1st Friday of Advent (December 2) Isaac found room

Abraham was the father of Isaac…
 
Prepare to Listen.  Light the 1st purple candle and be still and silent for however long it takes.  Pray: Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his presence continually.
 
Prayerfully Read Genesis 26:17-25 [1]
17So Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there.  18Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham; for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names that his father had given them.  19But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20the herders of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac’s herders, saying, ‘The water is ours.’  So he called the well Esek [Contention], because they contended with him.  21Then they dug another well, and they quarrelled over that one also; so he called it Sitnah [Enmity].  22He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth [Room], saying, ‘Now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’  23From there he went up to Beer-sheba.  24And that very night the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you and make your offspring numerous for my servant Abraham’s sake.’  25So he built an altar there, called on the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there.  And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
For a long time (v8) Isaac and his family lived and prospered as aliens in Gerar.  His prosperity resulted in competition and tension with the locals.  Irrationally, they assumed Isaac would use his wealth to destroy them, so they asked him to leave.  He didn’t go far and, because there was limited water, Isaac dug wells.  If his father was an altar builder Isaac was a well digger.  He reopened his father’s wells and dug at least five more (5th in v32).  Since water was a scarce commodity in that dry land, the herders of Gerar immediately seized his first two wells.  Isaac named them ‘contention’ and ‘enmity.’  But he reacted in no other way, simply moved on and dug another well.
 
Isaac chose the way of peacemaker, refusing to resort to violence.  As a result, he found room.  The jealous herders left his 3rd well alone, so he named it Rehoboth, which means ‘room’ or ‘broad places’ because, he said, “Now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”  The Covenant Promise to Abraham, passed on to Isaac (26:3), included land.  Finding room was both a literal and spiritual need for Israel.  The Psalmists understood this and praised God because, “You gave me room in my distress” and because “you have set my feet in a broad space.”  It was temporary room that looked forward to the ‘space’ Jesus gives to all who believe in him.  He promised, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” [2]  Room to live fully.
 
Prayerfully Reflect
What struck you about Isaac’s reaction and what does it suggest about yourself and/or your concept of God?
 
Respond in Prayer
Generous Lord, I praise you for the room, the space you have given me, both literally and spiritually.  I pray today for refugees and others who are still needing room to settle and be at home.  Amen.
 
Live Obediently.  Be grateful for the room God has given you.
[1] I chose this narrative because it is the only one in which Isaac is the principal actor.
[2] Psalm 4:1; 31:8; John 14:2 respectively.