Thursday, October 25, 2007

Day 9 - Genesis 26:23-24 & Genesis 31:42

Do not Fear
Genesis 26:23-24 -

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”


Fear God

Genesis 31:42 -If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”


God speaks to Issac in this Do not Fear passage, encouraging him that he will keep his promise to bless Issac and multiply his offspring for Abraham's sake. Because of some issues with water wells and some of the mistreatment he is experiencing, he must have wondered what was going on. God speaks to him at night and encourages him with this promise. What an encouragement that God didn't forget him and yet what an honor to have a promise hanging on your dad. But what I love is how Isaac responded in this next verse.So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well. He worshipped God. How these verses should encourage us and lead us to worship our Father in Heaven who cares so intimately and knows when we need his help. With this same emphasis, the next passage of scripture, shows that Issac retained this understanding of fear in the right context, so much so that, it is called the Fear of Issac. May our fears be so transformed in the light of Christ that we become people who could be described as ones who fear God.