I’d like to give you a scenario. Say you’ve moved into an average neighborhood – neither a rich nor poor one and over time you begin to become quite wealthy. So one day you head out to the car lot and you bring home a new Volvo C70 (completely loaded), and it’s parked in the driveway when you go to bed, but when you wake up in the morning you discover that your neighbors have stripped the car, the tires and panels are gone, the engine’s been pulled – seats, radio everything is gone. So you move down the road, and buy another Car, a BMW 760 Li (Of course completely loaded) this time and that night – while you sleep your new neighbors strip out this car too.
Disgusted; you finally move again, and buy a Lexus SC430, this time it’s safe in the driveway and curiously enough, now all your old neighbors come and ask you for a blessing. Doesn’t that scenario seem a bit... odd? It’s very close to what we have going on in Genesis 26:12-33. Take a look at this with me, it’s an odd sort of passage in which Isaac is so blessed the neighbors notice (Which is my first point tonight.)
1) Blessings So Big the Neighbors notice.
Remember of course that this passage comes immediately on the heels of an immense failure, which gave the Philistines a reason to distrust Isaac. It also comes immediately after Isaac’s repentance – a repentance upon which comes this enormous blessing, that finds it’s double root both in Isaac’s repentant heart, but primarily I think in the promises God had given to Isaac back in the first part of the chapter. Isaac is so blessed that the neighbors see it and it drives them to greed and envy – but ultimately drives them back to Isaac. The whole episode starts with God blessing Isaac So much, that the neighbors can’t ignore it.
Of course here in the first verse it’s made apparent that These overwhelming blessings come from God and not Isaac’s abilities. Moving on into verse 13,
The blessing of God now takes on really significant proportions. It’s apparent that a long time, and several events are compressed into the phrase in order to indicate that Isaac has been blessed indeed. Of course immediately after that in Verse 14 we find out that all these blessings move the Philistines to envy they wanted what God had given to him (for that is the idea of envy).
2) God’s blessings can look like a curse to the culture.
That’s exactly the problem which Isaac experienced as the jealous Philistines plug up the ancient wells which had been there certainly for decades. It’s certainly, "an unwelcome mat". Remember that in this territory, water is life and prosperity. There’s no mixed message in this action.
It seems they were threatened by what the blessing of God had brought into Isaac’s life. It gives me reason to ask, is such a thing liable to happen to us? what blessings will manifest themselves how in our lives so that the neighbors notice - and more than notice- till they are at odds with us over them? I think we could generalize here rather easy by simply saying that just as Abimelech drove Isaac away. When we live under God’s blessing, I think we’ll find that the culture has no place for us.
Remember that we’re told that we are the aroma of death to those perishing apart from Christ. There is so much offense in the cross that living for Jesus WILL offend people of the world.
So what was Isaac’s response? Look at vv17-18.
He moved, but he didn’t move far, it was after all a move to the valley of Gerar and presumably that was just outside of town so to speak. Then he begins removing the "unwelcome mat" that had been given to him by digging out the wells.
I have to tell you Isaac’s reaction makes me wonder just how often do we, when we attempt to separate ourselves from the culture - we don’t really want to go all that far so we just “scoot over” a little. In fact it seems that we’d rather stay close to the culture around us rather than separate as we should. How odd that when the culture doesn’t even want us around we try to stay near to them.
3) God will drive a wedge between you and the culture.
Why do I say that? I think because just like God didn’t want Isaac to be a part of Philistine (or Egyptian) culture; He doesn’t want us to really be a part of our culture either. Look what happens here: Isaac just moves over a little bit, so more blessings come in v19 in the form of another well, which is again argued about.
Interesting isn’t it that the blessings God has given America because of the foundations of faith we started with, this very nation is now claiming as a result of it’s ingenuity and worthiness. In Other Words, God has blessed this nation because of it’s Christian roots, but this nation is both trying to dispel the Christians as well as claim the right and origin of America’s riches for themselves.
In Abraham’s case, as in ours – God was driving a wedge between his people and the people of the world. The repetition reinforces the impact. It happened once and Isaac - presumably moved, here it happens again and Presumably in naming the well Isaac moves away further still.
Finally in verse 22, Isaac finds room to breath. H digs a well finds water and relaxes by the well he names, “Wide Open Spaces”.
Having received once again the blessing of God, Isaac picks up and moves even farther so that he can focus on God. In Verse 23, he again travels even farther from his location to the Negev - to Beersheba which means well of the oath.
4) God’s blessings should drive us to draw near to Him.
Take a look at verse 24 now.
All of this contention and moving about must have been disheartening for Isaac. Isn’t it hard for us - who are the cause of this nations blessing to be told by it that we are not wanted? In the context of that inner turmoil - God comes to Isaac and reassures him of history, relationship, continued blessing, and a future promise.
Again I would point out that this was not because Isaac deserved it - but rather for the sake of Abraham (and by extension his faith exhibited in chapter 22).
The blessings and promises of God motivate the establishment of an altar and worship to God. Remember how I have told you to build altar’s from time to time? Build into your life stones of remembrance where you can look in troubled times and say, "God has blessed me there - so that I know he is still with me!" That’s the purpose of the altar. Additionally the altar is a point of worship. Don’t we feel blessed even further when God’s presence is palpable? Yet he has promised that he is always with us (even when we don’t "feel" his presence!)
5) People are drawn to Authentic Christians.
Notice that it’s not until Isaac Separates himself so completely from the Philistines that they begin to seek him out. Not by the way because they’ve changed their mind about Isaac, but look at Genesis 26:28. They’re drawn to Isaac because, as they say: "We see plainly that the Lord has been with you..." Even people who do not know God can see the evidence of God’s presence. This knowledge lead the Philistines to wanting a peace treaty.
Isaac’s response when the world came knocking was to accept. We would do wise to do the same.
I’ve often looked at this story and wondered, what on earth is going on here? Actually it is pretty simple when you start looking for what God is doing. He brought specific blessings into Isaac’s life. The working of God in His life made his presence unbearable to his godless neighbors – so they rejected him; But God continued to bless him and in fact continued driving a wedge between Isaac and the Philistines. Why? I’m convinced it’s because God doesn’t want the world influencing us, he wants us to influence the world.
Through a series of events God brought exactly that about. He made his work in one mans life obvious so that the world would eventually seek Him out. We serve an awesome God.
