Lessons from the Bible

bibleRebekahs failure to wait for God leads to family breakup
Rebekah, married to Isaac, had twins. When the twins were born God told her that the older will serve the younger (Genesis 25:23).

Knowing this Rebekah should have been able to trust God, to rest in Him, to let Him bring about what He had said when and how He wanted to. For many years she had patience and waited. In the meantime Esau (the older twin) sold his birthright to Jacob (the younger) for some porridge when he was famished one day (Genesis 25:27-34).

Then came the day when Isaac, the father of the twins, wanted to bestow his blessing on the elder son, Esau. Rebekah heard of the plan and ordered Jacob to deceive his father by disguising himself as his brother. Isaac, whose eye sight was very poor, then blessed Jacob rather than Esau.

Rebekah had lost her trust and confidence in God to do what He had promised, and decided to act in her wisdom. She omitted to ask God what she should do in this situation, if anything. She acted as led by her flesh, her own will. This entailed being deceitful herself, acting against her husbands wishes, ordering Jacob to lie to his father. Almighty Gods plans would not have entailed this. Flesh gives birth to flesh and Spirit gives birth to spirit. God will never fail us if we trust Him.

Later Isaac found out he had been deceived and lied to! Esau, the elder brother, learned that he had been robbed of his blessing. As a result he became angry and wanted to kill Jacob for stealing his blessing. In fear, Rebekah again schemed to get Jacob away from Esau and persuade Isaac to agree to send Jacob away to a distant land.

So the family was broken up with Jacob going away for a considerable period of time and living in fear of his brother.

Gods plan for Jacob was not brought about in Gods way. Gods ways are ways of peace and joy. Rebekah did not wait in patience but when the going looked like it was getting out of hand, she stepped in with her own wisdom, her own plans, her own scheme, using her own method. This is disobedience and sin. She failed to enquire of Almighty God, she had lost her quiet trust in God, she failed to fling herself in reckless confidence on God. Seeing herself wiser than God, she decided to follow her own course of action. Invariable pride (I can do this) set in, exalting herself above God and His word. The result was disaster.

God is Almighty. He has a plan and purpose for each of those who are His disciples, who follow Him. However we need to keep on following Him, keep on trusting Him, keep on abiding in Him, until He shows us His will and direction He wishes us to take. Anything other than this is disobedience and sin.

Post published in: Uncategorized

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *