In God's Eyes - Pt 5

These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. (Genesis 25:19-28 ESV). Rebekah was barren. So Isaac went to the Lord in prayer on behalf of his wife, and she became pregnant with twins. It was a difficult pregnancy, but God explained it: “Two nations are in your womb… the elder shall serve the younger” (25:23). You would think, then, that when the time came for the family blessing, Isaac and Rebekah would recall God’s prophecy before their sons were born, bring this situation to the Lord in prayer, and ask him what to do. However, there is no reference that they did so. Each parent had a favorite son, and communication between the spouses deteriorated to the point of division within the family. For Isaac, Rebekah, and their two sons, scheming and lies replaced prayer and openness. What had happened to them? What turned their beautiful romance into such an ugly marriage? The decisions in this dysfunctional family instigated a history of deceit for future generations. The stories of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are tragic, and in each generation the results of those lies became worse. We have seen the results of these deeds played out before us in contemporary history live and in color on our televisions today. Perhaps what we can learn best from Rebekah is the importance of prayer in the face of every challenge within our family structure. We know that the promise of God is that he will hear and answer our prayers. Those answers may not be apparent to us immediately, sometimes those answers may not be what we wanted to have; but he will bring his good and perfect will to pass in our lives through prayer. If, however, we ignore him, disregard his Word, and try to create our own answers, disaster is waiting to happen.