MAKING CHOICES
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MAKING CHOICES
Genesis 26:12-33
From the sermon “Altar, Tent and Wells”
When I was serving with a training organisation, Haggai Institute for Advanced Leadership Training, we used to play a game with our participants. Let me modify the game a little, and test you on how you would fare.
Imagine you are lost on the moon. You have to find your way back to the mother ship, or else make known your position so that the mother ship can locate you. You have with you a few items, and you have to rank them in order of importance.
You probably know that the most important item is your oxygen tanks because there is no oxygen on the moon. Also you will need water and food. But beyond these essentials, let me put before you 5 items, and you tell me which is the most important of these 5 items:
A box of matches
A magnetic compass
Signal flares
50 feet of nylon rope
Portable heating unit
Let me give a minute or so for you to decide. Now by a show of hands, let me know which you chose.
These items were put to experts from NASA, to astronauts who have been on the moon, and this is how they rank these 5 items. Some of you will be surprised when I tell you that of these five items, the only useful item is the 50 feet of nylon rope.
Why? There is no oxygen on the moon so the matches are useless, so are the signal flares. Also, the moon’s magnetic field is different from the earth’s so the compass is also useless. The portable heating unit will work, but if you are on the lighted side of the moon, its battery efficiency will drop quickly.
Only the rope is useful—you can use it to travel in the rough terrain, and for keeping you and your fellow-travellers together.
What is the point I am making? The point has to do with making a choice of what is important and what is not. Today, I would like to put before you three things: digging wells, building altars and pitching tents. If you have to rank them in terms of importance, how would you place them?
Today we are considering Genesis 26.12-33. In this passage we see Isaac digging wells, building an altar, and pitching his tent. All these are important, but which is the most important of all?
The passage in Genesis 26 gives us a window into the life of Isaac. As we read the passage, we find how similar his life is to our lives. Let me point out what I mean.
Firstly, Isaac’s life has both blessings and problems. He planted crops and reaped a hundredfold—that is the blessing. But when he dug wells to supply water for himself and his crops, he faced problems with competitors who wanted his water.
Secondly, note how the passage starts with one problem and ended with another. It started with a problem about water, and ended with a problem about children. Esau, Isaac’s son, married Hittite women, pagan women, and brought much grief to his parents.
From these two observations, we see how Isaac’s experience is still our experience today. Our lives today are a mix of blessings and problems. Our lives today face problems at our work place and within our family: competition at work and grief at home.
Our lives are filled with many things to do. Which should come first and which should come later.
One lesson I learned from the training game, “Lost on the Moon” is that the moon is different from the earth. When I first played the game, I thought we needed the compass and the matches, but then I learned they would be useless on the moon.
In the same way, when we choose our priorities, we should choose according to God’s kingdom not the kingdom of the world. What is considered so important in the world may prove to be of lesser importance or even of no importance when judged by eternity’s values.
Let us choose wisely. Building the altar and keeping our communication lines with God is most important. After that we may pitch our tent, and dig our wells.
