Genesis 26, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 

Max Lucado Daily: Look Over Your Shoulder - August 12, 2021

“‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jesus said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’” (Matthew 14:27).

Power inhabits these words. To awaken in an ICU and hear your husband say, “I am here.” To lose your retirement yet feel the support of your family in the words “We are here.” When a Little Leaguer spots Mom and Dad in the bleachers watching the game, “I am here” changes everything.

Perhaps that’s why God repeats the “I am here” pledge so often. “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). We cannot go where God is not. Look over your shoulder; that’s God following you. Look into the storm; that’s Christ coming toward you.

Genesis 26

There was a famine in the land, as bad as the famine during the time of Abraham. And Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.

2-5 God appeared to him and said, “Don’t go down to Egypt; stay where I tell you. Stay here in this land and I’ll be with you and bless you. I’m giving you and your children all these lands, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands. All the nations of the Earth will get a blessing for themselves through your descendants. And why? Because Abraham obeyed my summons and kept my charge—my commands, my guidelines, my teachings.”

6 So Isaac stayed put in Gerar.

7 The men of the place questioned him about his wife. He said, “She’s my sister.” He was afraid to say “She’s my wife.” He was thinking, “These men might kill me to get Rebekah, she’s so beautiful.”

8-9 One day, after they had been there quite a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah. Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So, she’s your wife. Why did you tell us ‘She’s my sister’?”

Isaac said, “Because I thought I might get killed by someone who wanted her.”

10 Abimelech said, “But think of what you might have done to us! Given a little more time, one of the men might have slept with your wife; you would have been responsible for bringing guilt down on us.”

11 Then Abimelech gave orders to his people: “Anyone who so much as lays a hand on this man or his wife dies.”

12-15 Isaac planted crops in that land and took in a huge harvest. God blessed him. The man got richer and richer by the day until he was very wealthy. He accumulated flocks and herds and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy him. They got back at him by throwing dirt and debris into all the wells that his father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham, clogging up all the wells.

16 Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: “Leave. You’ve become far too big for us.”

17-18 So Isaac left. He camped in the valley of Gerar and settled down there. Isaac dug again the wells which were dug in the days of his father Abraham but had been clogged up by the Philistines after Abraham’s death. And he renamed them, using the original names his father had given them.

19-24 One day, as Isaac’s servants were digging in the valley, they came on a well of spring water. The shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s shepherds, claiming, “This water is ours.” So Isaac named the well Esek (Quarrel) because they quarreled over it. They dug another well and there was a difference over that one also, so he named it Sitnah (Accusation). He went on from there and dug yet another well. But there was no fighting over this one so he named it Rehoboth (Wide-Open Spaces), saying, “Now God has given us plenty of space to spread out in the land.” From there he went up to Beersheba. That very night God appeared to him and said,

I am the God of Abraham your father;
    don’t fear a thing because I’m with you.
I’ll bless you and make your children flourish
    because of Abraham my servant.

25 Isaac built an altar there and prayed, calling on God by name. He pitched his tent and his servants started digging another well.

26-27 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the head of his troops. Isaac asked them, “Why did you come to me? You hate me; you threw me out of your country.”

28-29 They said, “We’ve realized that God is on your side. We’d like to make a deal between us—a covenant that we maintain friendly relations. We haven’t bothered you in the past; we treated you kindly and let you leave us in peace. So—God’s blessing be with you!”

30-31 Isaac laid out a feast and they ate and drank together. Early in the morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac said good-bye and they parted as friends.

32-33 Later that same day, Isaac’s servants came to him with news about the well they had been digging, “We’ve struck water!” Isaac named the well Sheba (Oath), and that’s the name of the city, Beersheba (Oath-Well), to this day.

* * *

34-35 When Esau was forty years old he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite. They turned out to be thorns in the sides of Isaac and Rebekah.

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion          
Aug 12, 2021
Today's Scripture
Psalm 85
(NIV)

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;

you restored the fortunesl of Jacob.

2 You forgavem the iniquityn of your people

and covered all their sins.b

3 You set aside all your wratho

and turned from your fierce anger.p

4 Restoreq us again, God our Savior,r

and put away your displeasure toward us.

5 Will you be angry with us forever?s

Will you prolong your anger through all generations?

6 Will you not revivet us again,

that your people may rejoiceu in you?

7 Show us your unfailing love,v Lord,

and grant us your salvation.w

8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;

he promises peacex to his people, his faithful servants—

but let them not turn to folly.y

9 Surely his salvationz is near those who fear him,

that his glorya may dwell in our land.

10 Love and faithfulnessb meet together;

righteousnessc and peace kiss each other.

11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,

and righteousnessd looks down from heaven.

12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,e

and our land will yieldf its harvest.

13 Righteousness goes before him

and prepares the way for his steps.

Insight

When the book of Psalms was being collected, it was organized into five books: 1–41; 42–72; 73–89; 90–106; and 107–150. Each book concludes with a statement of praise or blessing to God Himself. For example, Book III ends with Psalm 89:52: “Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.” David is the most well known of the psalmists and most (though not all) of his psalms are found in Books I and II.

Each book is gathered around a particular theme. Book III, which contains Psalm 85, is one of the shorter books but is heavy with psalms of lament—many of which were composed by Asaph or the sons of Korah. With its emphasis on lament, Psalm 85, written by the sons of Korah as a cry for God’s rescue and renewal, fits very well in Book III.

By: Bill Crowder

Listening Matters

I will listen to what God the Lord says.
Psalm 85:8

“Come at once. We have struck a berg.” Those were the first words Harold Cottam, the wireless operator on the RMS Carpathia, received from the sinking RMS Titanic at 12:25 a.m. on April 15, 1912. The Carpathia would be the first ship to the disaster scene, saving 706 lives.

In the US Senate hearings days later, the Carpathia’s captain Arthur Rostron testified, “The whole thing was absolutely providential. . . . The wireless operator was in his cabin at the time, not on official business at all, but just simply listening as he was undressing. . . . In ten minutes maybe he would have been in bed, and we would not have heard the message.”

Listening matters—especially listening to God. The writers of Psalm 85, the sons of Korah, urged attentive obedience when they wrote, “I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him” (vv. 8–9). Their admonition is especially poignant because their ancestor Korah had rebelled against God and had perished in the wilderness (Numbers 16:1–35).

The night the Titanic sank, another ship was much closer, but its wireless operator had gone to bed. Had he heard the distress signal, perhaps more lives would have been saved. When we listen to God by obeying His teaching, He’ll help us navigate even life’s most troubled waters.

By:  James Banks

Reflect & Pray

In what ways will you stay attentive to God and the Scriptures today? How can doing so help you to help others?

Father, help me to stay close to You in my thoughts, words, and actions. Please use me as Your servant to bring Your hope to others.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Aug 12, 2021
The Theology of Resting in God

Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? —Matthew 8:26

When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

“…O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him.  The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L

Bible in a Year: Psalms 84-86; Romans 12

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Aug 12, 2021
Inflated Obstacles - #9024

When my friend Larry isn't running his business, he can often be found riding his bicycle. We're talking serious biking here, not just the little leisurely around-the-block stuff. He and his friends have covered a lot of America on their bicycles, conquering all kinds of challenges. Like big hills, you know. Now, any of us who has ever ridden a bike, we know it's the hills that bite your leg muscles. As you're riding, you see this mountain looming in front of you. OK, it's a hill, but your mind is thinking "mountain." At least mine is. My friend told me a fundamental "big hill" principle that he's discovered and that he passes on to other bikers. He said, "The longer you look, the bigger it gets!" That's true.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Inflated Obstacles."

You might be facing one of life's big hills right now financially, medically, in your family, maybe in your ministry or your work. And right now you've stopped pedaling, you're looking at how big that hill is, and the longer you look, the bigger it's getting. And the weaker and more paralyzed you're feeling.

That had to be how God's ancient people felt when they looked at the challenges of the land that God had promised them: walled cities, barbarian armies, intimidating giants, and a big piece of occupied ground. God knows how we feel when we're staring at those big hills. In our word for today from the Word of God, Deuteronomy 7, beginning in verse 17, God says: "You may say to yourselves, 'These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?' Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little."

OK, first, you have to remember who's going to conquer that hill. It's not going to be you, so your limitations are not an issue here. It's going to be "the Lord your God." I love that phrase. "The Lord," the One who created and controls like two trillion galaxies! Then, "your God." Yep! The Lord who rules the galaxies is my God. He is so big and He's so close!

Secondly, as you're staring at that hill you've got in front of you, remember how God is going to help you conquer that challenge... "little by little." He's not going to do it all at once. He's asking you to take it in bite-size chunks. My bicycling friend says that rather than looking at the top of the hill, he looks at the short distances in front of him. He said that's how you conquer your hill. Jesus asks us to take up our cross, not all at once, but "daily" (Luke 9:23). Your job is to do today faithfully and positively.

The size of life's hills often keeps us from facing what we need to be dealing with: issues in our family, issues in our marriage, our spending, the care of our body, that habit, or even something Jesus has been asking you to do for Him. And the longer you look at the hill, the bigger it gets. But the longer you look at the God you belong to, the bigger He gets. You've been looking at the wrong thing, fixated on the problem, or the challenge, or the people, and you're missing the awesome size of your God!

Let today be day one of you tackling that hill. Just look at the short distance immediately in front of you - this one day. And open yourself up to the strength of God that we only experience when we know we can't do it. Look at the size of your Lord, not the size of your hill! Today's looming challenge is going to be tomorrow's amazing conquest!