Thursday
Thursday
Isaac and the Faithfulness of God
Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer.
Genesis 25:21
Isaac began well. His parents must have told him the circumstances of his birth, why he was called Isaac (“Laughter”), and the meaning of his circumcision. Then stamped forever on his memory was his traumatic adolescent experience on Mount Moriah—the horror when he realized that he was to be sacrificed and the ecstasy when he was released. Twice he owed his life to God’s faithfulness—his supernatural birth and his providential rebirth.
Then came Abraham’s resolve that Isaac should marry not a Canaanite woman but one of his own relatives. It was not an ethnic but a religious decision, to ensure that the line of the covenant would be preserved. The whole of Genesis 24 is devoted to the story of how, in answer to prayer and common sense, Rebekah became Isaac’s wife. As her brother Laban said, “This is from the LORD” (v. 50). Yet for twenty years Rebekah failed to conceive. But when Isaac prayed for her, she became pregnant with twins. It was one more clear example of the faithfulness of God to his covenant.
But with her pregnancy things changed. Aware that she was carrying twins, she consulted the Lord about their future, and he told her that two peoples were within her and that the older would serve the younger. It was an unequivocal revelation of God’s will. His promise to Abraham and Isaac was to be fulfilled not through the firstborn, Esau, but through the younger twin, Jacob. But Isaac resisted God’s will and determined to give the blessing of the firstborn to Esau.
It is wonderful that, in spite of Isaac’s mixed-up behavior, God is still willing to style himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
For further reading: Genesis 24:59–67