Isaac Prayed

Isaac Prayed

Genesis 25:19 – This is the account of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham fathered Isaac. 20 – Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife named Keturah. She had 6 children, but they were sent away with gifts just like Ishmael. Abraham was determined that Isaac would be separated from the rest of the children who would not be heirs. He left everything he owned to Isaac.

The Bible records Abraham’s lifespan at 175 years. He was supposed to be as good as dead at 100 when Isaac was born. Genesis 25:8 says “Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man who had lived a full life. He joined his ancestors.”

With Jesus, life is always full whether the life-span is but few years or many and now the spotlight is on Isaac, the child of promise.

The Bible says that Isaac loved Rebekah and she was a comfort to him after his mother, Sarah’s, death. Rebekah’s story was similar to Sarah’s in a few ways. She traveled from the same land. She heard a similar call from the Lord to leave her home and her family. And, surprise, surprise! She was barren, just like Sarah. She was unable to have children.

Genesis 25:21 – Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was unable to conceive children, and the LORD responded to him – his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

Unable. When was the last time you were unable to do something? For me it is everyday. Everyday I’m confronted with my inabilities: my inability to protect myself while driving; my inability to protect myself and my family while asleep at night; my inability to say the right things at all the right times; my inability to repair broken appliances; my inability to save myself. The list goes on and on. There is a dreadful lot of stuff that I am unable to do.

For Rebekah, who was chosen, called, and set-apart to carry on the mantle of being a mother to many nations. She had a critical inability. She was unable to have children. How was God’s promise to Abraham to be fulfilled?

How are any of God’s promises to all of us to be fulfilled? Isaac took the only option he could see. He chose the option of praying to the LORD. It’s the same option that I take too! I’m sure it is an option that most of you have chosen at various times in your lives too, especially in the face of crisis or danger.

You know what else we are unable to do? We are unable to keep ourselves from making mistakes and falling. Today, let’s choose once again, like Isaac, to pray often and without ceasing — to the One who is able to keep you from falling and to make you stand joyful and faultless in His glorious presence, because, glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and for all eternity belong only to God, our Savior, through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord — Jude 1:24,25.