8 Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see�
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in him; for God never disappoints the expectations of those who seek his favour. Our own unbelief is the only impediment which prevents him from satisfying us largely and bountifully with abundance of all good things."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
Chapter 24 is the lengthy story of the selection of Isaac's wife. Abraham's servant travels back to Abraham's homeland to do this. Oddly enough, (and totally foreign to our culture) Isaac winds up marrying his first cousin (if I'm figuring this right). Wait. No. First cousin, once removed. Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham's brother's son. Anyway...that would just be weird in our society.
God answered the servant's prayer (does this servant ever have a name?) to the letter!
We are also introduced in this chapter to Rebekah's brother Laban. Watch for him later. He is very, very devious.
In chapter 25, Abraham dies and is buried in the same cave as his first wife Sarah. He did marry again, to Keturah, who gave him lots of sons (interesting, since he was already, you know, 99 when Isaac was born). Then we move on to Isaac. Rebekah has twins. The Lord told her, before they were even born, "the older shall serve the younger." Esau, the hairy one, was born first, followed by Jacob, who was born holding onto Esau's heel. How appropriate.
The first event that occurs between these two is in this chapter. Jacob is cooking stew, and Esau comes along, famished. Jacob won't give him any stew unless Esau sells him his birthright for it. Esau reasons, "I am about to die, of what use is a birthright to me?" Then, foolishly despises his birthright by giving it away for a bowl of stew. This, effectively, made Jacob the firstborn.
In chapter 26, Isaac visits our old friend Abimelech in Gerar. Guess what he does. He lies about his wife and tells him she is his sister! Wonder where he got that idea...
Isaac becomes rich, living in Gerar, and after some squabbles over well water, he winds up back at Beersheba, which was a significant place for Abraham. It is there that the Lord appears to him and gives him the same promise he made to Abraham.
At the end of chapter 26, Esau marries a Hittite woman, causing Isaac and Rebekah much bitterness of spirit.
The lessons in this reading are more challenging to find for me. They are good stories to read, I remember enjoying them as a child. But what do they mean for me today?
1. I can ask God to direct my steps, and I can rely on him to do so. Abraham's servant asked for some pretty specific things, and God honored his prayer. Sometimes we feel that God doesn't really care that much about the details of our lives, and I'm not sure I agree with that. However, that being said, I'm also pretty sure I'm not nearly as important in the "Big Picture" as Abraham and Isaac were.
2. Once again, the lesson that I don't need to try to help God protect me. It does no good to lie about something because I'm afraid. I will say this, though. If gun-carrying men broke into my house and asked me where the rest of my family was, I'm pretty sure I would not tell them. Or if Nazis came to visit and I was hiding Corrie ten Boom, I would probably lie about that. But I wouldn't go around saying my wife is my sister because I'm afraid of what someone might do to me because they thought she was beautiful.
For Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood to have God�s guidance as he works to keep our roadways, railways, rivers and airways safe and strong
In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil.
�II Chronicles 15:5
Loving God, we praise You today for the great and glorious gifts You give to us as Your people. We rejoice in the blessings of living in America, for in spite of our nation�s flaws, we enjoy such privileges and provisions. We are a highly developed nation and we benefit regularly from that development. We thank and praise You for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, for the diligence of all who have preceded us in working for our great freedom and our many blessings.
This blessing includes the marvelous infrastructure we enjoy in our country, O Lord, for though much needs help and repair, we continue to enjoy great freedom of travel and transportation. And it is this need that we bring to You today O God, asking You to guide and lead Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as he works to keep our roadways, rivers, railways and air space safe and secure. Guide him with Your faithful love and wisdom daily, Lord, that he may excel in this position. In Jesus� name, amen.
I am on my way to do just that. In a short while, I will be joining with other believers to "give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart." We will celebrate his goodness, and the fact that, in these troubled times, the LORD is our stronghold!
Grace and peace, friends!