Scripture Daily

Context No. 1509 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 26:23-27: in context

23He went up from there to Beersheba. 24The LORD appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25He built an altar there, and called on the LORD’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well. 26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. 27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”

Isaac, having moved from place to place amid conflict over wells, comes up to Beersheba. That night the LORD appears to him: I am the God of Abraham your father; do not be afraid, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake. Isaac responds by building an altar there, calling on the name of the LORD, and pitching his tent, and his servants dig a well. Then Abimelech, who had earlier sent Isaac away, comes to him with his advisers, and Isaac asks why they have come, since they hated him and drove him off.

God's word to Isaac comes at a moment of insecurity, after conflict and repeated relocation, and it is simple and steadying: do not be afraid, for I am with you. The remedy God offers for Isaac's fear is not a change of circumstances but his own presence: I am with you. That is the ground on which fear is answered throughout scripture, not the removal of every threat but the assurance of God's presence in the midst of it. And notice that God introduces himself as the God of Abraham your father. The God who had been Isaac's father's God now speaks to Isaac directly, becoming personally his own God, not merely inherited but encountered. There is a moment in every life of faith where the God of our parents, our teachers, our tradition, must become our own God, met personally, not just received secondhand; and here it happens for Isaac. And notice his response: he builds an altar and calls on the name of the LORD. Meeting God, reassured of his presence, Isaac worships; the encounter issues in an altar. Both things are worth taking. When fear presses, God's answer is often not changed circumstances but his presence, do not be afraid, for I am with you; and the God of those who went before us waits to become personally our own, met and worshiped, not merely inherited.

When fear presses on me, do I hear God's answer, do not be afraid, for I am with you, resting in his presence more than in changed circumstances, and has the God of those who went before me become personally my own God, met and worshiped rather than only inherited?

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