The Harvest of Perseverance (Week 9)

Readings

  • Genesis 26

  • Daniel 3:8–30

  • Galatians 6:7–10

Silent Reflection

Remarks

Genesis 26 tells the story of the life of Isaac following Abraham’s death. It seems like such a brief summary considering we follow the life of his father for thirteen chapters. And yet this one chapter tells a powerful tale of faithfulness and humility, one that strikes some of our prouder and more enterprising American sensibilities as counterintuitive or even downright foolish.

At first, the story paints a less-than-commendable picture of Isaac as he repeats his father’s mistakes, passing his wife off as his sister and causing quite the commotion with Abimelech. From there, we get one brief mention of blessing as Isaac stays in the land to harvest — and he reaps a hundredfold.

It is significant that he stays. How many of us would have crumbled under the weight of failure, under the guilt of having committed the one error we swore we never would, that of our parents? Apparently having shown he doesn’t have what it takes to carry his great father’s legacy, Isaac doesn’t do what many of us might have. He doesn’t just give up on the whole mission of God. Instead he stays in the land, he stays committed in spite of his own failure, and he reaps a hundredfold.

It turns out that Isaac inherited more than just his father’s weaknesses. Isaac shares his father’s commitment to faithfulness and to an “others first” program of selfless living. Isaac goes about digging wells, looking for a place for his family to continue living out the promise of God. But Isaac encounters hardship. Well after well after well, he opens each one only to be robbed of his hard work by other shepherds who come to quarrel and insist the water belongs to them.

Isaac is unjustly treated. He is robbed of justice, and yet he stays. Indeed, he does more than stay. He actually bows to their demands. This is the part that seems so un-American. Others take what is rightly his — and he lets them. Un-American, yes, and at the same time very Christlike. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “If somebody sues you for your cloak, give them your tunic as well.” Isaac lives by this teaching: If somebody takes your well, dig another one and give it away also.

Isaac doesn’t fight for his rights. He does not demand justice for the wrongs that are done to him. Inside of Isaac lives a little bit of the faithfulness and a little bit of the hospitality that drove his father. Isaac doesn’t fight back, but he also doesn’t leave. He perseveres and keeps digging wells until the circumstances allow him to take the next step.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Abimelech shows up again. Isaac is somewhat alarmed, realizing his past mistakes may have overshadowed his reputation, so he asks why Abimelech is there. And to his surprise, they are there to make a treaty with him because, in their words, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you.”

The world was watching Isaac, and despite all the mistakes and the confrontations and the mishaps, what they saw was the hundredfold harvest, the logic-defying generosity, and the incarnate mission of redemption. In other words, yes, they saw humanity, but by their own admission they also saw God.

Silent Reflection

Response

  1. How have you let personal failures, sin, or mistakes define who you are?

  2. How have you experienced blessing in your life by staying where God placed you?

  3. Are there any conflicts in your life where you need to reevaluate your posture and objectives so the world can see something different?

  4. What is the difference between what we read about Isaac and “being a doormat” or struggling with codependency?