GENESIS
June 24, 2017
By Pastor Kim Hickcox
(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)
Unfortunately, we see in chapter 26 that Isaac has repeated the same faux pas as his father concerning Abimelech, or the son of the Abimelech Abraham dealt with. It reads like a TV rerun:
“And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines to Gerar. 2And the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down into Egypt. Stay in the land which I shall tell you about. 3Sojourn in this land and I shall be with you, and I will bless you, for I shall give all these countries to you and to your seed, and I shall perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4And I shall make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give to your seed all these countries. And in your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed. 5Because Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My Torahs (Teachings).’
“6So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7And the men of the place asked him about his wife and he said, ‘She is my sister.’ For he feared to say, ‘She is my wife.’ In case, he said, ‘The men of the place would kill me for Rebeccah,’ because she was fair to look upon.” (Genesis 26:1-8)
How is it do you suppose that Isaac, knowing the Lord, hearing about Him since birth – including [I’m sure] the story behind his birth, being raised by Abraham himself, and probably hearing the stories about when his father did the same thing to his mother as well as his regret about it – how do you suppose, he didn’t have the faith to know that the Lord would protect him from jealousy toward Rebeccah when he was obedient to stay in Philistia during the famine? AND under the son of the same king his dad had pulled the same line with about Sarah? KNOWING I’m sure, what had happened then?
Well, how is it that we do the same thing? If you think about it logically, we put 100% of our trust in Y’shua concerning our salvation don’t we? We have NO doubt that when we leave this earth, we will go straight to heaven and live forever in His presence. And why? Because He said so! The Holy Spirit touched us and the next time we heard His message about His love and sacrifice we believed it whole-heartedly. And now we KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that 2nd Corinthians 5:6-9 is as true for us as it was for Paul when he wrote, “Therefore, since we are always confident, and knowing that when we are at home in the body we are getting away from the Lord: 7because we are walking by faith, not by sight: 8but we are confident; we even rather prefer to leave from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9For this reason then we strive earnestly, whether when we are at home or when we are away, to be well pleasing to Him.”
Putting those verses in a nutshell, he was saying that because we truly believe that when we leave this earth we are going to be in the presence of the Lord, we will live our lives to please Him because we love Him. And loving Him means that we live our lives according to His Word and Promises as opposed to our circumstances: “we are walking by faith, not by sight”.
So if we are so firm about our eternal life, how can we [albeit only periodically] start to unravel when we face a seemingly difficult situation? How can we believe God for miracles and all that supernatural stuff but not believe He can or will do what we can’t do when we’ve done all we can?
Ever since I first read it, my white-knuckle verse has been Romans 8:28, “And we know that, for those who love God, He works all things for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” That tells us right then and there that getting saved doesn’t mean life is going to be a bowl of cherries from then on in.
What it DOES say is that no matter what, He always has our back! AND being not only the omniscient Creator of the Universe, but also THE Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) AND the One Who personally told us “I have told you these things so that you would have peace because of Me: in the world you have distress: but be of good courage, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) How can we not trust Him with everything?
I personally think it is just the residue of our old human nature that makes us doubt once in a while. Jesse DuPlantis says that we should doubt our doubt. When doubt comes in concerning the love of God or anything about Him that we know isn’t true, why do we instantly put our faith in that doubt? Because that is what we are doing when we run with something – putting our faith in it. But if we would doubt our doubt it would disappear. Only while we put our faith in it is it allowed to stay.
And renewing our mind is the PERFECT way to be able to doubt your doubt quickly! And how do we do that? Romans 12:2, “Stop being conformed to this age, but you must from the inside continually be changed into another form, by the renovation of your mind, to prove what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God for you.”
And how can we have our mind renovated from the inside out? Have you ever heard of GIGO? It’s a computer term (at least that’s how I first heard of it): Garbage In, Garbage Out – implying data. Well, what kind of data are you putting in your computer/brain? Y’shua taught this centuries before computers: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” Proverb 23:7. Yes Proverbs was written by King Solomon, but Who do you suppose gave him his wisdom? But if you would like a direct quote, let’s go to Matthew 15:10-20, “Then after He summoned the crowd, He said to them, ‘You must listen and understand: 11that what is entering the mouth does not defile a person but that going out from the mouth. This defiles that person’…17Do you not understand that everything that enters the mouth and the stomach comes out and is thrown out in a latrine? 18But the things that go out from the mouth come out from the heart, and these things defile the person. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, immoralities, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemes. 20These things are the things that defile a person…” “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Pro 23:7 NKJV)
So as we know that we cannot change anyone else say nothing to ourselves – let’s give our Lord that job, as it is His anyway. And I would suggest meditating on His Word throughout your day. If you don’t think you can do that, let me ask you this; can you worry all day about something? That’s what meditation is – worrying. Worry is meditating on something troublesome. Why not replace it with something you need from God’s Word?
When you meditate on His Word, you eventually memorize it. Then it gets inside you, in your spirit and in your soul, which is your mind and emotions. And when THAT happens, you will automatically “…from the inside continually be changed into another form, by the renovation of your mind” and therefore then know “what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God for you.” It’s a promise. It’s HIS promise. Therefore it WILL happen.
So if you have to doubt anything – doubt any doubt about your God. Pick a verse in His Word and roll it over and over in your mind this week. And see if, by the week’s end, it doesn’t have an effect on you. I’m going to do Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. 6In all your Ways know Him and He will make your paths smooth.” (I could use some smooth paths, let me tell you.) I chose that one because I’m real familiar with it and it will be easy for me to remember [intact] and meditate on.
Let me know which verse you chose and how He strengthened you with it. I’d LOVE to know! Because “All Scripture is God-inspired and useful for teaching, for reproof, restoration, for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God would be able to meet all demands since he has been equipped perfectly for every good work.” 2nd Timothy 3:16-17
SHALOM
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