Morning Moments

Gen 26 -
6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

What is it about us that find it so difficult to learn from another’s failure? We rarely even learn from our own. In the words of F. B. Meyer, “A man may pass blessings on to his children, as well as the sad entail of evil habits.”

Isaac’s father, Abraham had told a half truth in claiming Sarah to be his sister for fear of his own hide. But Isaac went a step farther in declaring his wife to be his to be his sister for though she was related, she was not his sister at all. His claim too was in fear of losing his own life.

It is important to understand that a lie is a willful and determined misrepresentation or distortion of the truth. That is what both father and son did in the hope of saving their own lives. Jesus said in Matthew 16:25 (KJV) -

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

And in Luke 12:4-5

4“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!

As we learn for the context of our text, failure is not final and fear is not necessarily fatal, but it can and does affect future generations, as did Abraham affect Isaac.

Did you ever notice that there are times when our children do as we have done without even knowing that we have done them? Is it genetic or is it a case of the sins of the fathers being passed on to their children?

As children, many of us sang, “Be careful little tongue what you say.” That is a good chorus for us all to keep in our hearts for the Scripture says, “Be sure your sins will find you out.” It also says, “Some men’s sins go before them and some follow after them.”

The bottom line is that our lives do affect others. There is no denying it and there is no stopping it. So, we must be very careful how we live. We never know who is watching and learning from us – be it good or bad.

BLESSINGS!