The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 31 July 2024 – TOPIC: ISAAC’S CHALLENGES
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THE DAILY FOUNTAIN
DAILY DEVOTIONAL OF THE
CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
DATE: WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2024
TOPIC: ISAAC’S CHALLENGES
26:1. There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
26:2. Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.
26:3. “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
26:4. “And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
26:5. “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
26:6. So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
26:7. And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She [is] my sister”; for he was afraid to say, “[She is] my wife,” [because he thought,] “lest the men of the place kill me for Rebekah, because she [is] beautiful to behold.”
26:8. Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window, and saw, and there was Isaac, showing endearment to Rebekah his wife.
26:9. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she [is] your wife; so how could you say, ‘She [is] my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’ “
26:10. And Abimelech said, “What [is] this you have done to us? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.”
26:11. So Abimelech charged all [his] people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
26:12. Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.
26:13. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;
26:14. for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.
26:15. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth.
26:16. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
26:17. Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
26:18. 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.
26:19. Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found a well of running water there.
26:20. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water [is] ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they quarreled with him.
26:21. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that [one] also. So he called its name Sitnah.
26:22. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
26:23. Then he went up from there to Beersheba.
26:24. And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I [am] the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I [am] with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.”
26:25. So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26:26. Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army.
26:27. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
26:28. But they said, “We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with thee
29 That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.
30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
33 And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.
THE MESSAGE:
The famine in Canaan made Isaac relocate to Gerar, in the Prillistine territory. God appeared and instructed him to stay in Gerar than go to Egypt; and that He would bless him greatly. On one occasion, Isaac lied that Sarah was his sister, out of fear of being killed because of his beautiful wife. However, Isaac planted in Gerar and reaped a hundredfold harvest that same year, such that he became very rich and the Philistines envied him. Because of his great wealth, King Abimelech ordered Isaac to depart from them and he moved to the valley of Gerar. Because of quarrels between Isaac’s servants and the herdsmen of Gerar over the wells dug by Isaac’s servants, Isaac moved away to Beersheba where God appeared to him again, and promised to bless him. King Abimelech came with his team to Beersheba for a peace pact with Isaac and later left. After this, Esau upset Isaac and Rebekah by marrying two Hittite women.
In spite of his numerous challenges, Isaac was victorious because the Lord was with him and blessed him because of Abraham. Isaac was also obedient to God and had a peaceful disposition. God knows all the problems facing you and He will make you victorious. Decide to obey Him today and always.
PRAYER: May Your will be done in my life, O Lord Amen
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