I bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of may master's kinsman for his son." (Genesis 24:48) Isaac was the son of promise born to Abraham and Sarah when they were 100 and 90 years of age. He was the one through whom the seed would come who would bless all the nations of the world. God's design for Isaac included the wife he would marry. Abraham knew God did not want a Canaanite woman to be Isaac's wife and so he sent his servant Eleazar to Haran to chose a wife from among Abraham's people. God led this faithful servant to Rebekah and her family. It was evident that she was the one for Isaac. Eleazar reported when he found Rebekah, "And I bowed low and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son." (Genesis 24:48) Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40 years of age. That was God's design. Isaac and Rebekah had to wait 20 years before the Lord blessed them with children. Isaac's wife Rebekah was barren for those 20 years, and Isaac prayed for her. The Lord answered his prayer. He was carrying out His design both for Isaac and Rebekah and for the children she carried. While she carried the children (she was going to bear twins), they struggled inside her and she went to the Lord about this. When she did, the Lord responded and said to her that two nations were in her womb, two peoples, one of whom was stronger than the other. Furthermore, the older would serve the younger. That younger child was Jacob. His brother Esau and his descendants were destined to serve Jacob and his descendants. God had a design in mind and He revealed a part of that to Rebekah. (Genesis 25:21-26) God has a design in mind for your life, too. He wants you to see His hand at work just as Isaac, Rebekah, and later, Jacob saw. Each of us may struggle with some of the things we face, but we can be assured that God has a design and we can trust Him in that design. Like Isaac and Rebekah, go to Him, call on His name, and He will lead you. In Celebration of Life in Him, Dr. Jim DeBruhl, gembeaux@bellsouth.net Everything is wrong until God makes it right
