Gen. 26:5 “because Abraham…”
The blessing to Isaac and Jacob comes not because of his own obedience, but rather because Abraham “obeyed My voice and kept My charge.”
Famines have a way of striping us from self-righteousness, so we realize our goodness is nothing apart from Him. When I was successfully employed, I had the accolades of others constantly feeding my sense of self-righteousness. When things went right, there was applause. When events occurred, a host of like-minded friends were there to celebrate my success. A desert, however, has little room for a gallery of onlookers.
Here we are alone, and in our famine we begin to realize that we really have nothing to bring to the table to earn God’s favor or the applause of others. Instead in our silent habitations, we are tempted to hear a voice of condemnation listing our sins and reasons for failure. We are too lazy, incompetent, unfocused, undisciplined, or too tired to put up a fight.
In this emptiness, a fresh filling is desperately needed which states anew the power of the Gospel. God loved and loves us when we are utterly unlovable. He provides a promise of forgiveness, restoration, and provision not because we have earned it; but out of the covenant with Jesus, the seed of Abraham, our righteous One.
I am delivered and sustained in famine not because of my reserves, careful planning and prudent use of resources. Famine scorches my self-sufficiency. I realize how desperate I am for God to send rain from above or a well from beneath. Around me is dry, barren earth; and even the most careful cultivation of my surroundings promises no relief without the dew and water of heaven.
Isaac, Jacob, all succeeding generations from the promise to Abraham have only to look to their father of faith to trace the reasons for their hope. God may not be moved to do it because of me—but because of Abraham and a covenant of faith, He is obliged.
Abraham’s covenant is simply the Gospel of Christ. What one Man did in obeying the commands of God is vicariously credited to my account simply because I choose to believe. If instead I try to conjure up my own solutions, defend my own righteousness or work my way into a blessing; I am destined to wrestle eternally with God for His hand of grace.
Instead, the desert and the famine teach me only to believe. Nothing of my own can make the desert flourish, but because of His Promised Covenant, my dry land can become an open stream
The Joseph Factor 