(Genesis) - Part 23 — Zac Poonen

Isaac’s Wells and the Recovery of Buried Truths

Genesis 26. In our last study, we were at the section beginning at verse 18. Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham. The Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham, and he gave them the same names which his father had given them.

We saw that this is a picture of how, through the centuries after the days of the apostles, the wells that were dug by the apostles, the teaching of the new covenant, had been buried by the Philistines, by the traditions of men.

And Isaac's servants, it says here, Isaac dug again those wells, and that's what has happened through the years, and particularly in the last few hundred years, there's been a recovery of these truths that were hidden.

Isaac’s Graciousness in Surrendering Earthly Rights

And whenever there was a recovery like that, there was always contention. That's just the spiritual application of that, but the type of it. But we can also see here something of Isaac's good-heartedness and graciousness, an example for us to follow, that when there was a contention, verse 20, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, the water is ours.

So he named the well Isaac, because they contended for it. And he just moved on, he didn't fight. He didn't say that my father dug this well, and you buried it and I've opened it up again, it's doubly mine.

He could have said that, but he didn't fight. We saw earlier how he had imitated his father in telling a lie concerning his wife, saying she's my sister, in verse 9. We also see here how he imitated his father in something good.

So we know that when Abraham's servants and Lot's servants had a fight about property, that though Isaac was not born, I'm sure he'd heard about it, and how Abraham had graciously given Lot the choice to choose whatever he wanted.

And Isaac follows the example of his father, and he doesn't fight. He just moves on and digs another well, verse 21, and they quarreled over that also. So he named it Sitna, and he moved again from there, dug another well.

And I think they must have been ashamed by now that this man was not going to fight with them. And so he named it Rehoboam. He said, at last the Lord has made room for us, we shall be fruitful in the land.

And he went up from there to Beersheba. And if you turn to verse 32, you read there, it came about the same day that Isaac's servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him, we have found water.

So he called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. So you find that the Lord gave him two wells. And when there is a contention for something earthly, and we give up our rights, we're not going to starve.

Our flocks are not going to starve. God has always got not only one well, but two wells. Because we see here that when he moved away, the Lord appeared to him, verse 24, God has been watching. If you remember, we saw that in Genesis 14, that when Lot moved away from Abraham after Abraham said, you can have what you like.

It says immediately after that, Abraham, God met with Abraham and said, I'll give you all this land. Everything is yours. We must remember this. God is always on the side of the man who does not fight for earthly things.

That's why Jesus told that man who said, Lord, tell my brother to divide the property with me. He hadn't understood the way of the cross. That which was his right. Abraham had a right. He didn't claim it.

Isaac had a right to this well, but he didn't claim it. And that brother was asking for his right. You see, this is where you find the difference between just an ordinary believer and a disciple. An ordinary believer may not do anything wrong, but he will fight for his right.

He'll say, my brother has got to divide the property with me. But a disciple will give up his right. And that's why we see that most believers are just believers. They're not disciples. When it comes to these material things, they do not know how to give up their right.

So there's something we can see here that, and that's perhaps the reason why the Lord doesn't appear to them either. Because when Isaac gave up his right, there's the Lord appeared to him the same night, that very same night.

And God had been watching him moving on and on and on and on. And he appeared to him and he says, don't fear, I'm the God of your father Abraham, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.

And we read here that Isaac built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well. Those two words, the altar and the tent, are words that have a spiritual application for us.

We find this in the life of Abraham and Isaac. They pitched an altar. They built an altar and they pitched a tent. An altar in their relationship with God and a tent describing their relation to this earth.

And that's what we always need in our life. An altar where we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God and our attitude to earthly things always a tent. Not that we don't have anything. We have a tent, but we don't think of this earth as a permanent dwelling place.

A tent is a symbol of a temporary dwelling place, a symbol of a pilgrim. Just like the altar is a picture of a worshipper. And Abraham and Isaac had an altar and a tent. They were worshippers and pilgrims.

And that's what we need to be also. Verse 26, then Abimelech came to him. Abimelech was the king of the Philistines, as we read in verse 1. These very Philistines who had been fighting for these wells.

And now Abimelech comes from Gerar with his advisor Ahuzab and Phaikol, the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, why have you come to me, since you hate me? And you have sent me away from you.

He says, you kept chasing me away every time I dug a well. Your people chased me off. And Abimelech, the king, no doubt knew about it. He was probably a bit jealous of Isaac. And Isaac says, why have you come to me now?

You hate me, and you've chased me away. And they said, we see plainly that the Lord has been with you. Of course, God said that to him in verse 24, I am with you. But here was a heathen person recognizing that God was with Isaac.

And that's a tremendous thing when a heathen person recognizes the presence of God with us, by our behavior. You remember that heathen centurion who looked at Jesus being crucified and said, really, this is a righteous man.

This is the son of God. Because he had never seen in his whole life anyone being crucified who reacted like Jesus reacted to the crucifixion. There was no resistance. There was no fighting, cursing, swearing, nothing.

And that's what this man, Abimelech, also saw in Isaac. I mean, he had no doubt had dealings with other people in the world where if there was some fight for property, they would fight tooth and nail for it.

And particularly when a well was so desperately needed for the flock. But here he saw in Isaac the gracious attitude of giving up another well, and he gave up again and again. And that's the thing that made that man finally come and say, we saw that God was with you.

And he had a fear of that. He felt that he was fighting with a man on whose side God was. And he was scared. He was scared that if he continued like that, he'd be fighting against God. And so he said, let's make an oath between you and us.

Let's make a covenant with you that you will do us no harm. Now remember, Isaac has got no army. And Abimelech, it says here in verse 26 about Phaikol being the commander of his army. Imagine a man with a massive army coming to a man like Isaac, who's got no army, and saying, don't harm me.

There was a recognition in some deep, mysterious way that this heathen man had, that God was with this man, and that all my army will be powerless against this man if God is with him. And that's something that should challenge us, brothers and sisters, that as we live in the world, that other people recognize that God is with us by our humility, by our lack of resistance, that we yield when they take advantage of us, that we don't fight.

We don't fight for earthly things. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world, otherwise my servants would fight. That was a good confession that he made before Pontius Pilate, which Paul reminds Timothy of in 1 Timothy 6.

A good confession that my kingdom is not of this world, otherwise my servants would fight. And whenever we fight for earthly things with anybody, we can be sure that that proves that our kingdom is of this world.

That is the clearest proof. Whatever we may believe in our heads, the proof that our kingdom belongs to this world is when we fight with any human being for earthly things. And then, of course, people can't see that the presence of God is with us.

And that's where we are to have a testimony. It says in Proverbs 16 and verse 7, a very wonderful verse, which is fulfilled here, and before that was written, it was fulfilled in Isaac's life. Proverbs 16 verse 7 says, when a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

It's not easy for enemies to be at peace with us, but God can make even our enemies to be at peace with us, if he sees that our ways are pleasing to the Lord. And Abimelech says, now let's make a covenant, Genesis 26, 29, that he'll do us no harm.

Just as we have not touched you and done to you nothing but good and sent you away in peace, you are now the blessed of the Lord. Then Isaac made them a feast. You see his large-heartedness to make a feast for a man who had just a few days ago chased him out and stolen his property.

Those wells were his property. He doesn't even ask for it back. He's so large-hearted to forgive, makes a feast, and they ate and drank. And in the morning they arose early and exchanged oaths. Then Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

And the same day Isaac's servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said, We found water. He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. God always provides another well.

When we've lost something earthly because we did not want to fight, because we wanted to be a testimony for Christ, you can be sure that God is silently planning for us in love. All these things written in the Old Testament are for our encouragement, that God is watching.

That's the thing we must remember. At that moment when you are fighting for some earthly thing, God is watching. At that moment when you give up your rights and do not fight, God is watching. And when He sees that you don't fight, He'll always provide another well.

Esau’s Drift and the Responsibility of Parents

Verse 34. Here we see about how Esau drifts further away from God. We saw how he despised his birthright. That's the last time we saw Esau. And now you find that drift has taken him away so far that he gets married to one of those heathen Canaanites, and not just to one of them.

He marries two. Verse 34. And Esau is 40 years old. He marries Judith, the daughter of Lehi, the Hittite, and Bethlehemath, the daughter of Elam, the Hittite. They made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

Yeah, when a person begins to drift away from God, it's not immediately that everything develops into evil. It's a slow slide away. But gradually, gradually, he comes to the place where he begins to act almost in defiance of God.

But we can also say that Isaac was not very particular there to find a good partner for his son. Like Abraham had been careful for Isaac. And that is also a responsibility of parents, to guide their children, to be concerned about them, and to guide them not to worldly partners, but to spiritually-minded partners.

Isaac had a good father who guided him and was concerned for him, and looked out for a really fine sister for his son. But when it came to Isaac's son Esau, he didn't do that. He had spoiled Esau through the years by his favoritism.

And finally, the man got two wives that made life miserable for the parents. You find that that favorite son of yours, whom you keep spoiling, is the one who's going to make life miserable for you later on.

That's what we see here. This favorite son of Isaac finally ended up making life miserable for him. What Esau needed was some discipline, which Isaac never gave him. Think of the word that we studied in Genesis 18, which God said concerning Abraham.

Genesis 18, verse 19. It says there about Abraham,. For I have chosen him, Abraham, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.

In order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. The Lord couldn't say that about Isaac. The Lord couldn't say that Isaac commanded his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness.

And that's a sad thing. A good example in Abraham as a father, a bad example as a father in Isaac. We've seen Isaac as a good example in the way he was gracious to not fight for earthly things, but as a father, he was a failure.

Quite a contrast to Abraham, because he spoiled his son by partiality, by not choosing a God-fearing sister for her. And that's a warning for us to see this contrast between Abraham and Isaac in this area, because parents, when they think of a marriage partner for their sons or daughters, it's very easy for them to have in the back of their minds some earthly qualification.

Of course, he must be born again, but he must be born again plus, or she must be born again plus. He must be a graduate, or must be this, or must be this color, or the other thing. There's always a born again plus something else.

And I'll tell you something that I have observed through the years as a Christian, that wherever a person in choosing a marriage partner has said to the Lord, Lord, I want a person who is born again plus, dash, dash, dash, this, maybe one thing more or two things more, always, always they have suffered in their marriage, and always they've not been able to fulfill God's highest purposes for them.

Because they said, I want someone who's born again plus beauty, plus color, plus education, must be a graduate, all these things. We have to be very careful. We have to say to the Lord, Lord, I want the one you have chosen.

I couldn't care less what that person's earthly qualifications are. Look around and see the failures, and learn from the failures of others that you don't make the same blunders yourself in marriage, and don't make the same blunders for your own children.

When you say to God, Lord, I want someone who is as wholehearted for you as I am, don't say plus something else also, and don't let your eye be on a person's salary and education and job and all these things.

That wasn't what Abraham was looking for. I tell you, it's a tremendous warning. But there are very few who really take these things seriously. It's easy to take these things seriously when our children are young, but the time comes when children are grown up and come to the time of marriage, they look for these earthly things.

Very rare, very rare to find a father like Abraham who's only interested in the spiritual. Very rare. So, there's a challenge to us to be like that. First chapter 27, now it came about when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see that he called his older son Esau and said to him, my son.

And he said to him, here I am. And Isaac said, behold, now I'm old and I don't know the day of my death. Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me.

Prepare a savory dish for me such as I love. And bring it to me that I may eat so that my soul may bless you before I die. He was going to give him the birthright. He knew what God had spoken at the time of, before the birth of Esau and Isaac.

The older shall serve the younger. And he's trying to bypass that because this is his favorite son. He's determined to give him the birthright. And there we see the sad thing that we have seen before about Isaac.

That it was not only, as it says in verse 1, that his physical eyes were dim. Spiritually also, his eyes were dim. He couldn't see clearly like he could see in his younger days when he lay, lay down on Mount Moriah and said, yes, I'm ready to be killed.

Or when he went out to pray and meditate when he, when Rebecca was coming. That time his vision was clear. But time had gone on. And that's something we see again and again also in the church, which is a tremendous warning for us.

Abraham came from a heathen background. All his knowledge of God came through a struggle, through a battle. Isaac, there was no battle. He received everything freely from his father. His father got the revelation, passed it on to his son.

We see that in David and Solomon. David went through struggle, learned to know God in difficulty, trials, testing, experienced God. Solomon received everything. From the day he was born, he was a prince.

Received everything freely. We have to feel sorry for those who have no struggle, because they don't have any knowledge of God. I always say that for those who are newly married, the best thing I can wish them is at least four or five years of struggle.

Financial struggle, all types of struggles and difficulties. That's almost the best foundation for a good marriage. I feel sorry for those who begin married life with abundance of everything. It's not going to be very good.

Don't think abundance is the answer. If we have never gone through struggles, we're probably like Isaac. If all through our Christian life we have never experienced trial or difficulty, maybe we can magnify mosquito bites that we have had and call them trials.

But that's very often the reason why there's a lack of revelation, that we may have carefully steered clear of difficulties and trials. It shows in the pathway of ease. And then what happens? The eyes are dim, can't see clearly, no revelation, no vision.

It's good to go through struggles, like Abraham. Abraham had to break with his father, mother, relatives. What a painful thing that was. Isaac didn't have to break with his father or mother. It was all offered to him on a plate.

It was so easy. And that's what I think of young people in the church growing up. I pray that they will lay hold of God and realize that they are in danger of becoming like Isaac. Their fathers may have had vision because of struggles they've gone through and battles, but they themselves must be maybe like Isaac, having received everything on a platter from childhood.

No difficulty, no trial, everything has been easy. And then the eyes are dim. Think of the contrast of a man like Moses. It says about him in Deuteronomy, chapter 34, verse 7. Although Moses was 120 years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.

He was not an impotent man. He was powerful. His eye was not dim spiritually. His eye was not dim. And Isaac, about the same age, his eye was dim. Very sad, because he loved food more than the will of God.

He showed favoritism to his son, to try and bypass what God had spoken clearly. It's a serious thing when we place our children above God, when our children are more important to us than God. It's a serious thing.

Even though God had spoken, what a contrast to the time when he went out into the fields to meditate and pray. If he had at least sought God here, if he felt that the time had come for him to die, he said, well, I need to go out into the fields a bit and pray and find out, should I really give the birthright to Jacob?

It would have been clear, but he didn't need to. And that's how it is, my brothers. It need not be our children. It can be we ourselves also. We can start like Abraham and end up like Isaac. Or we can start like Isaac and end up like Isaac.

Think of this area. There may have been a time when we sought God about little things, when we used to pray about little things, when financial needs and struggles drove us to God in prayer. But maybe now abundance has come.

You don't need to pray so much. We don't need to seek God's will anymore because we have an abundance. And that abundance has made us a little strong in ourselves. I tell you, there's almost nothing like abundance of money to make a man strong in himself.

Some of the strongest people I have seen in the world are those who have an abundance of money. And they were not like that when they didn't have abundance. And for God's sake and his kingdom's sake, sometimes I wish it would go back to the days when there was no abundance.

They had more spiritually then. It's dangerous. It's dangerous that we have no time for God and prayer and all that now, because now it's this, we have an abundance. I am rich and increased with goods and I have need of nothing.

Well, these things are written for our warnings. And he, instead of going from strength to strength, goes from strength to weakness and sends out his stannison. Even though it's very significant to see that this is immediately after what we read in chapter 26 verse 34 and 35, that Esau had just married two heathen women who had made life miserable for Isaac and Rebecca.

One would think at least that would have opened Isaac's eyes to see that my older son is rebelling against God. No, but his older son is such a favorite to him that even when his son goes and marries two heathen women, his eyes are still dimmed that he can't see that rebellion.

It's amazing. But I've seen parents like that. I've seen parents who can never see a fault in their favorite children. Their children are always right. If their children were involved in a fight somewhere, the problem, the cause must have been the other child, not mine.

My darling Esau, you think he gets into fights with anybody? No. My darling Esau is a precious little boy. Most parents have. My children? Must be the other fellow did something. To rise up in justification for your children is the surest way to turn them into Esaus.

The surest way. And yet it is a rare parent. I'll tell you, in my lifetime I've seen very few parents, even in the church, who do not justify their children. Almost all of them justify their children.

Who will say, yeah, that may be right. My son may have been wrong. Sure. Quite likely it was his fault. Quite likely he was the cause of the trouble. Abraham would have said that, but not Isaac. There's the difference.

There's the difference. And we can choose which way we go. But when we justify our children, we can be pretty sure that our eyes are dim. We love our children more than we love the truth. How many times I've seen that.

It's sad. It's sad. It's sad. People loving their children more than they love the truth, and therefore missing out on what God could have done for them and through them. My brothers and sisters, let's never make that mistake.

Let's love the truth more than we love our own children. Otherwise, even when they marry heathen women, we will say, oh, but she's a nice girl, and I'm sure she's got some faith, and probably she's born again.

This daughter of Biri the Hittite, maybe she's born again. Maybe she's trusted the Lord somewhere. And this other girl also, maybe she's trusted the Lord. It's amazing how people can, the extent to which people can go to justify what their children do.

Oh, my daughter-in-law, she's quite spiritual. Rubbish. Other people can see through the hollowness of them. And that is an indication that our eyes are dim. My brothers and sisters, be without partiality here.

If you want to have clear vision, don't be partial towards your sons and daughters and sons-in-laws and daughters-in-law. You lose your spiritual vision because of that, your calling. Keep it clear and see clearly.

Isaac’s Partiality and the Deception of Rebekah

Anyway, it says here in verse 5, and Rebecca was listening while Isaac spoke to his son. So when Esau, Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me that I made, bless you in the presence of the Lord.

Now, therefore, my son, listen to me, and as I command you, go now to the flock and bring me from their two-choice and I'll prepare them a savory dish for your father such as he loves. Then you bring it to your father that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.

There is a mother who is advising her son to deceive his father. Rebecca was not the same old Rebecca, the same young Rebecca that she was at the well in Mesopotamia. She has also changed. She has also lost that spiritual outlook she had at the beginning.

Now she has become shrewd and clever to help Jacob. What should she have done? What should a wife do in such a situation? She should go to her husband and talk to him and say, remember what God told us, that the older shall serve the younger.

That's what Rebecca should have done. There she would have been a help to Isaac, instead of all this scheming and manipulating behind your husband's back. Why not go straight up to him and talk to him face to face in a loving, humble way?

And there she becomes an agent in the hands of Satan. Of course, it was God's will to give the birthright to Jacob, but what Rebecca could have done is said, Lord, it's wonderful that we are in a tight spot now.

It looks as if the blessing is going to go to Isaac. But you'll have to do some wonderful miracle now. That would have been faith. But she doesn't have that. You read about Sarah as an example in 1 Peter 3, but you don't read about Rebecca as an example.

Sarah called her husband Lord, but not Rebecca. Sad that she is not given as an example. You read about Sarah in Hebrews 11, by faith Sarah, but you never read about Rebecca. Think of a sister who can start out well as a humble, simple, God-fearing sister, but gradually begins to think, oh, I'm married to an important man, Isaac, to whom all the promises have descended from my father-in-law Abraham.

It's amazing how women can begin to think, I'm married to one of the important brothers in the church. I'm not just an ordinary sister. Garbage. Garbage. When such thoughts, think that people can store such garbage in their minds, that I'm married to somebody important, and to be pretty proud of one's husband's position or ministry.

I'm the wife of Isaac, not just any ordinary person. And to store such garbage in the mind is what makes Rebecca finally into a person who cannot be held out as an example for anybody. But Sarah, she also was married to a very important person.

She was married to the first person whom God chose, but she remained humble right till the very end. There are two contrasting examples of women, Sarah and Rebecca, and the New Testament exhorts us to follow Sarah, who submitted to her husband.

I'm sure there were a lot of things Abraham did that Sarah couldn't understand. She submitted. No doubt she advised Abraham now and then. But Rebecca schemed behind her husband's back. None of them were perfect.

Sarah was not perfect, but she didn't scheme and manipulate things behind her husband's back. A warning for wives. And Jacob also, he could have stood up against his mother. He was not a little kid. He was also 40 years old, more than 40.

He's not already married at 40. Here's a 50-year-old man still clinging on to his mother's apron string. Mummy says, go and bring this. And the 50-year-old man obeys mummy when he knows it's completely contrary to God's will.

I've seen people like that. Grown-up people still clinging on to daddy's coattails and mummy's apron string. Don't know how to stand for God. Meekly does it, what his mother says. He's only concerned about whether he'd get caught.

Supposing my father feels my hand and discovers that I'm smooth, he'll curse me when I'm discovered to be a deceiver. That's all he's thinking about. He's a schemer. He's got his hand on his brother's leg from birth, and he's still got his hand on his brother's leg.

So he went. Mother said, don't worry about that. Your curse be on me, verse 13. Just obey my voice. There are times when a son needs to stand up against his parents and say, I'm sorry, I can't do that.

That's wrong. That's unrighteous. I can't put my signature to that statement. It's a lie. It's false. I can't do it. But my son, we'll get into difficulty. Never mind. We'll trust God. He'll help us out of the difficulty.

That's the thing that makes a man of God. And that's why there are so few men of God. How many people, when it comes to their own parents, they never want to displease them. They just do what will please them.

Yeah, there's a warning for it. So he went and got them, verse 14, and brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory food such as his father loved. And Rebecca took the best garments that he saw her son, which were with her in the house and put them on Jacob, her younger son.

Both of them are to blame. You know, there was a time when Rebecca prayed. We saw that in our last study. Notice that again, Genesis 25, 22. There was a time when Isaac prayed. Isaac prayed for 20 years.

But after he got his son, he stopped praying so much. And that's why his eyes became dim. Says in verse 21 of Genesis 25, Isaac prayed, and we saw that in our last study, he got a son after 20 years. And the children struggled together within Rebecca's womb, verse 22, and she also prayed.

She went to the Lord and prayed. They began their life in prayer, in their early married life, sought God. Because they were in trial, they were in difficulty, they had no children, they sought God. But now it was all ease and comfortable and pleasant.

And even a heathen king comes and tells me that God is with me. Isaac could have pulled up his collars and said, I'm pretty important now. His big king has also testified that God is with me. Like the way some Christians get excited when the chief minister will come and attend their meeting or sit on the platform.

It's amazing how stupid Christians can get. And the eyes became dim. This has happened to Christendom. The eyes have become dim because worldly people have said good things. Worldly people have said good things and the spiritual eyes have become dim.

And Rebecca, no longer seeking God, like she did at the time when the children were struggling in her womb, saying, Lord, why is this? Why is my husband going to bless Esau now? She could have done that.

No. She schemed. And we can see an example there for us, men and women, that when we are in difficulty, we begin to scheme. How shall we get out of this now, this tight spot, this difficult situation?

How can we scheme, never mind if we do some few wrong things here and there and cheat a little here and there, if we can get out of this difficulty? We say, we want to do something right. You see, it's very easy when we have got a good end in view, to say, yeah, it doesn't matter if we do a few wrong things because our ultimate goal is good.

That if my ultimate goal is to get God's blessing on Jacob, never mind how I do it. That's the principle of the world, that the end justifies the means. That means, provided I have a good end in view, it doesn't matter how I reach there.

But Jesus has taught us, your yes must be yes, your no must be no. And the way you get to the goal is as important as the goal itself. Sure. So we can learn a lesson from that. And then he came to his father.

And he said, my father, and he said, here I am, were you my son? And Jacob said to his father, I'm Esau, your firstborn. And there was no trembling in his voice. He's an experienced deceiver to say, I'm Esau, your son.

I've done as you told me. Get up, please, and eat of my game that you may bless me. And Isaac said to his son, how is it that you have got it so quickly? And he said, because the Lord, your God, caused it to happen to me.

And we saw that, how he brings the name of the Lord into all this. There's spiritual language about this deception. God help me. God help me. How did you have your needs met, brother? God help me, brother.