Genesis 26

The God of your father...

Previous post: Genesis 25

Well, we’re officially over halfway through the book of Genesis and we’re rolling right along this week to Genesis 26. Here we find a couple interesting parallels.

First, we find Isaac in a land of famine meeting Abimelech. Later, Isaac refers to his wife as his sister.

His father, Abraham, dealt with famine in back in Genesis 12:10 and met Abimelech (probably a different Abimelech, but still) in chapter 20. Abraham also referred to his wife as his sister. Twice.

Anytime we see similar stories in the Bible, there’s usually a deeper message there. It’s almost as if God uses repetition to shine a spotlight on particular biblical stories. There are a ton of parallel stories in the Bible. For example, we have Isaac born from a barren woman, along with Jacob and Samson and Jesus born from barren women. We have the story of depravity in Sodom and Gomorrah and an eerily similar story at the end of the book of Judges in Gibbeah. The prophet, Jonah, falls asleep on a boat only to be roused awake by panicked passengers in the Old Testament; and, Jesus falls asleep on a boat only to be roused awake by panicked passengers in the New Testament. The list goes on and on. There’s immense depth to each of those stories. Each of those stories are packed with life lessons. So, what point is God trying to get across here in the parallel stories of Genesis 20 and 26?

You probably have your own takeaways from Genesis 26. Here are mine.

First—and this is more of side note than a takeaway I suppose—we have a situation here where an immoral believer is called out by a moral unbeliever. I can think of a few Christians who need to hear that this happens sometimes. Just because we believe what is right doesn’t mean that we are always right.

What caught me this week was verse 24. “I am the God of your father Abraham.” (NIV)

While I don’t think this was the point of this verse, I very much took this as a parenting challenge. What if God showed up to one of my kids and said, “I am the God of your father Josh.”

How much would my kids know about God based on my life and words alone? What feelings would that spark in them?

What if Isaac’s response would’ve been, “You’ll have to tell me about you, God, because my dad never did.” Or, “If you’re the God of my father, Abraham, I’d like to find a different God.”

Think about this statement from your kids’ perspective.

Actually, I’ll extend the same challenge to you that I did to myself: if someone approached your kids and said to them, “Describe the God of your father and mother.” Based on the habits of your day-to-day life, how would your kids describe the God you serve? How would they describe where you spend your time, energy, and resources? Would your kids say things like, “He prayed before dinner. We showed up a church a lot. We gave money to some places.” Would they say something like, “My dad believed in the importance of following God, but he was much more passionate about the Dallas Cowboys or the republicans or the democrats or work or golf.” Or, would they say things like, “I saw lives changed around my family. I saw my Dad pray and/or his Bible open throughout my life. I saw him peaceful when he shouldn’t have been. I saw him dole out grace and mercy with his time, money, and talent. I saw him work to have a relationship with God rather than offering up a bunch of impersonal transactions to some theoretical deity in the sky.” I’d want them to say things more like that.

And, that is my takeaway this week: what habits can I begin forming today to improve my kids’ impression of the God I serve? I’d encourage you to think through the same question.

This week’s AI rap summary:

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™