S170P6 – Behind closed doors: Isaac and Rebekah

Gen. 25:21-23

Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

Isaac did not know the fateful lineage he was to produce.  He simply wanted a son, but his wife could not bear children.  Like any desperate man of God, he went to the Lord seeking a miracle.  We do not know the timing of Isaac’s prayer, but there are two facts which speak to his want.  The first is that he was forty years old when he took Rebekah as his wife.  The second is that he was sixty years old when his sons were born.  I do not know where in that twenty-year period this prayer was made, but I do know that Isaac waited quite a long time for those sons.  Either his prayer was born out of that time of waiting, or he still had to wait years even after his plea in faith.

Rebekah had never had children, but she likely knew a lot about pregnancy and birth from observing others. When those children inside her began their raucous engagement, she knew that something was not right. Let us keep in mind that Rebekah had been barren for quite a long time. She knew that those children inside her were a miraculous event. Anyone would have expected a miraculous pregnancy from the Lord to go smoothly, but this did not. Rebekah was concerned, and her prayer received an answer right away. It might have not been the answer she wanted, but God was very gracious in this response. He would prepare her for the controversy and infighting that would characterize the lives of these children.

If we look at prayer as our agreement with the will of God, as the method by which we call forth what He wants, then his will is evident here.  He meant for Isaac to desire children.  He meant for those children to come from a barren woman.  He meant for them to be exactly who they would be.  He also meant for their mother to be prepared for the times ahead.  Although Isaac and Rebekah went to God for what they saw as their needs, they really were in the secret place to call forth and agree with the will of God.  That must be our focus in times of prayer, not letting the questions or the waiting distract us from the goal.  Father, give us the discernment to know your will and to agree earnestly for it to be done.