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To summarise this story so far. There was a famine in the land and he ended up in the Philistine city and he lies to the local leader and the people. This is the point where up to so far. Let me let me layout a couple of truths I think are embedded in this story. One is, try not to follow the flaws of your father.  This deliberately calls attention to the fact that Isaac did what his father Abraham did before him. By including both of these events in the Bible narrative I Believe God wants us to compare them and learn from them. So don’t do what your father does in terms of his bad behaviour. Elsewhere in the Bible like in 1 and 2 kings it is referred to as “walking in the sins of the father”. What today would make us say, “like father, like son”. I think you could read this passage and walk away saying I don’t want to follow in my father’s flaws and make the same mistakes he did. I think the one great lesson that comes through here is that Abraham lied, and it caught up with him. Isaac told the same lie and it caught up with him also. So, be sure your sin will find you out. What you sow is what you reap to quote proverbs. 

A pastor colleague of man tells a story of someone in his congregation he knew who was in the business world? One day the boss said to this man, I want you to make an untrue disclosure to a customer in order that we might get the order and keep his business. The man who was a Christian, refused. His boss insisted that he do it, and the guy replied, and I quote, “if I do this, then you will never be able to trust me again”. Because you will never know whether I’m lying to you or not. The boss was infuriated at his defiance and threatened to fire him, but the Christian employee would not budge, and as a result they lost the customer and lost the account. However, the man still managed to keep his job. A few years later, that original manager headed up a management buyout of the company. The manager now the owner of the company called him into his office the man though. He thought I’m now he is going to finally sack me now he is in complete control. But the owner offered him a considerably higher position in the structure of the new company. The reason that he was offered the promotion, according to the boss was, and again I quote, “Now I own this company I recognise you’re the only one here that I can really trust”. So, don’t lie, just tell the truth. 

I think another observation you could make is that you should obey the Lord. What’s interesting to me is that this story says it is possible to obey the Lord one minute and to disobey him the next. Initially he partially obeyed the Lord, but then he turns right around and lies. We all have to be careful, if we do it right and then we get proud of doing it right, then thinking we are righteous and then we slip up. When you think we are in danger of thinking we are righteous and that is when we are most likely to fall, so be careful. It’s possible to obey the Lord one minute and disobey the next, and this passage illustrates that beautifully in juxtaposition. 

What we should get out of this passage, one, don’t follow the flaws of your father. Two, don’t lie and three, don’t disobey the Lord. All true but I don’t think any of these are the main point of the passage. Why did the God inspire this passage in this book? Bear with me for a minute because. I want to talk a bit about how we should approach the Bible.

You may have noticed I began this Bible Project a year ago by initially doing and overview of each of the 66 books of the Bible. You see the Bible is written in books. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. Numbers. Deuteronomy, Matthew, Mark. Luke and John, Acts, etc.  Men later came along, and divided those books into chapters, and then he subdivided those chapters up into verses and we often get all focused on those little verses, which is fine, that’s legitimate. However, you must always understand those verses and those chapters sit within the context of the book they were written within. If you don’t understand them in the context of the book, you’re in danger of misunderstanding them.

I can’t stress it up how important it is that you look at every verse and every passage in the Bible within context of the book they are contained within.  So, why then did the Lord make a big issue out of in this passage and how does it relate to the rest of the book? Well, I believe the book of Genesis is God’s creative plan being fulfilled through the Abrahamic covenant. When he said don't go to Egypt, he deliberately appeared to Isaac and reminded him of the covenant he made with his father also reminding him that he intended to keep it no matter what. That’s the message of this passage, it has to do with the Lord keeping his promise, keeping his covenant. All that stuff about Abraham lying and Isaac lying and Isaac following the flaws of his father and disobeying the Lord? Put it all together and you come up with something that demonstrates that God is faithful to his promise even when we are fickle. Even when we fail. God. Is faithful to do what he promised in his covenant. Our failures will never forfeit the promises of God