Hope Deferred

by PRASHER, G. | Category: The Patient Patriarch | Aug 2003

Some twenty years after the proof of faith on Mount Moriah, Isaac comes again into the Genesis narrative. He was now approaching his fortieth birthday. Three years earlier his mother Sarah had died, and Isaac deeply mourned her passing.

His ageing father Abraham felt a keen responsibility to ensure that a suitable wife should be provided for Isaac. He realized that the daughters of the surrounding Canaanite peoples had no knowledge of the true God. He would therefore send a trusted servant to seek a bride for Isaac from among his kinsfolk in the Mesopotamian city of Nahor. The first importance of a spiritually compatible wife was clear to Abraham, a worthy example for God-fearing people in all generations.

The romantic story of Rebekah's warm response to her opportunity to become Isaac's wife is beautifully told in Genesis chapter 24, and enshrines many truths of great spiritual interest. However our present focus is on Isaac's willing submissiveness in a spirit of faith. In this major issue of his life that same attitude obtained, as it had on Mount Moriah. He was in harmony with his father's concern that priority be given to the spiritual aspect of his marriage. He would surely have shared in prayerful concern that Eliezer's mission would be divinely directed, that once again as on Mount Moriah the Lord would provide. Nor was his faith misplaced! One evening as he meditated in the field, 'he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming'. His faith was rewarded with a young woman of outstanding attractiveness (Gen.24:16;26:7): 'and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.'

What deep satisfaction would lie in store for both Isaac and Rebekah during those early days of married life! Until anxiety began to cloud their sky when months gave way to years and still there was no sign of offspring from their union. Rebekah's natural longing for a child would inevitably cause her sad frustration. Did Isaac recall his own parents' quarter-century trial of faith as they awaited his promised birth? Would he seek to reassure Rebekah as he recounted the promises of God to Abraham regarding his descendants through Isaac, and remind her that, as with Sarah, so once more God would prove true to His word?

Nineteen years ground on in disappointed hope. The inspired narrative records: 'Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived' (Gen.25:21). Presumably that entreaty would be a burden of Isaac's prayer during the years God chose to keep them waiting. To God a proof of their faith most precious in His estimation: to them a spiritual discipline answering to the remarkable process described in Romans 5:3-4: 'tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope'. Those trying years were used to develop just such spiritual qualities in both Isaac and Rebekah. The flame of hope burned on, to find ultimate realization when Rebekah's pregnancy was at last confirmed.

That Rebekah had matured spiritually over the years seems apparent from Genesis 25:22. For it was she who went to enquire of the LORD about the unborn twins struggling within her. She was given the significant answer:

'"Two nations are in your womb,

Two peoples shall be separated from your body;

One people shall be stronger than the other,

And the older shall serve the younger."'

As they awaited the birth of their twin boys Rebekah and Isaac would often ponder the mystery of these words. How impressive to us also the confirmed historical outworking of this divine oracle which was first imparted to Rebekah some four thousand years ago!

The wise Preacher wrote: 'Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life' (Prov.13:12). To Isaac and Rebekah the fulfilment of their longing would be a tree of life indeed. Yet in the experience of some it has proved that similar desires, implanted by our Creator and altogether according to His normal plan within marriage, may nevertheless not be granted. Severe as such disappointment must always be, grace to yield to His 'good and acceptable and perfect will' is available in all its fullness.

PRASHER, G. | Aug 2003
The Patient Patriarch