Has God ever Misspoke?

Genesis 26:17-32

Have you been part of a church that the message is all about your health, your wealth, it has a name, it’s called the prosperity gospel and it will draw a good crowd of people, and why not, none of us what to hear a depressing message.  You would think that Jesus being God, our Creator, would have known better than to say “In the world you will have tribulation” maybe he just misspoke in John 16:33?   Let me be very clear, Jesus has never misspoke, and in Matthew 24, Jesus is telling His disciples about signs of the closing of the Church age, yes it had a beginning and it has an end.  Jesus makes this statement in verse 21, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be.”  And often I wonder why people like the prosperity gospel, even when it is not based on Scripture. Who wants to hear that in the world you will have tribulation?

Isaac has just been run out of the place he called home, not because he is a bad guy but because God is blessing him.  He takes his people and moves only to find that the Philistines have stopped up all the wells his father had dug; and without water you are finished, you lose your herds, your flocks and the people die for lack of water.  So Isaac tells his servants to dig a new well and the herdsmen of Gerar tell his servant to hit the road that is their well.  So Isaac digs another well and once more the people of the land tell him to keep moving because it’s their water. I believe that might fall into the area of tribulations!  Verse 22 begins in this way; “And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it.  So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the Land.”   

What just happened?  Isaac and his people get run out of a country, go to a new area and get pushed around by some herdsmen.  Why is this happening and why is he not standing up and fighting back?  I believe the simple answer is that Isaac knew that God was his provider and protector, and his actions seem to make that clear.  So if God is your provider and protector, is it necessary to do anything but what Isaac did?  In verse 24 Isaac and his people have arrived in Beersheba and the Lord appeared to him that very 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.”  How did Isaac react; “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.” 

God honored Isaac because he obeyed and depended on God to protect and provide for his family and his people, and as I look at the wells that our forefathers have dug and how they are being covered over, I also must make a choice to fight or wait on the Lord my God to provide and protect my family.  It always comes down to this fact; can I trust God to protect and provide, and I stand in good company when I put my hope in Him and Him alone.  The bottom line of John 16:33 ends with Jesus saying this; “But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

From the Bach Porch,

Bob Rice