of our rebellion against God, we have been separated from him and are at war against the King of the universe. But God in his kindness doesn't come down to settle some kind of score with us. Instead, he sends his own Son, Jesus, to live the perfect life that you and I could never live.

And unlike every other son in all of human history who repeats the sins of their father, Jesus repeats the godliness of his Father over and over and over again. Not showing sin but showing holiness and grace. He fulfilled his oath, his covenant of grace. And rather than giving up his wife for the sake of the preservation of his own life, Jesus gives up his life on account of his bride on the cross, bearing the punishment for sin that you and I deserve on his shoulders, dying for the sins of all who would believe. And he rose from the grave three days later in everlasting life.

I mean, what more do you need? What more of a promise can God make than giving you this everlasting, unbreakable oath of peace that you have peace with Almighty God, that you never have to guess whether you and God are in a contentious relationship, but that in Christ you are at complete peace with the Father? Not only that, in Christ you are adopted as a son and daughter of the King. That's the kind of blessing that can stop your endless striving today. You don't have to repeat the cycle of your fathers or your past. You can trust the promises of God and rest in Christ. And in Christ, you have nothing left to fear.

Jesus says in John 4:14 that:

But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” — John 4:14 (CSB)

A fountain of grace, a true well that could replenish our hearts. A well of life and grace that can overflow in love and grace to those around us. A well that can quench the flames of hell and seek to shake your heart. A well that can help us rest in the firm promises of God's word. Let's pray. Lord, we do pray that you would help us to be able to trust in these promises of your word, to look to the oath that your Son swore and fulfilled on the cross, in redeeming sinners from sin and giving them everlasting life. Do pray, Lord, that that would help us to relieve us of this burden of self-preservation and help us to pursue righteousness and peace. We thank you, Lord, that you have made peace with us by bearing our sins in your body on the tree. We thank you for this everlasting grace, in Jesus' name. Amen.