Tag: Rebekah

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Genesis Devotions

The God who sees and comforts

Genesis

It’s always amazing to me how I can read something in the Bible over and over and never really notice its significance.

I’ve read this passage hundreds of times before, but today, this verse stuck out at me:

Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region. (62)

A pretty inconspicuous verse, right?

But that name “Beer-lahoi-roi” rang a bell with me. And I suddenly realized that it was the same place where God had met Hagar years earlier when she had been running away from Sarah. (Genesis 16)

And after her encounter with God, she called him, “El-roi”, “The God who sees me.” The name “Beer-lahoi-roi” means “the well of the Living One who sees me.”

Perhaps as Isaac was wandering out there, he was praying, “God, you were with Hagar when she was pregnant with my brother Ishmael. You saw her when she was hurting. Will you now be with me in my hurt? My mother has died. And right now, I am feeling incredibly lonely.”

And God was. In his gracious provision and impeccable timing, God brought Rebekah to Isaac. It says at the end of this chapter,

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death. (67)

Christmas season is usually a happy time. But it can also be a hard time for many people, especially if you have lost someone you loved this year.

But remember that God is “El-roi”, the God who sees you.

And remember that Jesus is “Immanuel,” God with us.

So if you’re struggling right now, turn to him.

God is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

And through whatever pain you may be feeling, his Son is right there by your side.

For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on his shoulders.

He will be named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

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Genesis

Do the ends really justify the means?

Genesis

There are a lot of questions I’d love to ask God about this passage.

First, how much did Isaac really know?

When God told Rebekah that Esau was to serve Jacob, did she pass that on to Isaac?  And if she did, how did Isaac respond?

Further, when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, did Isaac hear about it, and what was his response?

Either Isaac knew nothing, and was just doing what he thought was right, or he knew everything, and there was something wrong about his attitude.  But as it is, we don’t know how much Isaac really knew.

Which brings us to Rebekah’s and Jacob’s actions.

I’m sure Rebekah told Jacob of what God has said.  The Bible doesn’t say this, but from Jacob’s actions earlier, taking Esau’s birthright, it seems that he had this idea planted from somewhere.

It could’ve come from himself, I suppose.  But it seems more likely that it came from his mother.  So in all probability, they both knew God’s promises.

But when Isaac was about to bless Esau instead, they both panicked.  And so they deceived Isaac into blessing Jacob instead.

Rebekah and Jacob succeeded.  They got the blessing from Isaac.  And it was God’s will to bless Jacob, not Esau.  But did the ends justify the means?

Well, look at the result.  Esau was so upset, he planned to murder Jacob.  Because of that Jacob had to flee for his life, and he never did see his mother again.

For a long time he had to live in fear of his life, and it was only many years later that he reconciled his relationship with Esau.

Lots of fear, lots of worry, lots of wasted years because of this one decision.

Which brings me to my last question.  Had Jacob and Rebekah done nothing, what would have happened?  Would God have intervened at the last minute and said to Isaac, “Jacob is the one you should bless?”

We don’t know.  And we’ll never know because Jacob and Rebekah took things into their own hands.

One thing I do know is that God always keeps his promises.  And he didn’t need Jacob and Rebekah’s help.

There may be times in our lives, when it seems we need to do something a little shady to get things done.

There may be times in our lives when we say, “But there was no other choice.  I had to do things this way.”

But when we try to force things apart from God’s will, we get into trouble.

Abraham and Sarah learned this with the birth of Ishamel.

And Jacob and Rebekah learned this with the incident of Isaac’s blessing.

How much regret have we had in our lives because we tried to force things to happen, instead of waiting for God to act.

As Proverbs 14:12 says,

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

And again, in Proverbs 3:5-6,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

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Genesis

Afraid

Genesis

It’s amazing how Isaac could do the exact thing to Rebekah that Abraham did to Sarah:  deny that she was his wife, and say that she was his sister instead.

Amazing because Isaac wasn’t even born when Abraham had his two incidents with the Pharaoh and Abimelech.

Did Abraham give him this advice when going into foreign territories?  And if Abraham did, why didn’t he warn Isaac of what had happened to him?

But ultimately, fear can cause us to do stupid things.  That’s what happened to Abraham.  And that’s what happened to Isaac.

The problem with fear is that it often blinds us to the possible consequences of our actions.

We fear our future, so we turn to astrology or fortune telling.

We fear being alone, and so we marry someone we know we shouldn’t.

We fear losing our boyfriend or girlfriend, so we sleep with them.

We fear rejection from our family and friends, so we deny our Lord in words and actions.

But that’s not how God wants us to live.  He doesn’t want us to live in fear, wondering what will happen to us in the future.

He wants us to live trusting him.

He wants us to live knowing that he loves us and that he’ll take care of us.

He wants us to live knowing that he wants our best.

If only we would believe that.

As the writer of Psalm 91 penned,

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (1-2)