Tuesday, March 8, 2011

"Then God said, 'Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.' "
Genesis 17:19

In a family of forceful initiators, Isaac was the quiet, "mind-my-own-business" type unless he was specifically called on to take action. He was part of God's plan as he was...

- a miracle child born to Sarah and Abraham when she was 90 years old and he was 100

- the first descendant in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham

- he seems to have been a caring and consistent husband (until his sons were born)

- a patient man

Isaac was a wealthy livestock owner who was later arranged to and married Rebekah.

(There is also more told about him in Romans 9.)

I love the promise that God gives to Abraham in Gensis12 and the patience, faith and obidience that is required as he and Sarah traveled from Ur to Haran and finally to Canaan. God established a covenant with Abraham (then, Abram) that this new land would be a great nation, would be blessed and the line of Jesus Christ would come from his decendants.

I can't imagine the stress, the change and the trust that Abraham and Sarah had at this time of leaving their family, friends and all that they knew to leave a land they loved for a new land that they were simply trusting God for. The biggest thing is that THEY OBEYED.

(So much easier said than done. Sigh.)

Our prayer for this family is simply that of John 15 (hence the grapes theme of this blog) and Genesis 12, that God would cut off areas that don't bring us closer to Christ and put us in situations that might take us out of our comfort zone, but bring us closer to Christ in the end. All for HIS glory.

And that is why we chose the name Isaac. :)



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