By Collin Ross
Lately, my four-year old son has taken to bargaining to get what he wants. For instance, a few weeks ago he really wanted to go to the playground at the local park. Rather than simply expressing that desire to us, he couched his request within a commitment: “If you take us to the park, I’ll be really nice and listen to everything you say today.” I couldn’t help but smile because this is such a human thing to do.
Many of us wake up each day looking to earn our place in God’s family and prove that we are lovable and worthwhile in His eyes. We wake up believing that God’s first words to us are, “Prove it.” But this could not be further from the truth for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. Just as it was for Isaac and Rebekah, God’s promise to us is not earned. It is received as a gift of grace. Like any good parent, our Father gives us these gifts not as a reward for good behavior but as an expression of His boundless love.
One of the greatest wonders of our God is that His promise of blessing comes to us without cost. You’ve heard it said, “There are no free lunches.” We live in a culture that requires payment for just about everything. Most things have a cost or requirement attached—and usually, the better the product, the higher the cost. But God’s promise is a pure gift. The same promise that God made to Abraham, which we read about just a few chapters back, God then gave to Abraham’s son, Isaac. “I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham” (Genesis 26:3). What had Isaac done up to this point to earn the blessing of God? Nothing! The promise of land, children, and intimacy with God was given to this couple by grace alone.
In this passage I am reminded that God meets us in the ordinary moments of our day. Isaac was in the fields, and Rebekah was at the well. God was working out His redemptive plans even as they were going about their normal routines. What a fantastic reminder that God works His grace into our lives through ordinary, everyday moments. We do not need to create or seek out profound, mountain-top experiences to find the Lord at work. He’s in the fields, and He’s at the well. He’s not waiting to be found; rather, He’s pursuing us right where we tend to be.
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