IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

Date: Jan. 23, 2020

Passage

Genesis 26:1-15 (ESV)

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

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, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 26:4

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

1. Stay in this land (1-6)

A famine struck, and Isaac calculated to go to Egypt to survive. The Lord God appeared to Isaac and commanded him not to go down to Egypt. If he stayed in the land, God promised to protect him, provide for him, and give him and all the land of Canaan for his descendants. God extended the covenant promise he gave to Abraham to Isaac. God would make Isaac a source of blessing to all nations. Isaac believed God's promise and stayed in the land by faith. We need faith in God's promises to overcome our hard situation and calculations. Then God can bless us and use us as a blessing to the world.

2. God protects Isaac's family (7-15)

Isaac was fearful of the men in Gerar and told Rebekah to say she was his sister, so they would not kill him and take her from him. Eventually, Abimilek saw through his ruse and he rebuked Isaac for deceiving them. God protected his family through Abimilek. God also gave Isaac wells during the famine, and Isaac prospered a hundredfold.

Prayer: Prayer: Lord, forgive my foolish mistakes. Help me to stay in the promised land by faith.

One Word: Stay in the mission land by faith

Daily Bread

God Makes Things Grow

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Key Verse: 3:6-7

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Read More

Intro Daily