Swing a Cat

This is a devotional series that rejects fear and promotes faith in God. It shares the story of Isaac and how he faced challenges but ultimately found peace and rest in God. We are encouraged to trust in God's promises, walk in obedience, and find rest in His presence. The message emphasizes that God loves us unconditionally and we should declare and embrace His love in our lives. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Genesis 26.22 He left that place and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one, so he called it Rehoboth. He said, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land. Rehoboth means wide places or streets. Room to move, to wiggle your elbows, or swing a cat. This is just what Isaac needed. There was a famine in the land, but instead of traveling out of the region, the Lord had told him to stay. He had, but he'd taken a page out of his father's early playbook and claimed that his wife was his sister. The king of the area saw him caressing Rebekah, his wife, in Genesis 26.8, after they had been in the area a long time. The king was upset at this because anyone might have made a play for Rebekah and brought guilt on themselves. Now, while this was a different king than had been around when Abraham came through, perhaps they remembered what happened? Isaac was not popular. What made it worse was that Isaac planted in that famine and reaped in the same year 100 times what he planted. Some translations say 100-fold. In verse 14 of this chapter, it says, He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herbs, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. So the king asked Isaac to leave, to put some distance between them, because Isaac was so great and mighty. Isaac was a nice guy, didn't want any trouble. So he took himself away from the general populace and went to the valley of Gerar. Abraham had been there at one point and dug wells, but they'd been stopped up since his day. Not one to lose an opportunity, Isaac ordered his servants to dig them open again, because it's a lot easier digging a well open than digging new wells from scratch. So they dug up a nice fresh one, and the herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's men and claimed it. That well was named Contention. Well, they dug another, probably farther away. They argued over that one too. It was named Hostility. Well, they moved again and dug another well. This one no one argued about, so it was named Wide Places. Now immediately Isaac proclaimed that it had that name, for now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land. Now what's interesting is that these names for the wells weren't new. You'd think they were, since their names matched the actions that were happening around them. But previously in verse 18 of this chapter, when we are told that Isaac decided to dig up the wells that his father originally dug, he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. That means Abraham called them Contention, Hostility, and Wide Places. Isaac, seems to me, to be walking out his father's life. Same wells, same pretend my wife is my sister ploy. These are not that positive. These don't, I don't know, it just doesn't seem like a wise plan. Shouldn't he have expected the trouble? Maybe he did, and maybe that's why they made no trouble back and moved to place after place. You know, the only wise thing he does in this period of his life was sticking to Abraham's God. Isaac was a dedicated relier on Yahweh. In fact, the king who had sent him out came and made treaty with Isaac. It was just after they had moved to yet another new location, Beershabah, and started digging a fresh well there. And the Lord spoke to Isaac, verse 24, and Isaac built an altar to him there. And the king came and made oath with him, and they made a covenant. And since he'd gotten some peace from the oath treaty and heard from the Lord who gave him a promise, when his servants came and said, hey, we've got a great well here, he called the well Oath, or Seven. Now, seven is a significant number in Judaism. It symboled completion. The world was made in seven days. The first verse of the Torah has seven words. The Sabbath falls on the seventh day of every week. There are seven major holidays in the Jewish year. The menorah in the temple had seven branches. There are seven female prophets named in the Old Testament. And it goes on and on and on. There's literally hundreds of references to seven. The number seven is woven throughout their lives, their traditions, and Torah. Now, for Isaac, this place and this well, in fact, did symbolize the end of things. This was a seven for him. This is where he spent the last of his days. He was fruitful in this land and in these places. He was given respite from the conflicts and the stresses of living in the valley. He ended his life in great peace. He went through some tough times. But in the end, the Lord guided him to peace. Wide places. Rest. Now, this is the same promise that we have. This is the same hope that we cling to. If we let the Lord shepherd us, we will pass through the turmoil. We will pass through the strife. We will get to a place of rest. His rest that comes from inhabiting His peace, which comes from being obedient to Him. This is not just peace here in the worldly places, because we get closer and closer to the end of things. There's going to be more and more contention against the followers of Jesus. But an eternal peace. Jesus did not promise us smooth sailing here on earth. He promised us rest as we abide in Him. If we have faith into Jesus, then we will walk in the overcoming victory that Jesus walked in. Regardless of the appearance of the circumstances around us. It's a firm word and a good promise. Jesus has some experience with this. He literally took a nap in the bottom of a boat that was sinking. Matthew 8, 23-27. The first promise from the Lord Isaac had in this region was, Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about. Live in this land and I will be with you and will bless you. For I will give to you and to your offspring all these lands. I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky and will give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Genesis 26, 2-5. The second promise, verse 24, was, I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake. Now between those two promises there was a lot of conflict, a lot of stress, a lot of issues that didn't seem pleasant but turned out okay. There was also a lot of blessing, a lot of victory, a lot of growth. Isaac was guided through it all. So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage unto the elemental principles of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out His Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children. And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So you are no longer a bond-servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4, 3-7. We have been given the gift and the promise of being children of Yahweh Most High, sons and daughters of the Lord, through Christ, in Christ. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15, 4-5. We have a walk to walk. We've been given this promise about who we are, the righteousness of God in Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. Heirs of this promise, sons and daughters. But we still walk in this world, this world where our call is, where our work is, where our obedience is. There will be trials, John 16, 33. We're going to have stresses we'll need to stand in, James 1, 12. There will be things we suffer, Romans 5, 3-5. But we have that promise that we are children of God. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who was born of him. For this is loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, your faith. 1 John 5, 1-4. And remember, whenever John talks about faith, it is a verb. It is an action. It is a thing we do. The Lord will fight for us, Deuteronomy 24. We have the armor of God, Ephesians 6, 13. We have access to wisdom and perseverance, James 1, 1-5. We have deliverance, Psalm 3, 8. We have God for us, Romans 8, 31. 31-32. And remember, Jesus, the one who we abide in, has overcome the world, 1 John 5, 4. We're not struggling and stressing and trying to wrestle a victory out of the ground with a shovel. We're walking the path that the Lord Jesus forged. We are stepping into his footprints, actively guided by his Spirit and upheld by his servants. It is not us who is doing the work, but Jesus in us. Where is our strength? What is our might? Jesus. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, Ephesians 6, 10. And the joy of the Lord is our strength, the Ammah 8, 10. We're designed to praise, to praise to align ourselves with the Father, to praise to gain things from the Father, because our Spirit is in heaven right now rejoicing. And our praising opens the valves of our soul so that it will receive things from our Spirit. We have a good promise from a good Father. He is a good God. He isn't going to leave you hanging. He isn't going to leave you alone, Hebrews 13, 5. He is there. The Word is there. The Holy Spirit is there. And the Father is watching over us all from his throne in heaven. Keep walking in his rest, in his peace. Don't take strife from the hand of this world. Don't take worry. Don't take fear. Don't identify with that. Identify as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It doesn't matter what you feel. It doesn't matter what the circumstances around you are. It doesn't matter what the world tells you is happening. We identify as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. In him we move. In him we overcome. In him we have rest. The Word is the light that lights up the path that Jesus walked. In him we too can walk it. A path full of rest. Keep your eyes on him. Not on your past. Not on experiences. Not on feelings. On Jesus. He is the rock on which we stand. The security in the shake-up. The nap in the boat. Our living water. Do not fear. Do not give up. He won't forsake you. Ever. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Psalm 55, 22. Now, C-3PO has brought smiles to the faces of millions of people around the world. How? Because in the face of danger, his plan is to wail a lot, panic, and run around. And that is funny. Because it's so ridiculous. It's so stupid. It's, um, it's, uh, it's what we do. Isn't it? Something is facing us and we panic. We wail. We run around. But what we should be doing is resting. Is he your provider or not? Is he the one who sustains you or not? Is he all you need or not? We aren't being asked to do it ourselves. We aren't being asked to face it alone. We aren't being asked to do much of anything but walk where he already has. To do what he already did. Why fear what is coming toward you? Don't assume that because last time it didn't go well, this time will also be bad. Open your mind to the idea that the Lord knows what he's doing. That he knows what you need. That he made a plan before you even heard of him. Trust in his rest. Trust in his peace. Claim it. Grab it. Stand on the word and embrace it. The Lord is with you wherever you go. He cares for you. He will sustain you. He's promised that. Be obedient to what he says and the rest will follow. He is with you. He will keep you wherever you go. And he will bring you back again. He has promised. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you. Just because you're you. First John 4 9 to 10 tells us by this. God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent his only born son into the world. That we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we love God. But that he loved us. And sent his son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.