Elementary Level, Block 2—Noah to Isaac
Week 20
Isaac—Keeping Peace and Being Blessed for It
Point to Emphasize: We can be those who keep peace when others want to cause trouble.
Reference Reading: Genesis 26
Memory Verse: Seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14b)
Story Sample
Last Week 1we heard about how God arranged the best wife for Isaac. Actually, God cared for Isaac in so many ways. Isaac had a restful, happy life of enjoyment.
Eventually, Isaac began to move from place to place. Who can tell me what he would need in every place, not only for himself and his household, but also for his herds of animals? What is one thing we cannot live without? Right—water. So, whenever they would move to a new place, they would dig a well. With a well of water, they and their animal herds never had to be without water.
Eventually though, there was trouble over the wells of Isaac that were dug by his men. Men that lived nearby complained and said that the wells belonged to them. But, rather than fight with the men about who owned the wells, Isaac would move his household to another place. He had a very good attitude about this and did not want to cause trouble. This happened twice!
Now, I might give in and let them have their way once, but I just don’t know if I would let someone get away with it twice. I had a friend who came to my house after school one day to play. When she was ready to leave, she had one of my dolls. I told her it was mine and she said, “Oh no. This is my doll.” My mom had always taught me to be nice to my friends when they came, so I let her take it. Then the following week, she came again, and she did the same thing! This time I was really mad! I wanted so much to grab it out of her hands! [Storyteller, add an example of your own.]
I wonder if Isaac felt this way too when they claimed to own the well. Here they had done all the work of digging the wells, and now they would have to move on once again. And Isaac did it. He didn’t argue or fight. He just moved on. He stepped right out of the way of trouble.
Sometimes we have to do this in order to avoid an unhappy situation. When I wanted to grab my toy back, I remembered my mother’s words, and I just stepped back and let her take it. My mom saw it and later on told me how proud she was of me for keeping the peace. It made me feel so good to have my mom say that to me!
Isaac was blessed by doing the right thing. He would move and have his men dig a new well in a new place. And do you know what happened? It turned out that he ended up exactly where God wanted him to be all along. God had a particular place where he wanted Isaac to go, and Isaac was happy to get there by keeping the peace.
Because he was a part of God’s household and didn’t care so much about having the best well, he received the blessing from God and was able to keep the peace. I want to be like Isaac too, not caring for other things but only for what God wants.