Good. Morning y’all. Today we in chapter 26 of Genesis. I thank God for bringing us this far and I truly pray you have been blessed so far with our study of the book of Genesis. I know have been blessed :). In today’s chapter we see God appear to isaac and promises to bless him as a result of his father’s obedience, Isaac repeats the same mistake his father made by lying about his wife, Isaac prospers in a foreign land and Esau marries foreign women.

Holyspirit we ask for insight that you will open our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to percieve the truth in the word today. Amen.

Be blessed 🙂

Isaac is reaping the benefit of Abrahams obedience. God appeared to him and give him similar instructions and made promises to Isaac. God ended by saying in v5 ‘because Abraham did everything I told him to’. That is, Isaac you are enjoying all of this as a result of your fathers obedience therefore I will fulfil all the promises I made to Abraham your father.
This tells me that our obedience to God or not will affect the generations coming after us. Let’s examine ourselves, are we living a reckless life that will come back to haunt the generations coming after us or are we living our lives in a manner that’s pleasing to God and so will benefit the future generations?. In a nutshell what legacy are you leaving for the next generation? Are you leaving behind blessings or curses?

In verse 7, we see Isaac repeat the same offence Abraham did when he moved to Gerar. He too lied that his wife is his Sister just because he didn’t want the men of the land to kill him in order to get his wife. Ain’t it funny that his father did exactly the same thing and now him too. Even though Isaac wasn’t born when his father acted that way, yet when he was faced with the same situation he reacted exactly the same way as his father did….lol..seems like they have issues trusting God for protection when it comes to their wives! :). I mean God had appeared to Isaac in the previous verses and made promises to him, even told him to go this land. So why then couldn’t Isaac trust God to protect him and his wife? Was it that he was still immature in his walk with God and didn’t fully understand Gods nature yet or is this a genetic thing that’s just passed down the family line…lol. Either way, we need to examine ourselves to find where like Isaac, we are trying to help God and not trusting him to do what he has promised to do in our lives.

One day king Abimelech happened to stumble on Isaac hugging and kissing his wife and called him and asked why he lied. Funny again Isaac response was the same as his father ‘Because I thought someone would kill me’. Abimelech wasn’t too happy and told Isaac that if someone had slept with his wife he would have brought sin on the whole nation. In effect Isaacs lying could have cost the whole nation. Lesson to learn here is that our actions impact others not just us alone. Our decision to be obedient and do the right thing has a ripple effect on others around us. Same with our decision to be disobedient.

Isaac was blessed in a foreign land scripture says he planted grain and had a good harvest the same year.
Isaac planted grain and had a good harvest that same year. The Lord blessed him, and Isaac was so successful that he became very rich. (‭Genesis‬ ‭26‬:‭12-13‬ CEVUS06)
Even though he was in a foreign land God still prospered and blessed him. Friends Gods blessings are not limited by our location. As long as you are where God wants you to be and obey his instructions, you will enjoy his blessings. I hear people say things like ‘because we are in a foreign land it will be difficult to break though or they don’t give jobs to people who are not from this land… blah blah’. I cringe when I hear things like that from christians, cos to me it’s like indirectly telling God he is restricted and can’t work in that land. So what if that’s the norm in the Land? Have you forgotten that God owns and controls everything. He can change the norm for you because you are his child. Let’s have faith and trust God to bless and make a way for us where we are right now. God is not limited by physical things.

In Isaacs case, he was told to go to Gerar. He obeyed and moved and God blessed him so much that even the philistines were jealous of his blessings so much that they started clogging up all the wells that Abraham dug up during his time. Eventually Abimelech told him to get out of the land because he had become too powerful. God had blessed him so much that the people of the land were threatened by his blessings. Friends when God starts to bless us there will be people that are not happy about it. They will try their best to bring us down and steal our blessings but we have to keep focus and not let them distract us from what God is doing in our lives and where he is taking us.

So Isaac left and settled in the valley still in Gerar. While his men were digging in the valley they found another well but the people of the land started arguing that the well belonged to them. They named the well quarrel. His men dug another well again and this same people again claimed the well belonged to them. They named the well Jealous. Finally they dug another well and this time no one argued it was theirs!!! So Isaac named the well ‘Lots of room’ because the Lord had given them room and would make them very successful.
Finally, they dug one more well. There was no quarreling this time, and the well was named “Lots of Room,” because the Lord had given them room and would make them very successful. (‭Genesis‬ ‭26‬:‭22‬ CEVUS06)
Some people will just not be happy that we are blessed. They will do everything they can to bring us down. But if like Isaac and his men we persevere and keep going we will eventually overcome and get to a place where their is lots of room for us to prosper. Isaac and his men didn’t give up, they kept on digging wells until they finally got to one that was not disputed by the people of the land. Friends, don’t give up in the face of opposition. Hold on to Gods promise and keep going. Have faith that the one who has called us is able to see us through. Isaac knew Gods promise was that he would bless him in the land so he didn’t give up.

Isaac moved on to Beersheba and God appeared to him and told him not to be afraid, He will bless him and because of his father He will give him many descendants. Isaacs response to the Lords word was to build an altar and worship God. He praised God in advance for the promises. Friends don’t wait to start praising God when the promises are fulfilled, we need to start praising now because while we are doing that, the devil is confused as he can’t understand why we would be thankful and praising God for something we haven’t received yet but God on the other hand is pleased when we praise him for things we can’t see yet. It moves him to do more for us because it shows that we have faith and trust him. What are you waiting for? Get to praising !!! 🙂

Abimelech and his men came to see Isaac and Isaac asked why they came seeing as they sent him packing from the land. They replied in v28 and 29 saying “We now know for certain that the Lord is with you, and we have decided there needs to be a peace treaty between you and us. So let’s make a solemn agreement not to harm each other. Remember, we have never hurt you, and when we sent you away, we let you go in peace. The Lord has truly blessed you.” (‭Genesis‬ ‭26‬:‭28-29‬ CEVUS06).
As a result of Gods blessing even in the valley they finally realised it must be God working in Isaac and decided it’s best to be on his good side seeing as the Lord is with him. They asked Isaac for a peace treaty and Isaac gave it to them. So they left and it’s funny that after they left the next verse tells us that Isaacs servant came and told him they have struck water! Isaac named the well Shibah which means “oath”. 
Friends, our enemies can not stop Gods blessing in our lives. By the time God is done with us, they who once opposed us will be the ones coming back to beg our forgiveness because they will realise when they contend with us, they are contending with God because we belong to Him. Lets keep our head up. Our God is not limited, He is Sovereign over all. He knows our needs even before we ask and always ready to meet them. Let’s keep the faith, keep trusting and doing the right thing and in due season God will reward us.

Esau Esau Esau oh my! Not only did he sell his birthright for a meal in the previous chapter, now he decided to marry foreign women who don’t serve the Lord God Almighty. And verse 35 says those women brought a lot of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. There’s only two outcome when we are yoked with people who don’t share our faith in God. Either our lives impact them so much that they turn to our God or they impact us and turn our hearts away from God to serve their foreign gods. Seems the latter is what happened in Esaus case and his parents were having to deal with the issue.
Lets examine ourselves today, what are we unequally yoked with. We need to come out before our heart is turned away from God.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today and we thank you for your word. Today we ask for the grace to live a life that’s pleasing to you. We ask for your help to trust u more even in the face of opposition. Sweet Holyspirit we ask that you open our eyes to those areas where we have turned away from God. Give us the grace to make amends and bring us back to you. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter.

Have a blessed Thursday. Remember God is not limited by our location. He can bless us wherever we are.

***With God all things are possible***