STUDY THEME: BECOMING WHAT GOD WANTS ME TO BE. 6-16-02

"GO WANTS ME TO LIVE IN PEACE."

GENESIS 26: 17-22, 23-25, 26-31.

PLEASE OPEN YOU BIBLE TO GENESIS 26.

Peace---what a strange word in our world today! My friend Larry Aspergren has just returned from Angola. The people of that country have been at war for 40 years. Over 500,000 of their citizens have been killed. The word peace is just a mirage to them. This is true in many countries of the world today.

So many people have seen so much evidence of conflict in our world that they assume peace is just an illusion. The Bible teaches, however, that we can experience genuine peace in relationship with God. Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers can experience peace with God, others, and themselves. Such peace is wholeness under God’s rule---an assurance of security in

His grace, and a certainty of life with Him in eternity. Today’s lesson highlights the peaceful agreement reached between Isaac and Abimelech.

In the secular worldview, peace is defined primarily as the absence of conflict, tension, pressure, and problems. Some people desperately seek peace by pursuing different gurus and eastern religions. Some secular people want tranquillity unmarred by life’s storms. Some are willing to risk destructive conflict foe selfish reasons. Some people make peace with others impossible by engaging in and endless cycle of retaliations. Thus at many places in the world violence continues generation after generation as each side continues to retaliate for something done by the other side.

In the biblical worldview, peace with God is the basis for any other kind of peace. It results in peace of mind, and it leads to peace with other believers and a commitment to live peaceably with all people insofar as it is possible. This kind of peace is like Christian joy in not being conditioned on outward circumstances. Christians know peace with God and seek to make peace with others. How can we experience peace? The Bible Truth is that only God can give His people peace and enable them to live in peace with others. I trust this lesson will help us live in peace.

In the O.T. the word for peace is shalom. The Hebrew concept of shalom is referring to a condition of wholeness and well-being that includes both a right relationship with God and loving harmony with one’s fellow human beings. In the N.T. it is used to describe "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the basis for all kinds of peace. Phil. 4:7 describes this as "the peace of God, Which passeth all understanding." This inner peace also is linked with the peace of reconciliation and fellowship with fellow believers and with peaceful relations believers seek with all people.

1. PLEASE READ GENESIS 26: 17-22.

Isaac is the second of the Hebrew patriarchs. He is the least famous of the patriarchs. Even in most of the passages where Isaac appears he is seen either as Abraham’s son or Jacob’s father. Yet he was an important link to God’s plan in early Hebrew history. He was the child of promise born to Abraham and Sarah and was apparently willing to be offered as a sacrifice if God so willed. Abraham sent his servant to get a wife for Isaac. Isaac prayed for his wife Rebekah to have children, but from their conception, he was overshadowed in importance by Jacob. In his old age, he was deceived by Rebekah and Jacob. This lesson is based on the account of Isaac in Genesis 26, where he is seen to be a quiet man of peace.

Although Isaac lived the longest of all the patriarchs less is recorded of him than of the others.

This is the only chapter exclusively devoted to his life. His was a quiet peaceful, normal life. He was the ordinary son of a great father, and the ordinary father of a great son. We are accustomed to speak of such lives as commonplace and ordinary, and yet the ordinary life is the ‘ordered’ life, and in the truest sense, the ‘ordained’ life. Like sin and discipline, by grace and mercy. This chapter is full of illustrations of how difficulties should and should not

be met.

Verse 17 says that Isaac moved away from there. Verses 1-16 show where he was, why he went there, what he did there, and why he left there. He left Canaan because there was a famine in the land. He went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar. He may have intended to go into Egypt, as his father had done under similar circumstances, but the Lord told Isaac not to go down into Egypt. The Lord allowed him to stay in Gerar for a while and reminded him of His promises to Abraham: many descendants and all these lands. Isaac unfortunately made the same mistake that Abraham had made under similar circumstances. Because Isaac feared for his life, he told everyone that Rebekah was his sister, not his wife. When Abimelech learned of this deception, he was very angry. In spite of this, the Lord blessed Isaac with flocks and servants. He became so prosperous that the Philistines envied him and ordered him to leave their land.

After leaving the city of Gerar, Isaac pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

Gerar was between Gaza and Beersheba. The location of the valley of Gerar is unknown, but

is unknown, but it was probably in the same general vicinity. All this area was in the land that God had promised to Abraham, but that would come later. During Isaac’s day it was under the control of others. Yet both Abraham and Isaac spent some time in and around Gerar. Pitched his tent reminds us that they lived a nomadic existence.

Water rights are crucial in lands with little rainfall. The average rainfall for Palestine is 25 inches per year, most of which falls between November and April. The rest of the year is very dry. Thus people prized and guarded their sources of water. Some would fight to the death to protect or to claim a well or a spring. Abraham had dug wells while he was in this area. Isaac remembered the names and locations of these precious sources of life. The wells were part of his heritage. Therefore, he had his servants clean out these wells. The people of the area had filled them up, no doubt because they claimed this as their own land.

To his credit Isaac does not respond with anger against those who plugged his father’s wells. Instead, he quietly goes about the business of redigging and reopening these wells. That Isaac named these wells using names his father had already given to them would be one way in which Isaac would claim ownership over them.

In addition to redigging Abraham’s wells, Isaac had his servants dig new wells. While in this process, they found there, a spring-fed well. In such an arid land, a spring of flowing water was especially valuable. The herdsmen of Gerar heard of this amazing discovery in land that they considered to be their own. The water is ours was the claim of the herdsmen of Gerar. Since it was near their city, they claimed all rights to it.

Isaac showed his peaceful nature by moving and digging a new well. The herdsmen of Gerar followed Isaac’s camp and claimed the second well as their own also. Again, rather than standing his ground and fighting, Isaac moved to a third location. Since he came to Beersheba in verse 23, this well was probably closer to home than the first two. At any rate, no one challenged Isaac’s right to this third well. He named it Rehoboth, which means "room." He said, for now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. Isaac enjoyed God’s blessing even in the midst of bitter, tiring, inconvenient conflict.

This spirit of yielding is very noteworthy, more particularly as peacemakers are very rare in the East. A strife of this kind is scarcely ever likely to be met by such a spirit of willingness to yield. On the contrary, there is every likelihood of such action leading to further strife and insistence upon personal rights.

Verses 17-22 teach us these truths about peace:

1. Disagreements can lead to conflicts in which many people are hurt or affected.
2. Sometimes it is better to go on one’s way than end up in a fight.
3. To pursue a course of continuing to get even with others can create an endless cycle of violence and hatred.

Conflict is hard to avoid in our world. Some families frequently have loud, argumentative discussions. Sometimes the workplace is marked by conflict, even physical violence. A healthy approach to conflict is to identify its causes and address them candidly and constructively in light of biblical and moral principles. When we fail to deal with the real causes of disagreement, the conflict festers under the surface. Eventually the discord may erupt in a more severe form than the original, unresolved conflict.

Most of us cannot avoid conflict by keeping on the move as Isaac did. We need to learn to resolve conflict wherever we are. Rather than continue to quarrel with Abimelech or the herdsmen of Gerar, Isaac moved his household to a new location. Sometimes flight may be the wisest option. A preacher called the pastor of the church from which he had moved and asked how he was doing with a certain woman in the church. The pastor had he found safety in numbers. The former pastor said he chose Exodus

1. PLEASE READ GENESIS 26:23-25.

Some time later Isaac chose to move again. He returned to Beersheba. Apparently he had heard or believed the famine was over. The land would now be able to sustain Isaac and his household adequately once more.

The Lord commanded Isaac to stop fearing. Earlier in verse 7, the patriarch had lied about Rebekah's identity because he was afraid the Philistines would kill him on account of her. Had his lack of resistance to the herdsman of Gerar when they claimed his wells as their own resulted from his own timidity and fear of personal danger? Or had Isaac’s willingness to move and dig new wells reflected his desire to maintain peace? Whatever fears Isaac possessed, God reassured him with the promise of His presence.

Isaac responded to God’s promise of presence, blessing, and descendants with worship. To express his thanksgiving for and faith in these promises, Isaac built an altar to offer a sacrifice to God. Not only did Isaac build an altar at this sacred spot where God had appeared to him, but Isaac also decided to settle there. Thus Isaac pitched his tent there and had his servants dig a well for water to supply their needs.

Horatio G. Spafford was a Christian lawyer who was a close friend of Dwight L. Moody and other Christian leaders of the day. In 1873 the Spafford’s doctor recommended a trip abroad for the sake of Spafford’s wife’s health. She and their four daughters sailed for Europe. Spafford expected to follow a few days later. On November 22, the ship collided with another ship and sank in 12 minutes. Mrs. Spafford survived , but the girls did not. She cabled her husband, "Saved Alone". After hearing the horrible news, Haratio wrote the words that became a powerful testimony of peace in the midst of trouble:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Verses 23-25 relate to the Bible’s teachings about peace.

1. The God of peace, who takes the initiative in offering peace and a personal relationship with Himself, is where one must find his or her assurance of peace.
2. Peace is a precious heritage from the Heavenly Father and from earthly parents, but each must choose the God of peace personally.
3. God—and a right relationship with Him—is the source of all true peace. Peace with God leads to inner peace that passes human understanding.

1. PLEASE READ GENESIS 26: 26-31

Isaac had avoided conflict with Abimelech and the herdsmen of Gerar by moving away from them. When Isaac’s herdsmen had disputed with the herdsmen of Gerar about a well on two separate occasions, each time Isaac had moved his household to a new location.

In verses 26-27 King Abimelech and some of his officials came to see Isaac at Beersheba. At first Isaac was puzzled by their arrival since previously Abimelech had been hostile to Isaac and ordered him away. Isaac realized that he and Abimelech had never reached a clear resolution to their conflict. Sometimes confrontation with those who threaten peace is necessary for resolution of the conflict.

In verses 28-29 Abimelech had changed his attitude toward Isaac because he realized that the Lord was with Isaac. Occasionally we read in the Scriptures of a non-Israelite’s acknowledgment that the true God is blessing one of His people. For example, in Ex. 8:19, magicians acknowledged God’s role in the plagues to Pharaoh. Rahab, the prostitute, at Jericho, in Josh.,2:8-11. She told the Israelite spies that she realized the true God was guiding the Israelites as they prepared for the conquest of Canaan. She chose to assist the Israelites and follow the true God.

Abimelech and his men proposed a sworn agreement between themselves and Isaac. This non-aggression treaty or covenant was intended to ensure that the two parties no longer would attack or molest each other. The Hebrew word translated molest can convey the idea of violently striking or defeating an opponent. Abimelech and his men reminded Isaac that they had always treated Isaac well and had sent him away in peace. When peace is a gift of God, acting with peace, as Isaac had done, is a powerful testimony.

In verses 30-31, Isaac and Abimelech sealed their agreement with a feast that Isaac prepared. The making of this treaty was a cause for celebration. The next morning the men swore an oath to further solidify their new relationship. Then Abimelech and his men left in peace.

In Isaiah 9:6-7, the prophet Isaiah looked forward to the coming of the "Prince of Peace," the Messiah, who would bring everlasting peace to a sinful, troubled world. In 11:6-9, Isaiah prophesied of a future time when natural enemies would dwell together in peace.

The apostle Paul and other early Christians understood the importance of peace in the Christian’s life. Paul also knew that the peace Christians can experience transcends ordinary human understandings of peace. (Phil. 4:7). Many people today seek peace through such channels as eastern religions or mysticism. While the desire for serenity in life is legitimate, many are looking for peace in all the wrong places.

The biblical view of peace includes all of life. When we are rightly related to God, we will have peace with God, ourselves, and other people. The peace we experience as Christians is a gift from God, not something we can attain by our own efforts. The Bible, however, presents a realistic view of life in this world. As long as sin abounds in human history, conflicts will

Christians can work for peace today in various ways. In our dealings with unbelievers, we can strive for the absence of conflict as much as possible without compromising our faith. A contemporary tragedy is the amount of conflict among Christians. We will never overcome all interpersonal conflicts, but peace should still be our goal. Peace is a gift from God, but He expects us to work for peace in all of our relationships. Ideally, we will strive for peaceful relations at work, school, church, and in our families.

Verses 26-31 illustrate more of the principles of peace.

1. Sometimes confrontation is necessary to begin the process of reconciliation.
2. To resolve conflicts, people need to take the initiative in seeking to be reconciled with anyone from whom they are estranged. Jesus taught that believers should do this no matter who has the grievance. (Matt. 5:23-25; 18: 15-17.)
3. Reconciliation requires mutual confession and mutual commitment of all parties.

NEXT SUNDAY FROM 1 SAMUEL 1 "GOD WANTS ME TO PERSERVERE".

A.V. DAUGHERTY 6-16-02