“Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.” (Genesis 26:1–3, ESV)
Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. When a catastrophe happens, what’s your first reaction? Yours is probably the same as the rest of us … we want to get away and spare our family the pain and suffering of staying. And, sometimes that’s the right option. However, when we are in close relationship with the Lord, often His response is, “Stay, I will be with you!”
Faith obeys when sight wants to flee! This is probably the greatest difference between a growing faith and a life lived by doubt. In a growing faith, we hear God speak to us as we open His words each day. Reading the words of God, combined with the inner workings of the voice of the Spirit of God, brings about a revelation as to the path for our lives from God each day. We get enough light to make the next steps. Often those next steps don’t make sense in light of our situation.
This is exactly what happened to Isaac. When the famine came upon the land, God was very clear in His instructions to Isaac. Often times today, the people of God are unsure as to what to do next. They may consult with friends who are spiritual. Often they talk to their pastor. And it seems like that most of the time we look to how we feel about the situation as we make our decision.
This is somewhat okay, but it is far from the way the growing man or woman of faith responds to the difficult situations of their lives. When it comes to our response, we want to know exactly what God wants us to do today. Therefore we go directly to God and discover what he desires for us to do.
It is in opening the word of God, crying out to the Spirit of God, and seeking our path from God on a daily basis that we discover how God guides. God will speak from His word through the whisper of His Spirit about the next steps on our path of abundant and eternal life.
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.
“And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” (Luke 2:51–52, NASB95)
