Updated Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Bible Studies for Life lesson for April 20: Exploring Perseverance

By Catherine Painter

Focal Passages: Genesis 26:1-3, 6,12-22

Isaac became a classic study in perseverance when famine reached Canaan. God instructed him to remain rather than flee to Egypt. Isaac persevered and complied (Gen. 26:6). Have you been there, done that?

When Isaac became wealthy, jealous Philistines filled his wells with dirt that his father Abraham had dug, and King Abimelech insisted, "Leave us, for you are much too powerful for us" (v. 16).

I recall a party where other Christians and I sensed we were delaying fun that could begin once we "sticks in the mud" left early. They said, in effect, "Leave; you make us uncomfortable."

Today's world is stressful. Cash flow, deadlines, and relationships disturb our peace. Marriages end, dreams die, stocks crash. Clothes go out of style and appear half priced later in consignment shops. Houses people worked lifetimes to afford burn to the ground.

A pastor "digs the well" of a spiritually consecrated church, but must dig again when selfish factions spread discord and choke the well. He perseveres, like Isaac - "a foreigner in the land" (v. 3). Perhaps you have faced personal famines, and realized the easy way out is not always God's will. And so you persevere.

Isaac dug again the wells Abraham had already dug. We've all experienced similar circumstances. I recall conversations ceasing at my approach as though the group drew a circle to shut me out. The climax of Isaac's story is verse 24: "The Lord appeared to him and said, 'Do not be afraid for I am with you.'" The acronym for fear is, "False Evidence Appearing Real."

David wrote, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalms 23:4). When God was all David had, He was all David needed.

When Christians dig again the "wells" of faith in our land, we will overcome the despair many feel today. God may not bless us materially to the extent He blessed Isaac (v. 14), but He has blessed us beyond measure with eternal life. Jesus unstopped the wells of the water of life that the Pharisees and Sadducees had choked by their laws and rituals; and by dying for the sins of the world, He drew a circle that took us in.