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Moment of Transformation:

  • Pray for the items listed in your Transformational Journal
  • Pray for the transformation of the five individuals/families you chose
  • Pray to be transformed by Christ’s CARE
  • Pray for your transformation in order to overcome fear  

REBEKAH

But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. Genesis 25:22 NKJV

Isaac was highly honored by God in being made inheritor of the promises through which the world was to be blessed; yet when he was forty years of age he submitted to his father’s judgment in appointing his experienced, God-fearing servant to choose a wife for him. And the result of that marriage, as presented in the Scriptures, is a tender and beautiful picture of domestic happiness: “Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

True love is a high and holy principle, altogether different in character from that love which is awakened by impulse and which suddenly dies when severely tested. It is by faithfulness to duty in the parental home that the youth are to prepare themselves for homes of their own. Let them here practice self-denial and manifest kindness, courtesy, and Christian sympathy. Thus love will be kept warm in the heart, and he who goes out from such a household to stand at the head of a family of his own will know how to promote the happiness of her whom he has chosen as a companion for life. Marriage, instead of being the end of love, will be only its beginning.

Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac, present a striking contrast, both in character and in life. This unlikeness was foretold by the angel of God before their birth. When in answer to Rebekah’s troubled prayer he declared that two sons would be given her, he opened to her their future history, that each would become the head of a mighty nation, but that one would be greater than the other, and that the younger would have the preeminence.

The promises made to Abraham and confirmed to his son were held by Isaac and Rebekah as the great object of their desires and hopes. With these promises Esau and Jacob were familiar. They were taught to regard the birthright as a matter of great importance, for it included not only an inheritance of worldly wealth but spiritual pre-eminence. He who received it was to be the priest of his family, and in the line of his posterity the Redeemer of the world would come. On the other hand, there were obligations resting upon the possessor of the birthright. He who should inherit its blessings must devote his life to the service of God. Like Abraham, he must be obedient to the divine requirements. In marriage, in his family relations, in public life, he must consult the will of God.

Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 175-177

Quote of the Day “We have to pray with our eyes on god, not on the difficulties.” Oswald Chambers

Did You Know?

Rebekah: Wife of Isaac, mother of the twins Esau and Jacob, daughter of Bethuel (Abraham’s nephew), and sister of Laban (Gen 22:23). She is thus also Isaac’s cousin once removed, since her grandfather Nahor was Abraham’s brother. Her name appears 31 times in Genesis (primarily chs 24–27) and once in Romans 9:10. The same Hebrew letters spell “stall” and refer to stall-fed cattle as opposed to pastured cattle. Her name might be translated therefore as “well-fed” or “choice.”

Going Deeper

The barren condition of Rebekah parallels the Abraham-Sarah narratives (11:30; cf. Rachel, 29:31). In both cases, a message from the Lord follows, a promissory call (12:1–3) and a prophetic oracle (25:23). The absence of children contrasts with the success of the search for Rebekah and the hopeful expectation of children (24:60). The verb “prayed” (ʿātar) commonly concerns intercessory prayer for others. Isaac’s intercession assumes that the Lord is responsible for human reproduction (e.g., 16:2; 29:32; 30:2). The narrative does not report that Rebekah prayed for herself as did Leah and Rachel (29:32; 30:22) and also Hannah (1 Sam 1:10). The absence of any such petition focuses attention on intercessory prayer, likening Isaac to Abraham who prayed in behalf of the barren women of Abimelech’s household (20:17). Rebekah’s subsequent inquiry of the Lord (v. 22b) is the counterpart to Isaac’s prayer.

K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 386

Question…

What actions should you take in order to consult God’s will for all the areas of your life?

This Week’s Homework

  1. Memorize: “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” Psalm 18:6 NKJV
  2. Pray for the five individuals/families to whom you have delivered the outreach resource, that they may be touched by its message.