Daily a new Bible text for devotion - EZBB

Genesis 26:1 and 24

But it is interesting to note that there was a famine in that land. Which land? The Promised Land! The land God had promised to Abraham and his descendants — later described as flowing with milk and honey. There was a famine in that land. Although God could easily have provided abundant food for Isaac despite the famine all around him, He did not do so. The man chosen by God had to suffer alongside all his pagan Canaanite neighbors.

Trials are the common lot of God’s people; they always have been and always will be, until the Return of Jesus. Isaac did not ask, "God, why do You allow this famine in the Promised Land?" Isaac did not rebuke the famine in the name of the Lord. Admittedly, he did not react in the right way. But this was neither the first nor the last trial of this kind to strike God’s people in the Promised Land.

Trials are the normal experience of God’s people, even when they are exactly where He wants them to be. Somehow, we have internalized the idea that if God has called us to a place or a specific ministry, we will not encounter problems. Everything will be a bed of roses. When the path gets rough, we wonder what is wrong. "Perhaps I am not following God’s will."

Trials are the common experience of God’s people. And, following a passage that describes repeated disputes over wells with local herdsmen, the Lord appeared to Isaac and said (v. 24): "Fear not, for I am with you". The Lord never says "Do not fear" unless someone is afraid. Isaac had many fears.

Do you have any fears? We should bring our fears to the Lord in prayer and be open to asking for prayer regarding our fears. The people God uses are ordinary people with ordinary fears.

Had Isaac not faced difficulties in Gerar, he likely would have been content to stay there for the rest of his life. God used those difficulties to lead him back to where he was supposed to be.