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My name is Meredith, and I am the mother of two awesome boys; the wife of a fantastic husband; the band director for 100 students in grades 5 - 12 in a small community in Maine; and a follower of Christ. This blog is a place for me to reflect on what the Lord is teaching me.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Blogging through the #B90Days: Day 2

Reading through the Bible in 90 Days, with Amy (and 900 other people!!!) from Mom's Toolbox.

Day 2


Reading:  Genesis 17:1 - 28:19


Things that I heard today:


Abraham and Isaac both had their wives pretend to be their sister when dealing with the leaders of foreign countries.  And each time the Lord intervened, and protected their wives.

They trusted God with the really big stuff --  the visions, the becoming a nation and all that, but had a harder time with trusting on the day to day life stuff.
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Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah.  The twins were not born until he was 60.  Twenty years of infertility in a culture where a woman's primary role was to provide offspring. Certainly, twenty years does not compare to a near lifetime of barrenness that Sarah had suffered, but it is still a long time to be waiting on the promises that God has spoken.

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Scripture(s):


Genesis 27 - all.
(Synopsis:  Jacob gets Esau's blessing through the deception of Rebekah...)



Observations:


Favoritism is not good.

Here are the things that I know.

Rebekah, when praying to the Lord about the twins struggling with each other in utero, was told by the Lord that the older would serve the younger. (Gen 25:23)

Esau was Isaac's favorite, Jacob was Rebekah's favorite.

Jacob extracted the promise of Esau's birthright from him for a bowl of lentil stew.

On Isaac's deathbed,  Rebekah  plots to deceive him into giving the blessing of the firstborn to Jacob.

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Questions that this all raises?

So many!

We know that traditionally, the older son gets the bigger blessing.
We also know that God intended for Jacob to become Israel.

Why then, was Jacob not born first?
Why is the deceit, trickery and favoritism necessary?

Perhaps it had nothing to do with order of birth, and simply favoritism was at the root of it all.  Would Isaac have tried to bless Esau even if he had been born second?

Was Rebekah acting out of partiality to Jacob, or trying to ensure that the word she had received from the Lord came to pass?

These are questions that I always think about when I read this passage of Scripture.  I do not expect to know the answers this side of Heaven.

But this I know:  My God is the God of grace. He calls sinners, and tax collectors, and liars and thieves and prostitutes, and changes their lives, and uses them to accomplish His designs.


Application:


God's purposes will be accomplished.  (He will build this church in His OWN time.)
His ways are NOT our ways.  (He will do it HIS way, in His OWN time.)
Our stupidity, and mistakes, and sinfulness might mean He has to get creative, but it will NOT prevent Him from doing His will. ( He is completely in control.)


My God is trustworthy.
I may not understand why things happened the way that they did, but I can be comforted by the lineage of Christ, seeing not a list of people who were paragons in upright living, but ordinary people that are incapable of perfection.

The lessons my heart is hearing today:

 Trust Him above all --- do not try to bring about what I think is His will in my own strength, but let HIM do it in His time, and His way.

Believe Him for the huge things (the call for the church plant), but also the the mundane things (gas money, groceries, furnaces, vehicles).

We have barely scratched the surface of waiting. There are so many examples of God giving a promise, and then years, and year pass before it comes to pass. Give us patience!!




Prayer:


Thank you Lord, that your purposes will be accomplished here on Earth, no matter what we might do in our own efforts and strength.  Thank you for the reminders that You Alone are trustworthy, and for all things.  Give us peace, patience and the grace to wait as you prepare us for what is to come.


Thank you for the immeasurable blessings of our life.
Amen.

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