Hi everyone,This is round two for the day - just shy of 11:30PM! Oh well, we've done morning and evening today readings today, I guess.
There isn't a lot I want to comment on for these passages because most of them are genealogies. As I've said before, although they seem irrelevant, they are important for Jewish persons to see how they are physically a part of God's people as children of Abraham. Not only that, but for Christians, these display for us the fact that God is always faithful to His people from generation to generation, and that in the fullness of time, He would become one of us as a descendent of Abraham.
The main story we hear is that of Isaac and Rebekah's children Jacob and Esau. First of all, again we see another barren woman in the Bible. It does amaze me that the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Israelites all seem to be plagued by this problem. Rebekah had been married to Isaac for about twenty years, and she just could not conceive. Finally, Isaac prays to the Lord, and Rebekah conceives twins within her womb. Again, another lesson for those of us who need to learn how to trust our lives to hands of our faithful Savior.
Well, that’s when something odd happens: the children struggle with in her. In other words, those little boys start kickboxing each other inside her womb. Well, she’s confused by all this, and wonders, “"If I am having to deal with all this, why is this happening to me?" Literally, the text says she asked, “Why do I even go on living?” Well, she goes to God in prayer and asks what is happening. God tells her, “There are two nations are in your womb, two people groups butting heads while still in your body. One people will overpower the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Well, that’s odd. After all, in that society, the oldest son received the inheritance and was the prized child. And any of the other siblings would be forced to serve the oldest. As the oldest son, I rather like that idea. But God is in essence telling her, even before the children are born, that the youngest son would disrupt all this and take it away from the oldest.
So when they come out of the womb. Out comes one little baby, who was so red and hairy that it looked like he was wrapped in a blanket. So they named him Esau, which means “hairy.” But then as Esau was brought out of the womb, there was a tiny hand holding onto Esau’s ankle. As the next little boy was brought forth, he was named Jacob, which means, “ankle.”
So what do we glean from this lesson for today? Well, I'm not really sure. I think I'm still struck by God's faithfulness to His people, and to His plan to redeem those people - the same thing I keep pointing to. I'm also amazed at the ways God redeems and opens the wombs of those who are thought to be barren just so His plans can be accomplished. Nothing stands in the way of God's will.
I think as a follower of Jesus Christ, this should be a great comfort to us. When our lives are lived to the glory of God, and are centered in doing His will, nothing will be impossible for us. In fact, if God desires that we get a certain job, or marry a certain person, or have a certain number of children, or whatever else, then nothing will stop God from accomplishing His will for our lives. And we can take comfort in that, because if God is for us, and God is working for our best interests, then we can rely on the fact that He will remove whatever road-blocks lie in the way of accomplishing His will in us - and when the road-blocks don't move, that's because His will is that we go a different direction to get around them.
So in conclusion, I think there's much comfort for us in knowing that when our lives are lived according to God's desires for us, when we seek after Him with all our hearts, and when in prayer we seek to know that will, God will make even the impossible situations possible in order to accomplish His plan for us and in us. Friends, have a blessed night.
In Christ,
Pastor Nathan
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