“From there he went up to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.” (Genesis 26:23–25, ESV)
I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake. Despite ourselves, God often blesses us. For many, this is a great mystery. For others, it is a reality that they never ponder. Yet, for all of us who enjoy God’s blessings, we should stop and ask a simple question: “Am I blessed for my obedience or because of the obedience of one of my relatives?”
So many people live without the favor of God on their lives. You see it in there lives on almost a daily basis. In fact, there’s a popular phrase right now that defines that lack of favor so many Americans are experiencing. The phrase is, “The struggle is real,” and it is a (generally) ironic saying often used in place of the saying, “first world problems”. Has slightly more urban undertones than “first world problems”. Denotes a situation where the user wishes to express that they are encountering some sort of undesirable difficulty, but dealing with it. With irony, it has a comical effect of dramatizing a non-critical, yet undesirable situation.[i]
Isaac was experiencing the blessing of God despite the fact that he had just given his wife to the king of Gerar and claimed she was his sister! What happens next to Isaac is stunning in its magnitude. “Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.” (Genesis 26:12–13, ESV)
Yet, those blessings weren’t about him. As God told him, I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”Isaac’s blessings were from Abraham’s bank account!
As you step into your new day, is God blessing you? If so, is it because of your faithfulness or someone else’s? And if you are not, perhaps its time to stop the current routine, drop to your knees in surrender and roll your situation onto the God who can speak life into it!
Faith Filled Fridays hope to boost your trust in God and accelerate your daring and courage in everyday life. Dr. Matthew Lee Smith, Executive Director of Eagles In Leadership, writes each encouragement out of a heart that has known both great joy and great loss – his wife of 38 years, 5 months and 2 days was promoted to Heaven on November 11, 2017. Through every experience, God has proven Himself more than faithful and trustworthy. He welcomes your comments below.
[i]Extracted on May 9, 2019, from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20struggle%20is%20real
