“When Life Seems Contrary”

Sermon Title: When Life Seems Contrary

Scripture: Genesis 25:19-26 ESV

Introduction

Today’s passage in Genesis 25 is often preached as a sermon on good parenting. While that is a valid application of the text, there’s something the text shows us before even getting into the topic of parenting. The most important question when we engage with Scripture is: what does the text tell us about God?

Reading through today’s passage reminded me of a jingle from a sitcom from the 90s and early 2000s. Some of you in your early 20s may not know it, but the jingle went like this: “No one told me life was gonna be this way~” And our walk with the Lord can sometimes feel exactly like that.

Isaac and Rebekah

In today’s passage, Isaac receives the covenantal blessings of God, but he encounters a similar problem as his father Abraham. Even though God had handpicked and prepared Rebekah for Isaac, through whom God would continue the covenant made with Abraham, Rebekah, like Sarah, was barren. Rebekah has been barren for 20 years, so Isaac prays and asks the Lord for a child. God answers his prayer, and Rebekah conceives.

The weeks, maybe months, pass and everything should be fine with her pregnancy, but suddenly Rebekah feels something’s wrong. I have no idea what pregnancy is like, but many of us may have experienced a moment where you experience some kind of bodily effect or pain unlike anything you’ve felt before, and you just know something is very wrong. We don’t know exactly what Rebekah experienced, but it was enough for her to be alarmed. After all, Isaac prayed and God answered. And when we pray, we expect to see or experience peace, boldness, strength, the resolution of our problems—not our problems getting worse. We pray to be delivered from our troubles and not find ourselves in more trouble. Things are supposed to get better.

What we see in today’s passage is a paradox where prayer is answered, but your life seems contrary to the results we expect prayer to bring. Therefore, Rebekah wonders and asks the Lord in verse 22: “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” In other words, within the context of Isaac’s prayer, God granting that prayer, and God’s covenant promises, she’s asking: Lord, you answered our prayers and I have conceived a child. Since it is you who has done this, why is this happening to me? Why am I in so much pain and suffering? Lord, was this part of the plan because it sure doesn’t look like it?

Rebekah’s Response

There are times and situations where it seems no matter how much you pray with all your heart, things seem to get worse and worse. God seems to be silent and far away, time is running out, the walls are closing in, and you are overwhelmed. How do you usually respond? Do you respond with panic and fear, swallowed up by anxiety and despair, lashing out in anger and frustration? Do we turn to our own methods or turn to other things and idols that we think will solve our problems or make us feel better about our situation and ourselves?

I heard a very tragic story of a married couple who are Christians. They tried to have a child for many years and believed perhaps it wasn’t in God’s will for them to have one. However, they eventually did have a child very late, although they were told it would be a difficult pregnancy. Their daughter was born with heart disease and died at the age of six, and most of her life was spent inside a hospital.

How do people respond in these kinds of situations, when their prayers are answered, but everything seems to have gone terribly wrong? How can our prayers sometimes go so wrong? Whenever we are hurt and struggle with our faith, we are often quick to turn to sin to find comfort and answers to make sense of these moments of confusion and uncertainty. And as much as we say, and I’ve preached it over and over again, that Christ is the answer that we seek, sometimes in our lack of faith, we find that answer in Christ is not enough.

Rebekah, being from Mesopotamia, may have had other options. She may have entertained the thought of turning to some pagan fertility goddess like Ashtoreth for help. But she didn’t. Instead, she demonstrated faith by going to the Lord in prayer to inquire about her situation. This is not the kind of prayer where she asks God for things, to deliver her out of her situation, or to free her from her suffering. Her prayer created the setting for a deeper conversation with God so that she may know and see the things that God knows and sees.

God’s Purpose

Of course, we as readers of this event know that there is no problem with God’s will and purpose. God graciously answers her in verse 23:

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you shall be divided;

the one shall be stronger than the other,

the older shall serve the younger.”

The fact that verse 23 is written in poetic form tells us that God is giving her more than just a simple answer about her circumstance. He reveals that she is carrying twins, something about their relationship, something about the relationship of their descendants when they become nations, and that the older will serve the younger.

That last part was most likely a shocking revelation since in ancient times, the firstborn son was everything to the family. The firstborn represented the strength of the father, the heir and hope of the family line. And as a mother, it wouldn’t come as good news that her children would be divided against each other in the immediate sense and the far future.

While God has shown Rebekah many things, there are still many things that He has not revealed nor explained. She probably had more questions now than answers. However, it shows us that despite what we see in life, despite how things may look contrary to God’s blessings and His continued faithfulness and love towards His people, God continues to be in sovereign control. God’s will and His purposes, His mission, His love towards us, continue without fail. God’s faithfulness to us is so deep that it cannot be measured by what our present circumstances look like.

When we look at our lives or when we look at our church, things may look very different, contrary to God’s faithfulness to His people, contrary to God healing us, transforming us, and building us up as His people and His church, that the Holy Spirit is moving and working among us. If this is so, if you are Lord, then why is this happening to us? Why is this happening to me? Why is the aftermath of our prayers before the Lord more pain and trouble?

Brothers and sisters, may the Lord affirm to you through today’s passage that ultimately, nothing is wrong because God’s sovereign purposes are at work in your life, just as they were in Rebekah and her womb.

Brothers and sisters, let me ask you this: If you knew the things God knows and you saw the things that God sees, what couldn’t you do? What couldn’t you endure and persevere through? How different would our attitudes be towards God and others? How different would our words and actions be? What would we have to fear? What would we have to doubt?

But is that real faith when we know and see everything that God does? Or is our faith demonstrated in those moments when we don’t know or don’t see, where we simply trust in God and His Word—that God not only hears our prayers, but He is always faithful to answer our prayers according to His will, sometimes in ways that defy our hopes and expectations, both good and bad?

Then we may ask: What good can come from a situation that just seems to get worse and worse? The answer to that is the cross.

Imagine being one of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus just days ago was riding on a donkey into Jerusalem like a triumphant king. The masses were crying out His name. You’re thinking, finally, the kingdom of God. Israel will be restored and the Romans will be defeated and driven out. Israel will be at the center of the world once again, with Jesus sitting on the throne and we, the disciples, will rule the kingdom beside Jesus. For the disciples, life couldn’t get any more contrary to their hopes and expectations than the cross.

I am also reminded of our Lord Jesus Christ who, on the night He was arrested, prayed in Matthew 26:39: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Christ teaches us the other thing that is necessary when we come to the Lord in prayer—surrender and submission to the will of God, trusting in the Lord and His Word. Jesus surrendering His prayer led Him to the cross, but in His suffering and death, we were given eternal life.

Conclusion

If I may speak again about that husband and wife who lost their daughter, about two years after her death, they were in a fellowship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing life together. The topic of their daughter came up, and they talked about how life and our walk in faith can be so hard to understand sometimes. Their brothers and sisters were thinking about how they had believed the pregnancy and birth of their daughter was an answer to prayer and a gift from God. Their reply was that their daughter was a blessing and a gift from God, one that they would never trade a single day of those six years for anything in the world. Could we, in their shoes, say the same in faith?

Brothers and sisters, as we may find ourselves in those times and seasons of our life when life seems contrary to our prayers and the promises of God, and we find ourselves struggling in our circumstances, unlike Rebekah who was given answers, we may not receive an answer from the Lord. There will be times when He may be silent. There will be times when we can’t see or know the things that God does. However, what God does give us is Jesus Christ. What He does give us is His presence always within us. And the Lord speaks to us in all our contrary situations in Matthew 5:3–11:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

Blessed are you who follow Jesus Christ.

Reflection

Have you ever been in a situation or a season where you believe that the worst is over, only to find another hill or mountain before you?

You prayed for the school of your choice, the job that you wanted believing this was God’s answer to your prayers. You head in with great expectations and hopes and opportunities, but all of your expectations are betrayed and you are left with uncertainty and disappointments. And most of all, living as a follower of Christ becomes difficult.

You had hoped the relationships in your life would be loving and fruitful and life giving, but instead they become broken and painful.

You’ve been praying for something, a solution to a problem, relationship to be fixed, for healing of a loved one, for your family’s salvation, for some sign, some sliver of hope, a miracle, but life says otherwise.

Brothers and sisters, do not worry, do not fear, may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ rest with you knowing that everything is under sovereign control of the Lord’s capable hand.

 the Lord invites us to be a people, a church that roots our faith in God and in His Word, and not in our circumstances. Let Christ be the anchor of our faith. For the times and places where things look contrary to God’s Word and Faithfulness, is exactly where God’s faithfulness is being worked out.