Obedience and God’s Blessings
Genesis 26 – Isaac and Abimelech
1 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the earlier famine of Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
God always knows what is best for us and he will communicate clearly what we should and should not do and where we should and should not go if we will listen to him. God knew things that Isaac could not possibly know so when God instructed him not to go to Egypt the smartest thing Isaac could ever do was obey his voice.
I wonder what pain and misery Isaac avoided and what blessing he enjoyed because he listened to God. God ultimately wants all of us to trust Him enough to listen to His voice and live in obedience to his will so he can bless us.
This passage reminds us that Isaac was blessed partially because of the faithfulness of his father Abraham. I want to follow Abraham’s example and walk with God in a way that allows my family to be blessed as a result like his was.
God, teach me how to listen to your voice and help me to trust you enough to obey quickly when I know you have spoken.
2 Responses to “Obedience and God’s Blessings”
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Rita harper on March 29th, 2010
I had to do some input…..I have been what I honestly feel as nudged by God so many times since giving myself up to Him. I have this overwhelming feeling sometimes to act on things even things that are out of my comfort zone. This feeling is so strong sometimes that my heart races then at other times it is just a gentle nudging of my thoughts. I try so hard to act on these nudgings with a Christian heart and when I do it is like I feel in my heart I have truly pleased God…..then other times when I think oh I can’t do that! God can’t possibly want me to do that….am I just imagining this ?….this is when I feel like I have really let God down. I do have to say that I have had so many blessings from obeying what I feel is God nudging me to do something. I know God deserves my very best at all times…he deserves my trust and obedience…even those times when I just can’t tell if it is Him talking to me or if my imagination is working overtime. I am curious how others feel about nudgings and how they act on them.
Dan Harrison on April 1st, 2010
Rita, I don’t think any of us have a corner on always getting this right. I do think we get better at discerning the voice of God as we walk closer with Him. Jesus said in John 10 that His sheep know His voice. I have sometimes read that and thought I must be a hard of hearing sheep because sometimes it is not completely obvious to me what He is saying. I have been taught most of my life to wait until I have total clarity before taking action and only recently have I received different counsel. Andy Stanley suggests that we should go and actively follow what we believe to be a leading from God by leaning more into a bias for action verses a bias to get stuck second guessing ourselves. His mantra is “Go unless He says no”. That has freed me to trust God more and to take action on what I sense He is saying to me.