THEME: “TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, TOUGH PEOPLE DO”
Read Genesis 26:12-32
TOUGH TIMES BRING OUT THE BEST FROM US
Key Verse: “And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So, he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land” (Genesis 26:22 NKJV).
Tough times make us to be creative; it brings the best out of us. The saying that “necessity is the mother of invention” is very correct. The race for a vaccine or for drugs to cure the coronavirus is borne out of the necessity of our time. With millions of lives infected by the deadly virus and thousands of lives lost, humanity is in dire need of a solution to the coronavirus pandemic.
Isaac’s expertise in how to drill wells grew out of the challenges he faced from Abimelech and the people of Gerar. Abimelech and his people had the knack for filling and shutting down wells with dirt; they were never solution givers like Isaac who kept on digging wells. Each time Abraham or Isaac dug a well the herdsmen of Gerar contested it and were quick to fill it with debris and dirt. “And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them” (Genesis 26:18 NKJV).
Tough times make us God-dependent. We learn how to pray and read the Bible during tough times. At Gerar, Isaac faced discrimination, rejection, and hostility. All that made him God-dependent and focused. He worked harder.
Tough times make us work hard. Isaac and his men dug at least four wells apart from re-digging the initial wells Abraham, their progenitor dug. In the process, their expertise in the drilling of wells gained him public acclaim. Later, Abimelech and his men came to Isaac to appeal for peace. They respected his God and his expertise in digging wells. “But they said, “We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD’” (Genesis 26:28-29 NKJV).
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for the trials I go through. They make me to be more dependent on You. They make me to be more creative.
