Isaac

Today we will look at Isaac.  As we talked about on Monday night, his story can be found in Genesis 24-26.  Obviously, he is mentioned earlier with the story of Abraham, but this is where we focus on his adult life.

As I was saying on Monday night, not a whole lot is mentioned about Isaac in the Bible.  Proportionately to his father and his son, he is just a blip on the radar.

Take a few minutes right now and read through Genesis 24-26.  Then come back and continue here.  www.youversion.com 

We see in the beginning of chapter 24 the care and concern that Abraham took when sending out his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac.  He has his servant swear an oath.  This is found in verses 1-4.  You probably never thought about what the term "Put your hand under my thigh" means.  It is a very serious, and extremely gross ritual.  I won't explain it here, but if you are truly interested in finding out, we can talk!

The reason for the seriousness of the oath is that Abraham didn't want his son marrying a Canaanite woman.  God had revealed to him that they were the enemy and would be destroyed.  He didn't want his son being tied with them.  This is a great example of purity.  We should follow Abraham's example and strive for this kind of purity.  To not "settle" for whatever comes along, but to hold to God's promises and believe that He will carry them out.

Then in the rest of chapter 24 we see the beautiful story of Abraham's servant finding Rebekah and ultimately bringing her back to Isaac.  This is so foreign to us in our culture!  We ultimately decide who we will marry in America, not so in their time.  So this was really quite normal.

The thing I like about this story is that Abraham's servant prays and asks God for some VERY specific things!  In verses 12-14 he prays for God to give him a sign, and by that he would be able to know that that woman was the right one for Isaac.

In verse 15, I love how it says that before he could get done praying God sends Rebekah to the well!!!  I mean, COME ON!  How awesome is that???  How many times have you been praying for something and it is answered BEFORE YOU GET DONE PRAYING???  This servant must have felt really blessed!  She ends up saying exactly what he was looking for and they then left for home.

This portion of Scripture really brings me back to John 15 (vine and the branches).  I'm sure that at some point in your life you have struggled, or at least wondered what God's will is for your life.  We sometimes pray and ask God for things, and He doesn't answer.  We wonder if we are praying the right prayer, or if we are doing something wrong.  Let's look at why I think this prayer was answered so quickly.

1.  God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation.  Well, that won't happen if Isaac isn't married!!!  So God is obviously going to answer this prayer - because it is in line with His promise, and God can't lie (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18)

2.  Abraham was obeying God by not searching after a woman that was ungodly.  Simply put, he was searching after the very woman that God wanted to give to him.  We can claim God's promises, but if we go looking in the wrong places - God will probably not answer that prayer. 

3.  The servant went out and looked for the woman!  He didn't lay on his bed and say, "God please have the perfect woman for Isaac fall out of the sky".  God wants us to obey Him and walk by faith.  Not that we "earn" God's blessings, but if we are earnestly seeking after Him, we will find Him (Hebrews 11:6, Jeremiah 29:13, Psalm 119:2, Psalm 63:1)

Then we have a little "time out" in Chapter 25.  You might win some Bible trivia contests if you ask someone how many sons did Abraham have?  Most would say one, or two.  But here we learn that he had an additional six sons by his new wife!  Just fyi ;-)

Then we move on to Chapter 26.  An interesting thing happens.  A drought comes upon the land and they are forced to relocate.  As they do, Isaac tells Rebekah to say that she is his sister!  Sound familiar?  His dad did the same thing back in Chapter 12!  Interesting how he is following in his father's footsteps.

From there on, he runs around the countryside digging holes in the ground...

As I was saying Monday night, it is odd that after SO much build up to Abraham having a son, that so little is recorded about Isaac.  But we do gain some valuable insight from Chapter 24 in searching after what God wants us to search after.  His most important act is coming up tomorrow as we look at Jacob.

Isaac is known as the Second Father of Promise.  His main importance was to get us from Abraham to Jacob.  And as we will see tomorrow, Jacob becomes EXTREMELY important to fulfilling God's promise to Abraham.

God bless!