Unstoppable

Dug again

Genesis 26:18”Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them.

With health tips floating everywhere, mushrooming of gyms, diet clubs, healthify apps, yoga, laughing clubs and what not; yet, people lack inner stamina and energy to tackle and cope up with pressure, strain and opposition. They either would like to quit or shift places, but the challenge is to stay and overcome.

INNER MAN: With plethora of job opportunities, people want to speedily look for greener pastures, failing to understand that ‘ change is required on the inside rather than change of place.’ Same applies to marriage, relationships etc…..Anybody listening?

2 Corinthians 4:16” says “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Amen.

Ephesians 3:16:” that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

Today I am going to talk about Abraham’s son Isaac who had inculcated the ‘ace character and skills ‘ of his dad Abraham and excels in his life too. I simply enjoyed reading chapter 26 of Genesis, I only wish I should be able to transfer what I felt in words, may the Holy Spirit help me do this….

BLESSINGS: Genesis 26:14 says: “for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.” The Bible says: Psalms 37: 18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever. 19 “In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.”

Friend, it is nice to talk about the prosperity of a person and then say, ‘hey, he is highly qualified from a reputed institution, technically sound and well learned and smart hence he is doing great’ or ‘ he has got the favor of the supervisors’ or ‘ his language skills are excellent’ and so on. But today I want to talk about being blessed because of your obedience to the Word of God. Deuteronomy 28:1 says: "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.” Did you hear that? This scripture revolutionized my life!

Obedience of Isaac to the command of God started with God telling him: live in the land of which I shall tell you.(Genesis 26:2) and Isaac obeyed immediately and the Bible says: Isaac dwelt in Gerar. Let me tell you something about Gerar, this is where Abimelech king of the Philistines lived. It was a strange land where the people were very harsh and strong idol worshippers. Isaac got terrified when he walked into that place and saw their lustful eyes hence he lied that his beautiful wife was his sister. Don’t let this fear in Isaac beguile you into thinking that he is a coward, taking the challenge of staying in Gerar and not running away from that wicked place, is a fine example of his willingness to face challenges head on. Bravo Isaac!

ENVY: Success comes with a package of ENVY! Eerie! The Bible says: Proverbs 27:4 “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? “

Solomon says: Ecclesiastes 4:4

4 And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Look what they do, they closed all the wells that Abraham dug.

Genesis 26:16”Then Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us."

As you allow ‘envy’ to grow and take root in you then the next thing that happens is insecurity, fear and angst, which are dangerous, are you listening?

When Isaac was blessed and started getting prosperous and more prosperous, we see that Abimelech got scared and insecure, so he told Isaac, ‘go away’. This is insecurity! Beware! An energetic, smart and young woman taught math for our students of Abide School, the free school that we run for the poor, she was highly educated and brilliant, after a few months, her co-sister who recently got married joined our school as well, both were talented and they enjoyed working together. However, something happened that shattered their unity, when the in-laws celebrated the co-sister’s birthday very grandly and lavishly the senior daughter-in-law got upset because they did not do that for her. She came and cried to me and from that day onwards, she stopped talking to her co-sister, they stopped coming to school together, her work deteriorated and she fell into depression with anger, self-pity and deep hatred for her co-sister. She felt insecure and afraid of her position in her family! Did you see that? I gave her a Bible, counseled her, prayed for her but nothing worked and she finally left the job. Very sad. This is what envy would do a person, caveat! The Bible says: Proverbs 27:4”Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?