In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So the Bible starts. But by the second chapter, you’d think the only place on earth that mattered was the Garden of Eden. That’s where all the action was taking place.
Of course, on the face of the earth were many beautiful and delightful places that Adam and Eve could have visited. But the garden was their home. It also became the place of their temptation and the place of their downfall. And so God even made it into something more: The place where He gave His promise of salvation.
So, Eden was more than Adam’s back forty. It was also God’s neck of the woods.
After our Fall into sin, you won’t find what happens after that to vary a whole lot. The human race keeps sinning, and then continues to explore and find new ways to sin. But what does change is the location: Eden is replaced by the Holy Land. The Lord tells Abraham that Canaan, the Holy Land, that spot of geography, is to be his land, and no other.
In our Old Testament reading for today, God tells Abraham’s son, Isaac, not to go down into Egypt. Instead, He tells him to stay where he is. For it’s there that God will multiply Isaac’s descendants, bless him, and be with him. “This land is your land, this land is my land,” God sings to Isaac.
That sounds all right. But sounds aren’t going to feed you during a famine. And that’s what Isaac and his family were enduring–a famine. You can’t eat a promise.
We have an expression: “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.” Now we know that isn’t always true. Usually, that’s just our thinking. But sometimes, sometimes, the grass is greener! The grass is greener, the jobs are better, and the neighborhoods are safer across the fence–sometimes.
For Isaac, across the fence was Egypt. That’s where the famine was nothing but a rumor that folks talked about over their steak and potatoes, their leeks and onions. In Egypt, Isaac could feed his family, his livestock, and kick back and enjoy life.
In Canaan, the Holy Land, it was another story. There, the wolf lingered at the door. There, the locals would have gladly put a knife in Isaac’s back and had their way with his lovely wife. So, why stay there? Would you?
Isaac does. He stays. And God has everything to do with that. For amid such danger and drought, the Lord visits Isaac and tells him not to cross the fence into the grassy, green land of Egypt. Isaac is to stay put. For it will not be in Egypt, but in the Holy Land, where God will bless him.
The Lord is choosy about where He hangs His hat. You’d do well to remember that. You can talk all you want about God being omnipresent, which is true. But if you don’t know where He precisely is, and you need Him, He seems omni-vacant.
When a man is dying of thirst, telling him that water covers more than 70% of the earth’s surface, is not going to help him. He needs a glass of water in his hand, on his lips. The man needing water, he needs to know where water is. It’s the same for the man needing God; he needs to know where God is. “Everywhere” won’t cut it.
St. Augustine famously said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. But that is usually the last place we look. For our hearts are restless. And that restlessness causes us to look for the rest we seek in what we think will bring us happiness.
If only I can find my soul mate, then my life will be complete, and no one can steal my joy. If only I can find my dream job, put my heart and soul into the work, then all will be well and life will have a purpose. If only can find the perfect retirement location, then my mind will be at ease. If only I can buy this or that, go here or there, or reach this goal, then will I be at peace.
Vanities of vanities, the dreams of fools are all such notions as these. For our hearts are restless. And because we are fallen creatures, our hearts will never stop looking for the rest we seek in all the wrong places. They will look in Egypt, where the grass is greener. All the while, Christ is right in front of them, saying, “Here I am. Come to me, and I will give you rest.”
In a drought-stricken land, surrounded by men with lust and murder in their eyes, earthly wisdom was telling Isaac to pack his bags for Egypt. But the greater wisdom, God’s seemingly foolish wisdom said, “Stay.” Not just “stay” but “stay because this land is your land, this land is God’s land.”
So stay he did. And what happened? He sowed his seed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, and he became rich, even wealthy. For Isaac had possessions of flocks, herds, and a large household (26:12-14). Not only that, but the king in that land issued a decree that any man who harmed Isaac, or his wife, was signing his own death certificate. Isaac found the blessing of God where Isaac thought that God was not. Despite what Isaac felt in his heart, God was where He had promised to be.
Your heart is restless until it finds its rest in God. And it finds God, not in an abstract idea, or a far-off promise, but in a flesh-and-blood man. You are people of the earth, and so God became a man of the earth for you. You have a heart beating in your chest, a body with bones and blood and skin. And so God took on a heart, with bones and blood and skin. He became what you are, all so you could become what He is–pure, righteous, sinless, and holy.
You have it better than Isaac. Oh, God did show Himself to Isaac and say, “This land is your land, this land is my land.” But Christ comes to you and says, “This body is your body, this body is my body.” How can that be? It’s because you have been crucified with Christ, so it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. You are members of his body–His heart, His hands, His bones, blood, and skin. You find your rest in the One who has found you and has grafted you into Himself. For it is as Jesus says: He is the vine and you are the branches.
So, don’t get concerned about God being everywhere. Oh, that’s true, but God is not everywhere for you. Instead, focus on where God is for you. Concern yourself with God being what He is, for you.
Do you yearn for love? He is your love. Do you crave freedom? He is your freedom. Do you yearn for forgiveness or fidelity, protection or peace? He is all that and more. He is more than your deepest yearning, whether you realize it or not.
For Christ is what you need. For what you need is the One who makes you fully who you are in God. Amen.
