I am continually amazed at how some very familiar portions of scripture have verses tucked away in them that seem incongruent with what I imagine are God’s intentions and the way He works.  I like them! …those challenging verses.  I like being caught off guard so that I can pause in my reading the Bible to come before the Father with my, “hey, wait a minute”-s. 

That happened the other morning when I read Genesis 25:21. “Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

Here’s what we know about Isaac:  He was the promised, long awaited son of Abraham and Sarah.  Even though Abraham had other sons by Hagar and Keturah, Isaac was the intended son of the covenant that God made with Abraham…  “Then God said: ‘No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.” (Genesis 17:19).  Yet, Isaac and Rebekah were married for 20 years, and they had no children.

How is it that God waited until Isaac pleaded with Him before allowing Rebekah to become pregnant? 

What drove Isaac to his knees?  Despair?  Hopelessness?  Fear?  He had the promise of God, he just didn’t have its fulfillment—he grew up in a household of faith, in fact, his father is considered “the father of all those who believe” (Romans 4:11), however, Abraham’s faith was not sufficient for Isaac.  God knew that the promised Messiah was going to come through the lineage of Isaac, so why did He wait for Isaac to pray? …and why did God wait until Isaac prayed for his wife to cause the conception of their twin boys?

…which leads me to ask, “what drives us to our knees, to cry out in anguish?”  We have the promises of God, so are we unclear about His intentions or do we not know (or believe) what His Word says?  Do we forget to claim the promises found in God’s Word if we think we don’t need them— or Him?  Can realizing God’s specific promises be bound up in a relationship with Him, where it is necessary to ask instead of assume?  Could it possibly be that God waits until the “last minute” to respond to our prayers because we waited until the last minute to plead with Him?  Are we too slow to pray for those we love, our family members and closest friends, as well as our enemies, because our hearts are clouded with indifference or presumption?

Jesus taught, by way of parable, that we ought to always pray without losing heart (Luke 18:1-5).  He also instructed, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7, 8).

I’m not so good at seeking, in fact, I often wonder if I even know what it means to seek—until I misplace something or some paperwork that I really need and I search every place I think it could be (and even the places I think it couldn’t be).  Seeking God is a lot easier than searching for something I have lost—for there is only one place to look, and that is to our Father, and there is only one resource for our search and that is His Word— which is why knowing scripture and praying it is so essential for us!

Although Isaac had God’s promise, God didn’t move to fulfill it until he prayed.

Lest we think for a moment that the genealogy of Jesus and the history our redemption hinged on Isaac’s response to God, I believe that it was God’s work in his heart and Isaac’s desperation that caused him to cry out to the Father.  The apostle Paul reminds believers that God is at work in our hearts “both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

This is God’s promise to the children of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah (a conversation we can listen in on and claim for our own): “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).

I find that seeking God is an elusive concept; for me, guilt is built into the idea of seeking God, because if I’m not hearing or experiencing the answers I hope for, then I figure that there must be something wrong with how I am approaching God, that I am not praying accurately or hard enough.   Why is it that religious “works” are so often associated with what must be received by faith?  The issue isn’t so much about my seeking or inquiring of God—the issue, for many of us I think, is “with all your [my] heart.”   I’m quite sure that there are times when God does not have all of my heart or my attention, that frequently I try to work out my own solutions first and when they fail, I turn to Him.  And there are times when people have asked for prayer, for encouragement and help during a trial or for healing, that I have whispered prayers, yet came away knowing that all of my heart, my soul, and my commitment were not engaged.

There is a place for guilt in our lives, though, when we deliberately violate God’s intention for us— “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:  whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:9-10).  Also, consider Jesus’ words to His disciples; “I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:5, 7).

James admonishes in his epistle, “…you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2).

God also allows the testing of our faith: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2). 

And, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

I think prayer is a challenge for most people.  We are so easily distracted, particularly in this electronic age!  Sometimes it takes coming to the end of ourselves or of our resources to ignite a desperation that causes us to cry out to God.  We say we have a relationship with Him, which we do through faith in Jesus Christ; yet often our praying or our seeking is based on “Need Help. NOW!” moments instead of a daily sharing of our lives and intimacy with our heavenly Father— yet intimacy with God is available to us!  Since we have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus, we are encouraged to “draw near to God, and He will draw near to [us]” (James 4:8).

Let’s do that!  Let’s spend more time considering God’s Word and abiding in Jesus; let’s spend less time assuming (and presuming) and more time opening up our hearts and sharing our lives with Him!