Your Actions are never in a Vacuum

Genesis 26:6-10

Have you ever heard the saying, “Dad’s watch-out, little eyes are watching you?”  Abraham would have been a wise man to heed that message, because Isaac was watching and modeling his father in so many ways.  Before we get down on Abraham or Isaac, it might be wise to look inward, how often did I say, “I will never be like that with my children” only to look in the mirror of my soul and see the reflection of my dad’s action.  Yes, we all learned a lot from dad, and yet it is our choice on how we use what we learned.  God blessed Jan and I with a beautiful girl, she was and is kind and sweet, she has always been a blessing to her parents, but often my reactions were too harsh, not kind and not respectful to our precious little lady.  Looking back on those teen-age years it was built more on the lack of a good model, and on fear she would do what her daddy did as a teen.  But that is getting off the subject of Genesis 26, and Isaac’s relationship to his twin sons.

Isaac moves to a new neighborhood and he fears what the people will do, so he models what his father did in a similar situation, this is the account: “So Isaac settled in Gerar: When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “least the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.”  You and I would never do that, but is it not prevalent by many in our society?  We have observed many trying to get to the top of the pile, in government, corporate America, and many other areas?  They do not say she is my sister or he is my brother, but often the self-serving actions give the same message to those whom they fear or want to impress.

One day the king sees Isaac and Rebekah having a good time together and he confronts Isaac, in verse nine we have this account; “So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife.  How then could you say, “She is my sister’?”  O’ how we need king Abimelech in each of our lives to confront us in the area of putting self before our wives or children, but it is rare to find such a person who cares enough to challenge us in these areas.  I was blessed to have Johnny Anderson come into my life not long after I became a Christian, and Johnny called me on the carpet for how harsh I was with Jan.  I knew he was my friend, but that did not take away the sting of his words; I had been found out.  Unlike many of you, I was very fearful and unsure of my role as a husband and dad, and because of that often I would be insensitive.

Isaac came up with some lame excuse of why he told the lie about his relationship with Rebekah, but the bottom-line is it was self-serving, and he was not concerned with Rebekah or what effect it would have on his sons or the community.  But the King ask a great question; “What is this you have done to us.”  Our actions are never in a vacuum; they do have lasting an influence on those we live with and around. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice