The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/genesis/26.htm

If anyone is following me, I know this is going extremely slow. Last year, I participated in a year-long study of the Bible in which we read three, four, and sometimes five chapters of the Bible at a time. I found that there was no way to read and comprehend that much, so I’m simply doing a little at a time so I can read it, think about it, and reflect on it. And not to worry, it won’t always be like this. We will read the entire Book of Jude in one day when it comes. 🙂

When I say “reflect”, you have to try to put yourself in the positions described, to try to get a feel of what they were going through. For example, God told Abraham to come to the land of the Canaanites, His intention is to give His chosen people this land, but they are not there yet. The land is still divided up into various “clans” I will call them rather than countries. The land is still occupied by Canaanites, Philistines, Midianites, and the list goes on an on. And we find Isaac in the same situation Abraham was in twice, fearing your wife would be taken from you and yourself killed. It had to be a pretty lawless land if someone could do that, and you had to lie and say your wife was your sister so they didn’t kill you. Times were not good.

The chapter starts off with God giving the Isaac instructions not to go to Egypt. Not trying to be sarcastic by any means, but it was almost as if God knew that one day His people would become captive and slaves in that land.

And listen to what God says about Abraham, he ” kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Will God be able to say that about you?

And I have a difference of opinion than most. Many dismiss the Old Testament, saying that Jesus changed all of that, and that we are no longer under the “law” but under “grace”. Does God change? Are any of God’s plans failures? To say we are not under the law is saying that God made a mistake and Jesus had to rectify it. To me, the only thing that changed was man. Originally, God meant for the “law” to be ever present in man’s mind, but man was incapable of doing that, so we are under the same covenant as before, but instead God said He would put it in our hearts instead of our minds, and He sent Jesus to be the perfect example of how that was meant to be.

One more thought before I move on, and I know this example is geared towards men, but there are many other situations that apply, but when we are faithful to our wives, is it because it’s a “law” (and yes, adultery is actually a law in most places). Do we remain faithful to our wives because we are afraid of getting caught by her? Or are we faithful to our wives because we love them, and don’t want to hurt them. It’s the same with God. We keep His laws because we love Him, and not because it’s “legalistic” or because “God is an angry and just God”. No, we keep His laws because we love him.

And make no mistake, the Commandments were in place long before Moses brought them down from the Mount. Otherwise, why would it have been a sin for Cain to kill Abel?

The chapter goes on to relate that the same think happened to Isaac that happened to Abraham. There was a famine, and they had to go to the land of the Philistines to King Abimelech, and he had to tell the king that Rebekah was his siter, then Abimelech found out that was not true, and well, I’ll let you read the rest. And God gave Isaac wealth and prosperity, this chapter sets the stage for the story of the life of Isaac.

Enjoy todays read, and do not forget to pray to God to open your heart and mind so you can receive His word with understanding. Amen.