We have a good Father, don’t we? I love the song, “You’re a good, good Father. It’s who You are. It’s who You are, and I’m loved by You. It’s who I am. It’s who I am.”
Luke 11:13 says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
I’m reading in Genesis the story of Isaac. God blessed Isaac like He had blessed Abraham, his father.
In Genesis 26, God has blessed Isaac to the point the king asked him to move on because he had become much too powerful. Isaac sowed seed and reaped 100 times what he sowed. That, for the record, is amazing. God blessed Isaac with flocks, herds and slaves, and his neighbors the Philistines were jealous.
Sometimes when God pours His blessings on us, those around us can become jealous. It happens. We live in a sinful, fallen world. They don’t see what has gone on behind closed doors. They haven’t seen the tears that have been shed or hear the prayers prayed from inside your prayer closet. All they see is how you’ve been blessed.
So how do you handle their jealousy? Jealousy inevitably brings conflict. In Genesis 26, Isaac was opening wells his father had dug, and the Philistines were filling them with dirt. Isaac could have gotten mad, but instead he dug new wells.
Wells were and are a source of life-giving water. When Isaac opened new wells, the Philistines quarreled with him saying the water was theirs. The first time, Isaac named the well Quarrel. The second time, Isaac named the well Hostility.
Isaac identified the root cause. The Philistines wanted to take away the life-giving source in hopes of deterring and hurting Isaac. They wanted to snuff out the thing which could benefit Isaac most.
On the third try Isaac had a well dug, the Philistines backed off. Isaac named the well Open Spaces. Isaac named it Open Spaces “because the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” It reminds me of Psalm 18:19, “He brought me out to a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”
Isaac could have easily gone to the king and told him the wells belonged to him because they had been his father’s, but he didn’t. He didn’t offer a defense. Why? Because He knew God would provide.
What if God had allowed the Philistines to close those wells and claim those wells because He didn’t want Isaac at that location? What if God was causing Isaac to move on as a form of protection? Was God protecting Isaac from something harmful? Was God moving Isaac to bless him more?
Too often in today’s society when people are blessed, they clutch so tightly to the things of this world, to the blessings they didn’t work to attain that they lose sight of what is important.
What are you holding onto? What do you clutch tightly to your chest as if protecting it with your life? Career. Car. Clothes. Home. Let’s go a little deeper. Spouse. Son. Daughter. Family members. Your reputation. Your position – in the community, in your church, in your home.
When things come up and try to take those things, those people away from you, do you fight like the dickens to keep them? Don’t get me wrong. There are times when we are to fight, but do you know what times that you aren’t to fight? Do you recognize God’s hand? Do you acknowledge you don’t fight against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12)?
Is what you’re fighting for a kingdom matter? Is it someone’s soul? Is it someone’s future in eternity you are fighting for, or are you fighting for control and power?
Identify what the problem is. Name it. Quarrel. Hostility.
Look for God’s guidance. Identify it. Name it. Open Spaces.
Life is too short to be fighting for something God doesn’t intend on your having in the first place.
Life is too short to be fighting for something you didn’t work to attain.
Life is too short to fight for the things you did work to attain.
You fight when God leads you to fight. Otherwise, you seek God and follow Him and let go of all the nonsense. Sometimes we make life harder than it has to be.