For 2020, I have chosen Isiah 41:10 as my personal verse. This lead into a theme for this year’s His Encouragement posts. Each week, I will be looking at another “fear not” of the Bible. I hope that as we journey together through these verses that we all will learn a little more about trusting God and rooting out the fear in our lives.

And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.

Genesis 26:24 KJV

In our journey through the “fear nots” of the Bible, we now move from the life of Abraham to his son, Isaac. A lot of things have happened already in Isaac’s life before we get to chapter 26, but we won’t take the time to recap.

Now, there is a famine in the land, and God tells Isaac not to go to Egypt, so Isaac stays in the land of Gerar belonging to the Philistines. When the people of the land asks Isaac about his wife, he claims she’s his sister. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well, a while later, the king Abimelech finds out that Rebekah is Isaac’s wife and gets very angry with them and sends them away.

So, Isaac moves back into the valley and reopens his father’s wells that the Philistines had previously filled in. God blesses Isaac and he becomes very wealthy, so the Philistines envy him. Isaac’s servants dig a well and find water. The Philistine herdsmen claim the well belongs to them. Isaac moves to a new spot and his servants dig another well. Then the herdsmen claim that one too. Isaac moves to a new place and they dig a new well. In all this, we never read of Isaac taking retaliation on the herdsmen or even arguing with them. It was his right to own the well that his servants dug, but he simply moves on and digs another well. The Philistines don’t take this one, but still Isaac moves on.

“And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.”

Isaac builds an altar here, sets up his tent, and his servants dig another well. Then, Abimelech, the chief captain of his army, and another friend come to see Isaac. Now, Isaac seems a little nervous and he basically asks, “What are you doing here since you hate me so much?”

This is their reply, “We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee…”

I wonder if it was Isaac’s attitude that allowed the Philistines to see God in his life. I wonder if the outcome would have been different if Isaac had laid claim to his wells and fought the herdsmen. What if he sought revenge? Or “stood up for his rights”?

Instead, he was confident in God, trusted God’s promise, and believed that God would provide. He “turned the other cheek” and dug another well.

God says, “Fear not, for I am with thee and will bless thee.” Sometimes, we face situations were others invade our rights or they step on us while climbing the ladder to “success.” It would be so easy to retaliate or to “stand up for yourself,” but there are times when God asks us to be still. You will be a far better witness when you walk away and dig another well.

Because Isaac believed that God was with him, he let God be God, and simply moved on with his life. Because of this, he was a light and an influence on the Philistines and they saw God’s presence.

Maybe you are facing a situation like this right now. Rather than fight back, maybe it’s time to move on, trust God, and dig another well.

What scripture is encouraging you today? Share it with us!

Check out these other blogs for more encouragement from God’s word for your Thursday.

Nicole @ Christian Fiction Girl

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective 

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Becca @ The Becca Files

Jenny @ Author Jenny Lynn

Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes

Andi @ Radiant Light

Leslie @ Words of Hope