Isaac and Rebekah had been married
for 20 years and still they had no children.
While some people today assert that children are a burden or an
inconvenience, this has never been the attitude of God nor was it the attitude
of Isaac and Rebekah. In Genesis 25 we
find Isaac pleading with God that He would open Rebekah’s womb. In grace God gave them twins.
William Williams, the great Welsh
evangelist, wrote the hymn “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”. This hymn asks for God’s guidance for the
“pilgrim in this barren land”. Isaac was
certainly a pilgrim. The land wasn’t his
and he was often reminded of it. The
hymn goes on to say, “I am weak, but Thou art mighty; hold me with Thy powerful
hand.” Isaac could not open Rebehak’s
womb. Isaac could not fulfill the
promises that God had made to Abraham and that Abraham had repeated to him. Isaac could not, but God could.
It is the grace of God in our lives
that He does the things that He can and that we cannot. Even when we don’t know what we need or how
to pray for it, God in His grace does both for us. Romans 8:26 gives us this promise. We can’t make the rain fall and we can’t make
the sun shine. God can. God, in His marvelous grace, is constantly
doing every day the things that we can’t do.
He is doing the things that we can’t even think to ask being done. For Isaac and Rebekah He opened the closed
womb so that they would have the blessing of children and that He could
accomplish all the purposes of His eternal promises.
Isaac believed that God both could
and would work in His home. William
Williams goes on in his hymn to include this verse, “Care and doubting, gloom
and sorrow, fear and shame are mine no more.
Faith knows naught of dark tomorrow, for my Savior goes before.” Isaac walked in faith with God. He didn’t know the details of God’s plan, but
He knew the God of the plan. That was
enough for Him. For all other matters of
his life he rested in the loving grace of God.
With Isaac and William Williams
we need to sing the final words of verse 3, “Songs of praises, songs of
praises, I will ever give to Thee. I
will ever give to Thee.” Let us live our
lives as a song of praise to the power and care of His grace.
The Friday Benediction
Until Monday, my friends, may the
good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of
faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the
saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that
confession this weekend. Amen
You
may also enjoy this inspirational devotional book, The Gospel According to Molly,
available
here:
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