Rehoboth or Beersheba?

   

     Above is a picture of Tara by a village well in rural Kathmandu.  They built a cave-like structure around it with stone steps leading down to the water.  In many villages around Nepal, people pasture goats, cows, water buffalos, and in the higher regions,  sheep and yak.  Wells are treasured village possessions that ensure the survival of both people and animals.    

     A few days ago, I came upon a story in Genesis 26 about Abraham's son of promise, Isaac.  The lesson I learned from it somehow brought continuity to my previous blog, "Leaving My Brook Cherith."  The story is told that wherever Isaac went, God blessed and prospered him.  He became a wealthy and powerful man in a place called Gerar.  His crops increased a hundredfold in the first year! He accumulated a lot of sheep. He continued to prosper in such a way that the Philistines living in the land became jealous of him.

     Finally, Abimelech, the ruler of the land, ordered Isaac to leave. He wandered around the valley of Gerar, looking for a permanent place to set up camp.  Because of the large number of his flocks, Isaac's shepherds had to dig for wells of water for the sheep.  God gave them success in finding fresh, flowing springs.  However,  the shepherds of the area would claim those springs for themselves.  Isaac didn't like conflict and so he instructed his men to go find another place to dig for a well.  They would find another spring and move to that place to try to settle there but then another dispute would arise with the shepherds of that area.  Still, he refused to fight over the disputed wells.  Finally, he dug up one well that was undisputed and he named it "Rehoboth," which means "open space," for he said, "At last, the Lord has created enough open space for us to prosper in this land!"  

     So I thought,  "Well,  that's a nice ending to the story.  Finally, God put Isaac in a place where there is no more opposition and he can finally be at home and at peace in that area where Rehoboth was located.  Finally, he can stop wandering and begin to build a more permanent place he can call home.  This MUST be the place of God's will.  This MUST be his promised land!"  

     However, without explanation, the very next verse says that Isaac moved to Beersheba where the Lord appeared to him on the night of his arrival!  This was no small thing because this was the very first time God directly appeared to Isaac to confirm his covenant with him and his descendants.  Before this, he only heard about the covenant from his father Abraham.  But now the Lord has personally appeared to him in Beersheba!  So Isaac built an altar, worshipped God, set up camp and dug a well.  In that order.

     Wait a minute!  There seems to be a drastic change in Isaac's system of guidance here!  At first, he used the presence of wells and the absence of conflict as a sign of God's will to establish permanence in residence.  He allowed provision and circumstances to move him from place to place.  When a well was disputed over, he took it as a sign to move on.  In other words, his system of guidance was in Providence or divine intervention and guidance through the natural order of things.  When he finally found an undisputed well, he must have thought, "Surely this must be the place where God wants me to settle.  Here is enough space to prosper unhindered.  There is no more opposition.  I can branch out to the north, south, east, and west and no one is going to stop me!"

     So what made Isaac pack up, leave Rehoboth and go to  Beersheba?  It doesn't make sense.  Can it be that he was led by the Spirit of God?  Can it be that God spoke a word  to him that nudged him and made him feel restless and come to the conclusion that he was not yet in the place where God wanted him to be?   

     Genesis 26:25 gives us a clue.  It says Isaac built an altar in Beersheba as a symbol of God's manifest presence in that area.  He set up camp there and then dug a well!  He dug a well only after he decided that where God's manifest presence is, that's where he wants to be! At first, he walked by SIGHT, not by faith.  Now he was walking by FAITH and not by sight!  Therefore, it is safe to assume that he heard God speak to him while he was still in Rehoboth and he obeyed God's voice and moved to Beersheba.  God confirmed His presence to Isaac as soon as he arrived in Beersheba.  He built an altar and set up camp there even before he sent out his men to dig a well.  His relationship with God shifted from being his father Abraham's faith to embracing God as his own.

     Later on in the story, Abimelech, the guy who drove him out of Gerar came to see Isaac in Beersheba.  He realized that God was with Isaac and now wants to make a covenant of peace with him.  That same day, Isaac's men dug up a new well and Isaac named it "Shibah," which means "oath."  The town that grew up from there was then known as "Beersheba," meaning the "well of the oath."  God not only led Isaac to the place of His will…. He also gave him peace with his enemies.  

     So what can we learn from this story?  Today, we as Christians are still led by these two common systems of guidance:  Living by Providence and by the Word and Spirit of God.  It is when we walk in the Spirit that we are closest to God.  When we walk by Providence, we will surely still arrive where God wants us to be.  But then, we would miss out on the joy of being a participant in the process.  When we live by Providence we are passive objects being moved by God from place to place through circumstances or through provision:   a high paying job, a nice house, a church where you feel at home, a place of comfort and without conflict….  but there is little intimacy with God in this system of guidance.  

     Living by faith and not by sight can be a long and difficult learning process.   Often, the things God wants us to do won't make sense.  But God seems to prefer for us to experience a personal, face to face relationship with him first.  He wants us to learn to hear His voice, trust him, and obey him unconditionally FIRST before providing for our needs and fulfilling our dreams.  Entering into a PERSONAL covenant relationship with God through Jesus is where we must all begin.  From this beginning, we embark on exciting adventures with Him.  When Jesus told Peter and Andrew, both fishermen to follow him, they left their nets and abandoned their former way of living.  Jesus' way is often a way that is not rational to the human mind.  His ways are higher than our ways!  Jesus turned their physical need to catch fish (working for a living) to a passion to fish for men (fulfilling God's intention for their lives)!

     I find that in this journey with our Shepherd, there is no short cut through the sanctification process.  We must experience Him as a personal guide, shepherd, and counselor.  This is the only way to true transformation and change of heart.  It is the sign of genuine maturity to be able to say with Job, "I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes!" (Job 42:5)

Leaving My Brook of Cherith

     

     
     If you grew up listening to Bible stories, you probably remember the story of Elijah and the time of no rain. Elijah was a might prophet.  He spoke a word that it would not rain for three years and it was so.  And yet he was a man just like us and he was affected even by his own prophetic declaration.  Without God's help he would have died in the famine.  And God did come through in saving His prophet from starvation  and He sent him to the Brook of Cherith where God sent ravens to bring him food and where he had a steady water supply for some time.  

     But even God honors the physical laws that He established for the earth and soon the brook dried up and the ravens stopped coming.  Elijah needed a new word from the Lord to take him to his next season and a new way of provision.  And the word did come.  The Lord said, "Go to Zarephath for there I have instructed a widow to take care of you."

     Anyhow, Elijah obeyed but when he met the widow, she had nothing except a handful of flour and a bit of oil for the last piece of bread that she would bake for herself and her son before they starve to death.  That got me thinking about what must have gone through Elijah's mind... well, at least if I was Elijah, it would go through MY mind.  I would think that maybe God sent me to the wrong widow! Wouldn't it make more sense for him to send me to a widow who at least had more supplies?

     Well, honestly, this is how I have been feeling these past couple of years.  I feel like my life in China was my Brook Cherith and Nepal is my Widow.  The Lord has given me a new word to move on to a new season and experience a new way of provision.  But here at the "widow's house," I stand baffled and doubtful... and I think to myself, "Did I really hear God right?"  I think I am at the WRONG house and come to the WRONG widow.  There is NOTHING here and I feel disoriented and I don't like change and I wish I was back at the Brook Cherith where I could hear once again the sound of clean, flowing water and see once again my group of faithful, raven friends!

     So what is there to learn from this story? God's ways are certainly higher than the ways of man.  God was not just thinking of Elijah's survival for the rest of the famine years, He was also thinking of the survival of the widow and her son.  His intention was not just to feed the prophet but to feed the widow through the prophet.  And this particular story confirms the scripture that says, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God"(Matthew 4:4).  God wanted Elijah to speak the prophetic word that will save both him and the widow.  "There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!” (1 Kings 17:14) And the miracle came to pass... for BOTH parties!

     So now I realize that God did not send me to the wrong house nor to the wrong "widow." He did not make a mistake in telling me to leave China and come to Nepal. And He did not just bring me here to comfort me but to comfort others through me.  Besides, the Gentile widow of Zarephath had a thing or two to teach the Prophet Elijah about what it means to be a family and you can read the rest of 1 Kings 17 for that!  And the story did not end there either.  Chapter 18 tells us how Elijah went on to be the prophet of fire he will be remembered for!  The Lord God used the widow to take Elijah through the famine and on to his glorious destiny!  

    And that goes for me as well.  Being here in Nepal has taught me a thing or two... or three... or four!  

     Lord, I confess that I have thought  that you must have made a mistake ... or I must have heard You wrong when you brought me to Nepal.  I have put my faith on the "widow" and not your word.  Instead of complaining, I should have prophesied more.  

    It's TIME to stop looking back to my memories of Brook Cherith and embrace the Widow whom the Lord has sent me to.  God has spoken a new word.  There exists a new day, a new season, a new way of provision, and a new family to love and cherish and bless... and experience miracles with!