Are you facing a bad diagnosis, going through a divorce, lost a loved one or a home in a storm?
If you haven’t yet, there’s a good chance you will at some point in your life.
I’ve been through more than the norm, making me wonder if my faith was being tested.
The worst one of all came in the spring of 2020. My family became victims repeatedly.
When one of my married daughters chose to leave a domestic violent situation with our two grandkids and the clothes on her back, we were grateful and relieved – for five minutes that is.
An inexperienced officer made a horrific mistake, verified by a lawyer and the police chief. However, it didn’t alter the tensest week all of us ever endured, knowing our little granddaughter was in an unsafe place.
Quickly hiring a lawyer meant our money flew out the window. His paperwork hit a brick wall of sorts. All was irrelevant because the courts closed the next day due to the original Covid outbreak.
No refunds. No recourse.
Man couldn’t help us, but God did.
Even then, things continued getting tougher. Our faith definitely felt like it was being tested whether it was or wasn’t.
During the long process, our insides wanted to scream, shout out our injustices to the world, and thoughts of revenge might have entered our minds, but only good friends were aware. Tears were definitely shed.
We did our best to place our trust in God for the outcome. He never fails!
What Encouraged Me
When life gets this tough, God’s Word provides comfort. When I feel my faith is being tested, I like Genesis 26.
Tough times make me feel overwhelmed, tired, stressed, confused, and with the last one, angry and hurt. Isaac rose above those types of feelings. He did the right thing. He had the right reaction.
Not only that, but my problems seemed small in comparison. I’ve never faced the threat of starvation nor been without water for me, my family, and animals.
Isaac faced both in this chapter.
I kind of imagine he was able to rise above from the lessons learned as a child. His dad was Abraham, known as, “The Father of Faith”.
Abraham obeyed God and took Isaac as a boy up Mount Moriah to be offered as a sacrifice to God. I’m sure Isaac recalled the confusion, feeling of abandonment, followed by fear, before He witnessed God’s miraculous power.
Staring up at the knife’s point, the rustling of a ram caught in the bushes could be heard. It became the sacrifice.
Both father and son rejoiced that day.
Faith Tested
In the beginning of the chapter, Isaac was given a promise by God to avoid famine. He was to live as a foreigner among the Philistines where God blessed his crops 100%.
Good things don’t always last long, and they didn’t with Isaac either. He grew wealthy enough the Philistine’s grew jealous and stopped up his wells.
Now that’s a huge problem! Water equates LIFE!
The Philistine king ordered Isaac to move. He fled to a valley nearby, where they reopened some of his father’s previous wells and restored their names.
His servants found fresh water and dug a new well in this valley also. The local shepherds laid claim to it since it was on their land.
I love Isaac’s response. Without complaining, he told his servants to dig another well.
They did, and again, his herdsmen were yelled at.
Isaac named the first well “Argument” and the second, “Hostility” before moving to dig a third one.
Amazingly, he moved once again without complaint, argument, or violence, and finally found success.
Isaac knew. . .
- the promise God would provide
- the abundance he had received could happen again
- God’s promise to give all this land to him and his descendants.
Could we say Isaac was comfortable in his own skin?
Better yet, Isaac had confidence in knowing He was a child of the Most High God. This God sent the Philistine king to Isaac to make a treaty for living near each other and not cause harm.
When life gets tough, tougher, and toughest, we can be like Isaac and do the right thing because we know God’s promises for our lives.
Be aware. Feelings can be a distraction used by the devil, if not careful. We must trust His promises.
What promise are you holding on to so you can rise above your feelings and live peaceably among men?
© 2024, Jena Fellers. All rights reserved.
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