…stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you… I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you. (26:3, 24)
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn’t belong to this world. They belonged to God and his kingdom. But for a while, they were called to live on this earth as aliens, as temporary residents. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
They weren’t to live like the people around them, taking on their values or way of life. They were to be different from the people of this world.
And God promised them that though they would be living like aliens in a foreign land, he would be with them and bless them.
As long as they remembered that, they did well. When they forgot, they got into trouble.
When Abraham and Isaac forgot, out of fear of their neighbors, they claimed their wives were their sisters.
In Jacob’s case, perhaps he wasn’t sure those promises were really for him, so he resorted to deceit in order to gain God’s blessing.
Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we are like foreigners in a strange land. (1 Peter 2:11, John 17:14-16)
The question is, do we truly believe that God is with us and will bless us? And does that truth shape the way we live?
Take some time to mediate on these words of Paul. Think about what they really mean.
On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory…as it is written,
What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no human heart has conceived—
God has prepared these things for those who love him. (I Corinthians 2:7, 9)
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 