Shapes of blessings
This week's verses are on Genesis 25:19-26, continuing the story of Isaac:
After forty years, Isaac was finally married to the wife his father had prayed for. Happily ever after, right? Not exactly. It's not written in these verses, but thirty-five years after they got married, Abraham died and Isaac became the head of the household. And like his father, he had everything except an heir. The wife God had sent to him was childless. The future was bleak. Five more years passed, and nothing.
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife. The word they use for "pray" means something like a ritual sacrifice, so this isn't some passive prayer they're talking about. Isaac is engaging God intensely, probably making sacrifices like his father had done. Just like his father, he was at his wit's end. No heirs meant no retirement and no protection from your enemies in your old age. Isaac was nearing sixty. His wife was very likely on the cusp of menopause. It was now or never. This wasn't a time for weak flowery prayers. This was a genuine cry for help.
God answered his prayer perhaps a bit too vigorously. Rebekah was now pregnant with twins! Pretty awesome, right? But have you ever met a woman pregnant with twins who was happy about carrying two babies at once inside her? I haven't. And these were no ordinary twins. They were twins who didn't get along, who were destined to be at war with each other.
Once again, the awesomeness had a hidden flaw. Married but childless. Pregnant but tormented. We think about the stories in the Bible as implying perfect lives somehow, and expect God's blessings for us to be without a downside, but that's not always how it happens.
Look at Isaac's life: Born with a despised older brother who gets sent away. Gets married but isn't able to start a family until he is almost beyond hope. Starts a family, but then gets cheated by his own son in his old age, and dies knowing his sons will never get along. And his own wife was behind the plot!
We can look at Isaac's life and kind of count our blessings, right? And yet God answered Isaac's prayers and he was blessed. How many people go their lives without ever finding a mate? Or reach old age without ever having the kids they dreamed of? God answered Isaac's prayers and those of his father. And despite everything, God's promise to give them countless descendants was kept.
Answers to prayer come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn't make them any less miraculous. If you're tempted to complain about your life not turning out perfectly, or the answer to one problem bringing another into being, think about how Isaac was blessed. Everyone has hardship in their lives. It's part of being human. But Isaac enjoyed two big miracles in his life. Not everyone enjoys the kind of kindness God showed to him, and to us.
This is the account of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac. When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. But the children struggled inside her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she asked the Lord, and the Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples will be separated from within you.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
When the time came for Rebekah to give birth, there were twins in her womb. The first came out reddish all over, like a hairy garment, so they named him Esau. When his brother came out with his hand clutching Esau’s heel, they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
After forty years, Isaac was finally married to the wife his father had prayed for. Happily ever after, right? Not exactly. It's not written in these verses, but thirty-five years after they got married, Abraham died and Isaac became the head of the household. And like his father, he had everything except an heir. The wife God had sent to him was childless. The future was bleak. Five more years passed, and nothing.
Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife. The word they use for "pray" means something like a ritual sacrifice, so this isn't some passive prayer they're talking about. Isaac is engaging God intensely, probably making sacrifices like his father had done. Just like his father, he was at his wit's end. No heirs meant no retirement and no protection from your enemies in your old age. Isaac was nearing sixty. His wife was very likely on the cusp of menopause. It was now or never. This wasn't a time for weak flowery prayers. This was a genuine cry for help.
God answered his prayer perhaps a bit too vigorously. Rebekah was now pregnant with twins! Pretty awesome, right? But have you ever met a woman pregnant with twins who was happy about carrying two babies at once inside her? I haven't. And these were no ordinary twins. They were twins who didn't get along, who were destined to be at war with each other.
Once again, the awesomeness had a hidden flaw. Married but childless. Pregnant but tormented. We think about the stories in the Bible as implying perfect lives somehow, and expect God's blessings for us to be without a downside, but that's not always how it happens.
Look at Isaac's life: Born with a despised older brother who gets sent away. Gets married but isn't able to start a family until he is almost beyond hope. Starts a family, but then gets cheated by his own son in his old age, and dies knowing his sons will never get along. And his own wife was behind the plot!
We can look at Isaac's life and kind of count our blessings, right? And yet God answered Isaac's prayers and he was blessed. How many people go their lives without ever finding a mate? Or reach old age without ever having the kids they dreamed of? God answered Isaac's prayers and those of his father. And despite everything, God's promise to give them countless descendants was kept.
Answers to prayer come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn't make them any less miraculous. If you're tempted to complain about your life not turning out perfectly, or the answer to one problem bringing another into being, think about how Isaac was blessed. Everyone has hardship in their lives. It's part of being human. But Isaac enjoyed two big miracles in his life. Not everyone enjoys the kind of kindness God showed to him, and to us.
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