Genesis Teaches Providence: Reminder Genesis 26:1-33

PRESENCE

Genesis 26:1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the L ORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

PRESENCE 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

PRESENCE Genesis 26:11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” 12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The L ORD blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

PRESENCE “We should not think of God as being spatially near or remote, for He is not here or there but carries here and there in His heart. Space is not infinite, as some have thought; only God is infinite and in His infinitude He swallows up all space…He fills heaven and earth as the ocean fills the bucket that is submerged in it, and as the ocean surrounds the bucket so does God the universe He fills. ‘The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.’ God is not contained. He contains.” A.W.Tozer

PRESENCE

PROVIDENCE

PROVIDENCE Genesis 26:28 They said, “We see plainly that the L ORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you,

PROVIDENCE

PRACTICE

PRACTICE Genesis 26:5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

PRACTICE Genesis 26:23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the L ORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the L ORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

PRACTICE “Were I a preacher, I should above all other things preach the practice of the presence of God; and were I a director, I should advise all the world to do it, so necessary do I think it, and so easy, too. Ah! knew we but the want we have of the grace and assistance of God, we should never lose sight of Him—no, not for a moment. There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.

PRACTICE The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament. [When I fail to do this, which is often] I simply say, ‘Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest me; I shall never do otherwise if You leave me to myself, ‘tis You must hinder my failing.’ [And I have] no further uneasiness about it.

PRACTICE But when we are faithful to keep ourselves in His holy presence, and set Him always before us, this not only hinders our offending Him, and doing anything that may displease Him, at least wilfully, but it also begets in us a holy freedom.” Brother Lawrence

PRACTICE Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

PRACTICE