Genesis chapter 26

Two things here struck me.

Firstly, this is about trusting God. The chapter starts off with the Lord telling Isaac to avoid Egypt and go live where He tells him and then He will bless Isaac because Abraham, Isaac's father, obeyed the Lord and kept his commandments. Isaac here followed the example of his father, and he trusted in God. As a result, his crops harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, because God blessed him, even though there was a severe famine.

Secondly, Isaac repeats exactly the same thing that Abraham did - he claims that Rebekah is his sister just as Abraham told others that Sarah was his sister, not his wife. I reckon he learned of this from Abraham, or at least got to know that his father had used this excuse.

There is an advert on the radio here at the moment which talks about how if you cross the road whilst using the mobile phone, if you go through a red light when driving, and other things, then your child will copy you. It is so true. The times I have seen my children do something and I know it is because they have seen me or my husband do the very same thing. To me, this is a warning to try and live my life in such a way that my children will see me do nothing bad, nothing that is wrong. I am very often unsuccessful in this, but I would hate for my behaviour, my actions to cause my children to stumble, to do something they clearly shouldn’t, just because they saw me do it. It is such a responsibility bringing up children and yet such a blessing and a joy. Children follow the example of their parents.

And here, Isaac is following the example of his father, both the good and the bad. Yes, he is showing great faith, but he is also showing that often he relies on his own wits rather than turning to God. That such an example today, as you can clearly see both Abraham and Isaac mess up at times, go their own way and get it wrong yet they are both such men of faith. But their hearts were right with God, and when your heart is right with God, everything else falls into place, no matter how much you may mess up your life.