RHEMA
ISAAC
It’s not that Genesis is my favorite book, but I think origin stories are cool. It shows the beginnings of our history as Christians, the simple demonstrations of faith in those times and how ultimately those simple forms hold true today. It lets us see truly how unchanging and faithful God is, how pivotal obedience to God’s word is and how immutable the Word is.
In Genesis chapter 12 vs 10, there was a famine in the land, of such epic proportions that Abraham packed up his worldly goods and headed to Egypt to hunker down for “winter was coming” (so to speak). He survived the winter, but not without some drama. In the end, it all worked out for his good. This too, is a story for another day. For now, I want to draw our attention to the concept of obedience to God’s instructions.
Now, a few chapters later, in Genesis chapter 26 vs 1,
another famine showed its terrible face in the land and this was more gruesome than the one that had been in Abraham’s time. Isaac prepped to head south (metaphorically speaking of course) for the winter, like every individual with commonsense would, and again the location for this was Egypt. I imagined that his father had told him the story of his own famine days along with the “she is my sister antics” but that is another tale for another day. God came to Isaac and instructed Isaac not to go… God showed up and gave him RHEMA.
RHEMA – a specific word to a specific person regarding a specific situation. This is the instruction of what to do in a situation delivered in real-time.
Isaac stayed in the land as instructed. He LIED about his wife being his sister because he was afraid that the men of Gerar would kill him for her hand, because she was beautiful, he tried to save his head. I’m pretty sure his actions were not without cause. However, the King of the Gerar happened to have seen him with ‘’his sister’’ in a way and manner that was ‘’clearly not sisterly’. Abimelech basically berated Isaac for this dastardly action and gave an edict protecting him from any such molestation that he, Isaac, had earlier imagined.
Picture that event, replay it in our time-
News Flash!
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‘’ISAAC, ‘’SHE’S MY SISTER’’
“The construction mogul Isaac lied about his marital status, claiming his wife was his sister!’’ etc …
He would become known as a dishonest man, and nobody would ever want to do business with him!
Yet, we have the Bible telling us in Verse 12 that Isaac sowed in the land with the odds against him and he reaped a hundred-fold!
Rhema works regardless of the bumbling we may have done. The word of grace named upon one’s life is sure regardless of prior misdemeanors. Praise the Lord!
The key is obedience to the rhema God has given!
Observe also that the Lord relates to us as individuals.
