This week’s reading: Genesis 25:1-34
Hi Friends,
Sadly, we will say goodbye to our Father of Faith this week, as Abraham passes away at the ripe old age of 175. He has lived a marvelous adventure here on earth, but now he gets to continue to faithfully serve God forevermore, reaping blessings from his great life. I wonder if he, and the other great Saints of the Bible, understood just how much of a blessing their fantastic lives are to us who are still gleaning and learning from them? We also read about the next two generations after Abraham and how God is continuing to bless them as He expands His promise. Yet, as usual with us humans, things do not always go smoothly. Listen to the foreshadowing of the tension between Isaac’s children:
“Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Gen 25:21-23 NIV
Abraham’s last years. Having grown to a level of maturity worthy of our admiration, Abraham lives out the rest of his days, another 35 years, pretty low key. After burying his beloved wife, Sarah, and marrying off his dearest son, Isaac, Abraham is on his own, and takes on another wife who gives him six more sons. Per God’s promise though, only Isaac would inherit Abraham’s legacy, so he gives these younger boys gifts and sends them away from Isaac. Knowing what a loving and compassionate man he is, we can be sure that Abraham provided for all their needs, even though “Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.” (Gen 25:5) Again, it was God’s plan to continue this godly lineage through Isaac. My Study Bible says, “Only Isaac would inherit the promise of land, offspring and divine presence.” (p34) It is not that God did not provide for the other sons of Abraham, we actually read this week about the sons God gave Ishmael and his full life as he died at 137 years old, so we know that God blessed him and the rest of Abraham’s direct descendants as well. But the Bible follows the genealogy of the Messiah, and He would eventually come from Isaac. Like Jesus, Isaac alone is the promised child, so all the others had to go their own way. As I said above, at the amazing age of 175 Abraham passes from this life. Both older sons, Isaac and Ishmael, bury their dad in the same tomb as Sarah, his wife, which to me paints such a lovely picture. Together they journeyed through so much in this world, it just seems fitting that their remains be buried together…and, on that first plot of land, partially fulfilling the promise that they would inherit in the land of the Canaanites. What a legacy! May we follow his example and obey God, even when we have no idea what He is doing. Like Abraham, we too can completely trust that God loves us, has a good plan for our lives here, and will take care of our future lives in Heaven as well.
Inquire of Him. We now turn to Isaac and his life. This reading reminds us that Isaac is 40 years old when he marries Rebekah and we are told that she too is barren. It takes them 20 years, and I am sure lots of faithful prayers, before God opens her womb and she conceives. (see Gen 25:26b) First lesson we can learn? Persevere in your prayers! Isaac knows all about the promise God had given Abraham all too well, and so in Faith, trusting God to do what He said He would do, Isaac does not give up on asking God to bring it to pass. Our fallen nature would love it if we prayed to God about a need or heart’s desire, and He would immediately grant us whatever we asked. But this is just not the way it goes the majority of times. And why? First, God is not about creating spoiled children who would not appreciate the answered prayers anyway. This is a good lesson for us parents. We seem to be developing a generation of entitled brats. It is good for them, and us, to wait and learn to continue believing for what we truly desire. Many times, we just might find out that, what we initially asked for, we really didn’t want. God know His children and, not only what we need, but when we can handle it. Like Isaac, let’s keep praying for the good things of life and trusting God’s Timing. Again I say, after 20 years, God answers this prayer and provides, not one child, but two sons for this godly couple. We get a hint that they followed God because 1- Isaac turned to God in prayer for his wife’s sake and 2- when the pregnancy got difficult, Rebekah immediately turned to God also. “The babies jostled each other within her, and she stated, ‘Why is this happening to me?’” (Gen 25:22a) I love that this verse does not stop there…but do we stop there too often? When life presents challenging, confusing, frustrating events, do we just sit by ourselves and try to figure it all out on our own? This used to be me…and the problem was, just when I thought I had figured it out, things would change and I had to start trying to make sense of it all, all over again. (Notice all the “I’s” there?) What a waste of time and energy! We could be spending those valuable resources being with God, trusting Him to either fix it or get us through it. This will increase our Faith and cause us to become more and more like Him, which will really make our lives better. Anyway, Rebekah makes the right move here, “…So she went to inquire of the Lord.” (Gen 25:22b) Please take note that it says “she went”? It is a good idea to separate ourselves from those around us, and/or the situation at hand, when we really need to seek God’s wisdom and help. I love spending time sitting at my computer, or with my iPad, and just writing out my thoughts to God as I pray with expectation of “hearing” His answer. There is never an audible voice, but more like a gentle impression on my heart concerning what I have been talking to Him about. First, we must understand God is a Person, not some hypothetical, imagined, or distance, unconcerned being. Remember, we were created in His Image, so like us, He has a personality that is meant to be shared with others. Unlike us though, He is perfectly self-LESS, so who better to talk with and learn to emulate? It is because He is a Person that we must speak to Him as we would speak to anyone else. Always in reverence, we simply share what is on our hearts and minds…and we must believe God hears our words and desires to engage with us in conversation. No, God doesn’t always give me the answer…or the answer I would like to hear…but just knowing He is present, knowing He desires to listen, it fills me with that peace that surpasses understanding. (see Php 4:6-7) Yet many times God does give me great insight, both about the situation, as well as about how I need to change my attitude about what is going on. Either way, I surrender the circumstance to Him and move forward with a quiet calmness and assurance that God has it all under control. This is what praying is supposed to be like. It is meant to connect us with our Holy Father, learn from our Immaculate Savior and trust the Holy Spirit to guide our responses to life. Prayer is talking to God and trusting Him to direct our steps. There is no greater privilege on this planet than being able to pray without ceasing. (1Thess 5:17) God loves it when we go to Him to inquire about life, to praise Him for something He has done for us…or to just talk to Him about anything. God wants to speak to us. Rebekah knows this and runs to God with her questions. And because she trusted God, He honors her, a woman, by answering her. She did not need to “get a word” from a priest or her husband. God directly answers Rebekah, and my Friends, we must believe God will do the same for us.
The two jostled within. As Rebekah seeks God’s wisdom, she learns she has twins and that they are already fighting with one another in her womb. God explains that two nations will come from these children, and that the older one will end up serving the younger one. This is a theme throughout the Bible. We have already seen that Abel is accepted over Cain, Shem leads Japheth, and Isaac is chosen over Ishmael. Now, we hear this again as God tells Rebekah that the younger will rule over the older. This was not the normal, understood custom of the time. The first son born was given the great blessing of the birthright. This means that they would become the leader of the family, with special blessings, after the passing of their father. It also meant that they would get a double portion of the family’s wealth. It was considered a huge blessing from God to be given this position in the family and in life. Keep this in mind when we talk about what Esau does. So Rebekah gives birth to these two boys, and just like God said, we can already see the struggle for power as the second son “…came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel….” (Gen 25:26a) It is almost like Jacob the young brother, was saying, “Hold on a second, where are you going?! I must be first.” Oh siblings! We always have issues with one another, don’t we? But I think the bigger lesson here for us is spiritual. We too have two “nations,” or rather natures, warring within us: the old life and the New Creation…praise God He says the younger will be stronger! Our old life, when we lived apart from God because we either did not know we could live with Him or we had refused to surrender our lives to Him, is symbolized by the older brother Esau. He becomes a very arrogant, ungrateful child who lives by his feelings and fleshly appetite. This is us before we become born again! But before we pat ourselves on our own backs too quickly, let’s think about Jacob’s character. He is far from perfect even after he encounters God…more on that another time. You see, our New Creation Identity is one we all must grow into, or else we will continue to allow that older child within to rule over us. It is as we mature in Christ that this younger, and I might add eternal person, begins to have control over oneself. In Christ, we begin to think like He does. We being to speak words of wisdom and love like He does. And we begin to act like the child of God we now are in Him. I have heard it put this way: it is like we have two wolves living inside of us. Depending on which one we feed, it will be stronger than the other. God, of course, desires for us to feed our New Creation by spending time with Him, in prayer, in the Bible, fellowshipping with other believers and so on and so on. As we center our hearts on godly things, this younger nature does rule, and that older, sinful part takes second place…until the day we are fully delivered and released from her…forevermore. Man, I look forward to that! In the meantime, we jostle with each other. Yet the more we grow, the less we wrestle because the more we will be connecting to God. It is only in Him, through Him, with Him that the older will serve the younger. Yet another reason to pray without ceasing, yes? Let’s choose to connect with God always, and in all ways. This is God’s desire and God’s Plan.
Two nations, two natures. This is never a good thing, but here we have division and favoritism happening, causing complete dysfunction and a lack of unity in this family. Isaac, who loves the taste of wild game, prefers his oldest son over Jacob because Esau grew into a mighty hunter. Rebekah however, never forgets what God spoke to her heart, so she favors Jacob, who became a quiet homebody. One day as Esau comes in from the hunt, he is famished and magnifies his hunger by saying and believing he is starving to death. Jacob just happened to be cooking a delicious stew, so Esau demands a bowl to quench his cravings. Jacob knows his foolish brother’s flawed character and seizes the opportunity. “Jacob replied, ‘First sell me your birthright.’” (Gen 25:31) Remember what we said about how valuable this privilege was? Certainly Esau would believe it had so much more value than a bowl of soup, right? No, no he doesn’t. His immediate need became all he saw. Let’s pause a moment before we judge this brother too harshly, shall we? How often do we forsake the future rewards because, we too, have an immediate desire we just cannot say no to? Listen, I have been battling with my weight all my life…and by now, I have probably lost 1000 pounds! I lose them, but they keep finding me. Why? Because that bag of chips or sleeve of Oreo’s seem so much more valuable to me at that immediate moment! The truth is, we make some really foolish and unhealthy choices in life, because we are not thinking about the future and only focusing on the here and now. We must learn the hard lesson here that, the future glory is so, so much more valuable than that instant gratification. It is only when we can see ourselves in all the people of the Bible, not just the Saints, that we know the truth and can be set free by it. (see Jn 8:32) The problem with Esau is the same problem with every human who demands to have what they want, when they want it. It is Pride. Pride is the root of all evil. It says, “I do not care what God wants. I want what I want and that is all that matters!” How heart breaking it will be when their future becomes their reality. One day we will all stand before the Throne of God and have to give account for every choice we have made. (see 2Co 5:10 & Ro 14:12) And unless God intervenes, this would be every human being’s destiny. (see 1Jn 4:19) It is God’s Grace that allows challenges in our lives so that we might be drawn to His side, surrender our Pride to humility and receive the free gift of Everlasting Life in Christ. If we choose to hold on to Pride instead, as St Paul says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Gal 6:7) In the end, we will either hear Jesus say “Well done, My good and faithful servant!” OR we will hear that awful and fatal verdict: “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (see Mt 25:21 & Mt 7:23) It is our choice. If we continue to act like Esau, we will die in our sins. (see Jn 8:24) But if we become humble and moldable like the imperfect Jacob, we shall be redeemed, reconciled and rescued from the curse of sin and death. (see Ro 6:23) The Bible says, “So Esau despised his birthright.” (Gen 25:34b) This means he did not care a whip about God and His blessings. Later we read in the Book of Romans what God said about these two brothers: “Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” (Ro 9:13 but also see Mal 1:2-3) Esau foolishly loses his birthright to Jacob and becomes his inferior, even though he should have been first. The war between these two brothers continues throughout the history of the Bible, and sadly, Esau’s nation called Edom is extinguished in AD 70 when Jerusalem is destroyed by Rome. The major lesson here: Pride destroys us. Humility draws us to God who will redeem us. Our choice. I know what decision I have made, by the Grace of God, and because I have surrendered to the great Love of God, He continues to transform me into His beautiful likeness…and you know what happens to my life as He does this? Yep, it becomes more and more abundant! Do you want that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
