Morning Devotion | 3-21-18

The other night I was reading in Genesis 26.

There was a famine in the land that the Lord had given to Abraham and his family. Isaac was now in the land, and due to the famine, he wanted to go to Egypt. Instead, the Lord told him to go to Gerar, which would have exposed him (and his camp) to the danger of the Philistines. The Bible says that God was with Isaac, and in the year’s time that Isaac was in the land of the Philistines, he reaped a hundredfold in harvest. At one point, he was so wealthy that the Philistines (out of envy) asked him to leave. He left the land and went to the Valley of Gerar, and was still prosperous there. Even in the valley, God gave provision. 

As I was reading, I wondered what would have happened if Isaac had decided to go to Egypt, and the Holy Spirit said, “It doesn’t matter what would have happened. Trust and obedience is what matters.” 

Too often we get caught up in asking, “Why?” Either we need an explanation for what WILL happen before we make a decision, or we need an explanation for what HAS happened in the past. Either way, our “why” constantly holds us back from the heart of God. It builds up skepticism in our hearts, and makes us consider silly thoughts like “If I make this decision, what is God withholding?” I believe that if Isaac would have asked or pondered on why he couldn’t go to Egypt, he would have hesitated on Gerar. But his heart was towards obedience. He didn’t backlash or fight for what seemed to be right. & in obedience, the Lord blessed him a hundredfold in the land of his enemies... even in the midst of a famine.

We can be like Isaac, but we must know that God’s heart is for us, even as we’re taking transitional steps. Let us be a people that relinquish our control & our “Why.”