And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there. (Genesis 26:18-19)

By Genesis 26 Abraham has passed from the scene, succeeded by his son Isaac. This has always been how God’s work goes forward through time: one generation passes, another generation takes its place, and God continues His work. How those generations relate to each other is important, and Isaac’s actions in Genesis 26 give a practical and spiritual example of how a younger generation can act toward an older generation.

We read that Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham. In other words, Isaac returned to the same resources that had sustained his father and all he possessed (Genesis 21:25-31). It took faith, work, and commitment to dig the wells again, but God provided through Isaac’s diligence.

For nomadic herdsmen water was life. In some seasons of the year, human or animal life could not be sustained without water from wells. These wells were a necessity, not a luxury.

This is a powerful illustration of life in the spirit. The spiritual resources that sustained previous generations are available today, if we will seek them with faith, work, and commitment. Using this as a spiritual illustration, we might say that the wells of peace, power, grace, wisdom, and transformation are available for the believer today as they were for previous generations. The question is whether a present generation will have the faith, work, and commitment to dig the wells again.

Especially in our modern age, it’s easy to think that we have or need different, better resources than our spiritual forefathers had. We are easily impressed by the latest and supposedly greatest, by what is new and shines brightly. These are dangerous and self-defeating ideas. There are old paths for us to walk on, old wells for us to dig again.

Dear brother or sister, think it over. The faith that sustained Athanasius, Hus, Wycliffe, Wesley, and Graham is available to you today. It’s like an old, stopped up well that can provide if it is sought and dug out. In this spiritual analogy, we should be like Isaac and dig again the wells.

Then, we see a special bonus: Isaac found a well of running water. It seems that Isaac discovered something that Abraham had not found. Isaac found the best kind of well – one of running water. This was the best kind of provision, and it came to Isaac as he received the resources once enjoyed by his father Abraham.

As you dig again the old wells and walk on the old paths, God will lead you to fresh sources of spiritual provision – an extra gift of His grace!

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 26

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Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren. (Genesis 24:27)

Genesis 24 tells the story of a special servant of Abraham who had the job to travel far, find a bride for his master’s son, and return with the chosen bride. The servant isn’t named in Genesis 24 but was likely Eliezer of Damascus mentioned in Genesis 15:2. We don’t know of any other person who held this position in Abraham’s household.

The servant had a big responsibility. The wife of Isaac, Abraham’s son, would have an important place in the unfolding plan of God’s covenant promises to Abraham and his descendants. It would be natural for Eliezer to think, “I must be led by God to find and choose the right woman, and then God must move on her heart to agree. It must be the woman God chooses.”

Genesis 24 explains that Eliezer did something that everyone must do when they want to discover and live out God’s will: he prayed (Genesis 24:12-14). He surrendered the matter to the LORD, and in faith asked God to guide him and all the circumstances around the finding and choosing of this special woman. God answered his prayers, and he found Rebekah, at a well in the distant land he had traveled to. Rebekah showed a true servant’s heart when she volunteered to do the difficult work of watering the camels of Eliezer, who was a stranger to her. Eliezer also discovered that Rebekah was perfect because she was related to Abraham’s relatives, from the land Abraham came from.

When Eliezer explained this to Rebeka’s family, he used these words: being on the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren. There is something important in those words. Eliezer made it clear that God led him while being on the way. In other words, Eliezer didn’t just sit back and wait for God to reveal every detail before he moved forward. Instead, the servant of Abraham got busy with what he could do – he went on his way – and that was when the LORD led him.

Dear brother or sister, if you want to see God’s guidance in your life, get on your way. Be active. Take steps forward in some direction, and you will see God lead you being on the way. There may be times when God wants us to stop and wait for Him before we do anything, but that isn’t God’s normal way of leading. Normally, God wants us to get on our way and expect His guidance as we go.

Generally speaking, it’s our duty to get on our way according to what God has revealed and trust He will guide us.

It’s hard to steer a parked car. Get on your way, and let God lead you.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 24

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And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” (Genesis 22:5)

God told Abraham to do something strange: offer his son Isaac, the son of promise, as a sacrifice. Abraham lived as a sojourner, a pilgrim, in the land of Canaan. The priests of many of the Canaanite deities said their gods demanded human sacrifice. The people of Canaan found nothing especially strange about human sacrifice, but Abraham had believed Yahweh was different.

In obedience, Abraham prepared for the journey started out with Isaac and some servants to the appointed place, Mount Moriah. They arrived on the third day, and every day Abraham thought about what God commanded him to do. When they came to the region of Moriah, Abraham told his servants to wait while he and Isaac went further on to worship God.

That’s when Abraham spoke words of triumphant faith: we will come back to you. Abraham believed that both he and Issac would return; that they both would come back, and he said so.

Abraham, the friend of God, fully intended on obeying God’s command to sacrifice Isaac. At the same time, he was confident that they would both return. How could this be?

It wasn’t because Abraham somehow knew this was only a test and God would not really require that he sacrifice Issac. Instead, Abraham’s faith was in understanding that should he kill Isaac, God would raise him from the dead, because God had promised Isaac would carry on the line of blessing and the covenant.

He knew God’s promise: in Isaac your seed shall be called (Genesis 21:12), and Isaac didn’t have any children yet. Abraham understood that God had to let Isaac live at least long enough to have children. If Isaac dies before having children, then Abraham’s covenant lineage is dead, his name is forgotten to history, and God’s promise is proved false.

Hebrews 11:17-19 clearly explains this principle: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Abraham knew anything was possible, but it was impossible that God would break His promise. He knew God was not a liar. To this point in Biblical history, we have no record of anyone being raised from the dead, so Abraham had no precedent for this faith, apart from God’s promise. Yet Abraham knew God was able. God could do it.

Ultimately, Genesis 22 shows that God did not want human sacrifice and will never call for it. Yet God does want His people to trust Him and to understand that He can never fail in keeping His promises. You can trust His promises today.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 22

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And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Genesis 20:6)

God spoke to the pagan ruler Abimelech in a dream, telling him to stay away from the prominent, prestigious woman that came to his city of Gerar. The woman was named Sarah, the wife of Abraham the man of God and the man of God’s covenant.

The whole situation came about because Abraham didn’t act like a man of God and a man of God’s covenant. Coming to Gerar, Abraham failed to trust God as he should have and instead trusted in his lies and deceptions. Abraham was afraid that the king of Gerar would kill him and take Sarah because she was an obviously wealthy and prestigious woman. So, Abraham told Sarah to lie, saying she was his sister instead of his wife. Sarah lied and Abimelech spared Abraham’s life but planned on taking Sarah into his harem.

God then interrupted this mess with a frightful dream as Abimelech slept. God warned Abimelech and told him that Sarah was actually the wife of Abraham and not merely a sister. God said He would kill Abimelech if he did not return Sarah to Abraham. In his dream, Abimelech protested to God, pointing out that he only did this because he thought Sarah was unmarried.

God agreed and said that Abimelech had done this in the integrity of his heart. What is more, God said that He withheld Abimelech from sinning against the Lord.

Aren’t you grateful for the times God has withheld you from sinning against Him?

This doesn’t mean that God withholds His people from temptation. God may not lead us into temptation, but He allows temptation to come our way.

This doesn’t mean that God will never allow situations where it may be easy to sin. Abimelech found it easy to bring Sarah into his palace, but God confronted him before he could treat Sarah as his wife.

It does mean exactly what 1 Corinthians 10:13 says to God’s people: No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

It also means that there may be sometimes when God simply blocks the way of the person who intends to sin. That person doesn’t deserve such a gracious gift from God, but God is free to show that grace when it pleases Him.

Maybe you can remember some occasion when you intended to sin, even hoped to sin, and God blocked your way. Never presume that God will do this, but thank Him for when He does, and look to Him for the grace to hate sin more and more.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 20

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And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14)

In a dramatic way, God appeared to Abraham at the oak trees of Mamre (Genesis 18:1). As the story develops, we see that of the three persons who visited Abraham, two were angelic beings in human appearance who went on to the city of Sodom. The third was the LORD Himself.

One reason God made a special appearance was to tell Abraham that the promise he had long waited for would soon be fulfilled. A son would be born to Abrahm and Sarah in about a year (Genesis 18:10). Sarah was listening to the conversation between the LORD and Abraham, and when she heard this good news, she laughed (Genesis 18:12). Sarah knew that she was long past the time of bearing children, and it seemed too good to be true that God would work such a miracle to make her able to conceive.

Sarah’s laugh was silent. Genesis 18:12 says that she “laughed within herself.” Yet, God heard it and He asked Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh? God knows our thoughts and inward actions, even if hidden from others. Sarah fearfully denied that she laughed (Genesis 18:15), but God knew the truth. We might live very differently if we remembered that God hears and knows everything we think and speak.

I wonder what Abraham’s immediate reaction was when he heard God ask, why did Sarah laugh? I wonder if Abraham thought, “Oh no – now God will take away His promise to give us a son. We didn’t respond to His promise with strong faith, so He will take away the promise.”

Yet, that wasn’t what happened. Instead, God confirmed the promise by saying, at the appointed time I will return to you. When Sarah laughed at God’s twice-given promise, God didn’t take the promise away. Instead, God responded by dealing with her sin of unbelief, not by taking away the promise. Sarah’s less-than-perfect faith did not disqualify her from God’s good promise. We are grateful for what 2 Timothy 2:13 says: If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

As God confirmed His promise, He gave believers an enduring principle: Is there anything too hard for the LORD? God would demonstrate through Abraham and Sarah that there was nothing too hard for the LORD, and that God can triumph even over the weak faith of His people.

Someone can laugh at God’s promise because they think it is ridiculous, or they can laugh at it because it seems too good to be true. Sarah’s laugh seems to be of the second kind, but God assures us all: nothing is too hard for the LORD. Rest in God’s promises, even the best of those promises.

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 18

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