Keeping in Step

DEVOTION

GENESIS

KEEPING IS STEP

Gen 26:26-35

26 Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?" 28 They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us' — between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD." 30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. 32 That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, "We've found water!" 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.   34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

NIV

Why would Abimelech with his personal advisor and the commander of his forces want a treaty with one man? It would seem clear a man who has a commander of forces has a rather large force of men, an army that could wipe out just one man. But this one man has the Lord on his side and it must have been very clear to Abimelech that God was on the side of Isaac and he did not want to be on the wrong side of God. We have already seen the Abimelech had some knowledge of God, perhaps not the same personal relationship as Abraham or Isaac had, but nevertheless a knowledge of who God was. Yet he also was a liar because he or his servants had mistreated Isaac by filling in wells his father Abraham had dug, and then contesting wells that Isaac reopened chasing him so that he would leave their land. It certainly appears he was not sent away in peace. Could Isaac have as many men servants as his father Abraham had when he went and defeated the united kings, to rescue lot? We are not told anything about the size of Isaac’s group, but we are told that the Lord was with him. Again we see the character of a man who the Lord is with. Although he knew full well Abimelech lied about how he treated him, he not only agreed but have a great feast made for them. He served them the best he had, treating them who honor and distinction. Without getting to the end of this narrative, which holds a truth of its own, we need to ponder this point first. A person whom the Lord is with reacts and responds with kindness and honor toward others, even if they should mistreat them in some way. This is certainly the fruit of the Spirit at work.

Gal 5:22-26

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

NIV

These are traits with which we treat others. Isaac did not bring up any of the issues about Abimelech’s servants and the wells. He did not refute anything which Abimelech said in his treatment of Isaac. He simply honored them with a feast, ate and drank with them and agreed to the terms of a treaty. This would mean that he not only forgave Abimelech, but he would defend his honor and his home if he was to be attached by another force. Abimelech understood that when the Lord is with a man, he is with that man and the power of God is greater than any other. In response to Isaac’s treatment of Abimelech, God blessed him again by his servants finding water. But the point is in how we treat others no matter how they treat us. We should be ambassadors of Christ and the means treating others as he did even in the midst of being treated badly. The fruit of the Spirit is just that, of the Spirit. Because the Spirit dwells within us, we allow him to exhibit his fruit in our lives. That means we have to learn to step down, to relinquish control of our self, which in some sense is being self-controlled. In the flesh, in our own being, we get hurt feeling, we become impatience and even unkind or not very gentle. Sometimes we might not have much joy, or love in our hearts due to our circumstances or because others are treating us poorly. But if the Lord is with us, we should not be walking in the flesh, but walking in the Spirit. We need to be keeping in step with the Spirit. This has a bit of a military flare to it. A platoon of men marching to the cadence of the drill sergeant. He calls out the step, “your left, your left, your left, right, left”, “Column  right, march” and the platoon turns to the right. They keep step with the sergeant. We have the Spirit calling out the cadence of our lives. This is the lesson we learn from Isaac today. In some sense it is the Golden Rule, treat others as you would have them treat you. But in reality it is allowing the Lord God who is not only with us, but within us shine so brightly that others will notice we have the Lord God with us and in us, so that they will want to make a treaty with us. As far as the conclusion of this narrative with Esau taking wives from the Hittites and being a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah we need to see a fathers love at work as well as the principle of being unequally yoked. Although Jacob had somewhat tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright, Esau was still his father's son and it bothered him greatly that Esau took wives from other then from their own clan. He was concerned about his son's spiritual well-being. He knew God would not approve of this unequal marriages and Esau was in danger of not having the blessing of God in his life. His Hittite wives would have influence on his relationship with God. This should serve us the same lesson. It is not good to seek out a mate that does not believe in God as we do. However that is not withstanding the power of God to both convict and save that mate. Nevertheless we should not willingly seek out that kind of mate, as Esau did. Yet, also as with Isaac, if we have family that is going astray it should cause us concern. We come back to the same lesson, keeping in step with the Spirit.