Phil: Well, I finished reading Job in my regular reading and I’m back in Abraham’s life and the other things that follow in Genesis. And I read something the other day that kinda jumped out at me in an unusual way. It’s a simple little thought. It’s in Genesis 25 as a place to start. But it kinda triggered a line of thinking that I feel like is certainly nothing new in one sense and yet I feel like the Lord wants to shine a light on it for all of us.
And this is the occasion of Isaac is now coming to the center of the picture. Abraham was still alive but he was an old man and the story shifts to Isaac. You remember how the Lord called Abraham, or Abram as he was known then, out of a heathen background and sent him by faith to the land of Palestine, made all kinds of wonderful promises to him.
The greatest was that in his seed all nations of the world of the earth would be blessed and put him through all kinds of tests of his faith and his faith was continually in God’s promises even to the point, as we’ve mentioned recently, when the Lord asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac, his only son, the very one that He’d promised, on an altar, he actually got to the point where his son was tied up and on the altar and he was reaching for the knife. And the Lord stopped him right there. You ever been in a place where the Lord’s kind of tested you and then said, All right, I see that you’re willing? I appreciate the Lord’s demonstration of what real faith is in Abraham.
And so we come into Isaac’s life and we see that certainly he was there on that occasion, wasn’t he? And he knew all about the promises that had been made to Abraham and the hope and the heritage that was going to come through his line. And you remember how Abraham sent his servant to get Abraham, get to Isaac a wife and how the Lord led him in such a distinct way. What an example of honoring the Lord and desiring his will and at the same time trusting him to work it out. And you see that play out in that instance where Rebecca comes into the picture.
So now we come to the point where Isaac in verse 20, Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Then it says this, Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer and his wife Rebecca became pregnant.
And you go on in the story there and you find out that Isaac was now 60 years old. So what’s happened is here he is heir to the promises that God had made to Abraham and he marries a wife and the promise is, In your seed all nations of the world will be blessed. And now 20 years go by and his wife doesn’t have a child. And what happens is not just, Okay, God promised this, I don’t have to worry about it. It was he prayed. He literally went to God about the promise and God answered his prayer.
Now somehow that you could look at this and say, Well, God has a purpose, He’s purposed from all eternity, He’s gonna work it out, don’t have to worry about it, what’s for breakfast? You know, and just kind of go on about our way. But yet there’s a reason why God recorded this. Somehow there was a missing link in the unfolding of God’s purpose in which God was wanting Isaac to exercise himself in faith and literally go to God on behalf of what God had already revealed that He was going to do and then God answered the prayer. In other words, the going forth of this or the growing of this line, the extension of that line that came out of Abraham’s loins wasn’t gonna happen without a certain action on the part of Isaac.
And I believe there’s a lesson there that the Lord wanted to bring to my attention. We can rejoice all we want to in the purposes of God that we hear unfolding but there is a place where prayer is the critical missing link, if you will. We, that God is looking for our participation. There’s a, that’s a word we have used in the past. I remember many years ago preaching a sermon called Participating in the Purpose of God, but this is, this was critical.
Why would God make special reference to this in the account if this wasn’t the case? And why would there be 20 years with nothing happening in spite of the fact that God had a purpose and was carrying it out and had promised to carry it out but nothing was happening? He was looking for something that came out of Isaac’s heart that said, God, I need you to fulfill your purpose and I’m calling upon your name. And the Lord heard, the Lord responded to his prayer and she had children in this case.
We know we’re not gonna particularly focus on the Jacob and Esau and all of that but the point is so central that here, I believe it’s a lesson for us that God wants us to participate in his purpose and there is something that will not happen unless we enjoy, unless we join in. Does that make sense? God is looking for things, there’s things He wants to do that He’s promised to do but in order for them to happen, He needs our, He desires our participation. He’s worked that into his plan but yet there are things that won’t happen until we pray, until we call upon God.
And you can go on and see other instances. We know how in spite of all the natural characteristics of Jacob and how his personality and how that came out, there was something in Jacob that valued the birthright that somehow attached value to being Abraham’s heir and God saw that in him and said, Okay, there’s something, I’m gonna work with this guy. Aren’t you glad that God calls us in our imperfection, knows what to do to change us so that we can become more in tune with His character and His purpose?
And so we see that in Jacob and in spite of how he got where he got by sort of cheating his brother out of the inheritance, you also see the lack of caring about the inheritance in Esau. He was willing to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup because he was hungry. And so God saw on the one hand, even despite the method used, he saw a heart that wanted that, that saw the value in that.
And so God began to work in him and arranged for him to travel back to the home country to Laban’s household. And on the way, you remember how he prayed, how he met God, as a matter of fact. He laid down at Bethel in chapter 28. I don’t wanna go through a lot of that, but anyway, he has this dream and this is where he sees the stairway between earth and heaven and angels ascending and descending and then there above it stood the Lord.
And he said in verse 13, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are living. Your descendants will, or lying I guess is the word in this translation. “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Wow. How would you like to have the Lord speak that to you in a particular instance? That was some powerful words. What a promise that God has. So here he is for sure, the heir to Abraham’s promise and you remember how he went there and he labored 14 years for the two wives that the Lord gave him. Children began to be born. He labored another six years and wound up with flocks and herds and servants and the Lord just made him rich and then finally told him it’s time to go back. Go back and I’ll be with you.
But you remember what happened and this is a chapter we focused on before and I’ll just refer to it in passing. But chapter 32, he gets back and finds out that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men and he remembers how it was when he left. He left because Esau was threatening to kill him and so now all of a sudden, he’s got two things that are in opposition, seeming opposition. On the one hand, he’s got the promise of God and the instruction, go back and I’ll be with you. On the other hand, Esau’s coming with 400 men.
One of the things that I believe God wants us to realize in a deeper way is that God on the one hand has a purpose that involves our lives, involves our assembly, involves His people in the earth but there will always be challenges to that. Satan will always be allowed to challenge and to make it seem like it’s not gonna happen. I’m coming against this thing and it’s not gonna happen and we react far too often with a natural reaction like Jacob all of a sudden did. Whoa.
And he refers back and said, Lord, you promised me. And there he’s still trying to work it out and trying to separate everybody and send gifts ahead to his brother but you remember how it all came down. He’d done everything he knew. He’d reminded God of his promise and now toward the end of the chapter or on in the chapter, verse 22, verse 24, okay? He’d sent everybody over the stream.
So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak and it’s very obvious that this was not just an ordinary man. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, Let me go for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
You ever been in a situation where, I mean, sometimes we have situations come and we just pray and the Lord just, boom, there’s the answer and other times we’ve gotta do some fighting. What do you suppose that is? Do you think the Lord, do you think that’s an accident? Do you think maybe the Lord has a purpose in allowing situations to arise where we feel so challenged that our need drives us to a spirit, if you wanna call it that, of desperation?
Do you see how God is molding us? We talk about being in His hands and being molded, made like He wants us to be. He’s got a job on His hands. All I have to do is look in the mirror and know that. He’s got a job on His hands changing me into what He wants me to be.
And sometimes it comes to a place where I know what He wants, but all the circumstances seem so desperate, so against that, and all I can do is just cry out and just say, oh God, if this situation is gonna be rectified, you’re gonna have to do it. And I am not quitting in this fight. I am not giving up. Do you see how something is being formed in me when I do that?
It’s not like, okay, God, Your will’s gonna happen, I don’t have to worry about it, so I just cruise along through life and You’re gonna work everything out. I think it’s sometimes awfully easy to fall into that trap. I’m so glad we quote so many times, and rightly so, the scripture where the Lord says that He’s going to finish what He started. That’s a paraphrase of it. Whatever the work that He started in you, He will perform until the day of Jesus Christ.
And isn’t it easy just to say, oh, great. You know, then I don’t have to worry about it. Everything’s in His hands and I’m just gonna go through my life, go through my day. What’s for lunch, by the way? Or do you suppose that we have a participation in the outworking of all of that that He’s doing? And that’s the thing that just, the Lord got my attention with that. It’s like there’s things that He wants to do that’s not gonna happen unless we participate.
How many of you remember, I’m not gonna go and read it all, but you could read Daniel 9, the beginning of it particularly, where Daniel the prophet, remember he was over in, he was carried as a young man into Babylon, served the king there and then the Medes and the Persians came in and ended the Babylonian empire and they had their own empire. And there he is still over there.
And there came a point where somehow he came into possession of the prophecy that God had given through Jeremiah. And the prophecy basically said there’s 70 years that God has determined concerning Jerusalem. Yes, it was destroyed. Yes, it was punished for its many decades or many centuries of sin. There was a judgment that was poured out, but it’s 70 years.
And so all of a sudden he’s saying, I see that God has already declared His purpose through His prophet Jeremiah. Now, couldn’t Daniel have just said, oh, great, 70 years is about up. I don’t, we don’t have to worry about that. We know how this is gonna turn out. What did he do? He went to some serious fasting and prayer.
You suppose there’s a reason for that? Or was he just going through a spiritual exercise? Was there a connection between Daniel reading that, knowing God’s purpose and then going to God in prayer about it? Was that an accident? Was that without purpose? I don’t think so. Because God records that in great detail.
He repents on behalf of the nation and the people. He declares God’s justice in punishing Jerusalem and the judgment that He poured out. But then He reminds God of His promises and said, oh God, I’m just entreating you on behalf of Jerusalem. Lord, restore, Lord. And the Lord did, didn’t He?
I wonder how many things the Lord wants to accomplish here. And He’s looking for us to absolutely sign on to His purposes, to be so in tune with Him that we can understand what He wants and then exercise a faith to see that happen. I believe with all my heart, there are things that God wants to do.
You know, I thought about another couple of examples that we see in the Scripture. We know the prophecies of the Old Testament were so clear that there was a Savior coming. There was a Redeemer coming. And there was a remnant of people. When the time came, who were looking for this, who were actively engaged in praying and looking to God about it?
One of them was a man named Simeon. And remember when Jesus was born and they went into the temple? And there he was and he came and he, I think he took him in his arms and gave a word of thanks and prophecy. Said, Now you can let my servant depart in peace because God has said you’re not gonna die until you see Him. But he was there every day looking to God, praying and asking God for the fulfillment of His word. And then you have Anna, the same thing. She spent all of her time in the temple praying.
Well, if God is sovereign and He’s gonna, and He’s already said what He’s gonna do and He’s gonna do it, what’s the connection? Why do we have to pray? Something to think about, isn’t it? What’s the difference? What difference does that make?
And I thought about, let’s see, trusting the Lord to kinda order the steps of my thoughts here. But there’s a way that God accomplishes His purpose. Going back to the very beginning, when He was creating, how did He create? Well, yeah, but who spoke? It was His Son, wasn’t it? God had a purpose in His heart that He’d set in motion. But in order for that to happen, there was somebody through whom He spoke.
And Jesus, in a sense, became, or the one who later became Jesus, became a channel through which the very life and the creative power of God flowed. I could stand here all day and say, Let there be light, and there wouldn’t be any light. I don’t have power in myself to create anything. But somebody who is connected to God has power to move in the will and the purpose of God and to speak things, and boy, it’s divine power that goes forth, and it happens, and the creation happened.
When Jesus was on Earth, how many times have we used this in different contexts, but was He not a channel of God? How did He do what He did? The Father was in Him, doing His work. And so there was a union between Himself, between Jesus and His Father, that was such that, number one, He knew what the Father wanted Him to do, and number two, He depended on Him to do it. He was obedient to do it, but when He did it, there was divine power that went through Him that healed the sick or spoke words that had life in them, whatever it was, it wasn’t Him anymore doing it, it was the Father in Him doing His work.
Is there a picture of the kingdom of God and how God does things that maybe we need to understand in a deeper way? I feel like I do. You know, we can do all the right things, we can say all the right things, but unless there’s power in it, unless there’s divine power, what good is it? Okay? In other words, I could stand here and say, I’m just trusting God’s in this this morning, is He? I mean, is this something we need? Yeah.
But I could stand here and say all of the right things because I learned ‘em in school, I studied ‘em, and I read ‘em out of the Bible, and the words are true, and I could gear up all my natural ability and say it, and nothing would be accomplished for the kingdom of God. All I’m doing is communicating ideas, person to person.
But if I’m doing something because God called me to do it, and because God is enabling me to do it, and I’m consciously yielding myself to Him, then there’s life that flows. It’s more than words. Jesus said the words that I speak to you are spirit and life.
I believe that’s something that God longs to do for every single member of the body of Christ, is that what we live and what comes out of us is not just us trying to be Christians and trying to act like we’re supposed to do it, executing formulas for Christian living and all that kind of stuff. We need to be living supernatural lives.
There are things God longs to accomplish, and He wants us to be participants in that in a deeper way. And prayer is very central to that. I feel like I know so little about it. I know things in theory, but there’s so much more that I believe that God wants to teach me about prayer. Anybody here that needs to know more about it? I mean, what do you think about when you think about prayer? Well, I need something, so I’m gonna ask Him. Do you think maybe there’s a little more to it than that?
When Jesus was carrying out His ministry, one of the central things was He spent a lot of time alone with the Father in prayer. Now, why would He need to do that? What’s the connection? Why would He need to go out and pray like that? Yeah, well, to know the Father’s will, to have that, to establish the connection, because if the Father’s gonna do it in Him, He needed to know what to do, but there needed to be this conscious, I’m willing to do Your will, I’m here for that reason. I’m not here to do my own will.
There’s this constant overcoming of the limitations of living in these bodies that don’t wanna go along with Him. Those are things that need to be overcome, but here I am called to live a supernatural life, to have God living in me in such a way that when people encounter me, they’re encountering Him. Man, there’s a lot that’s gotta happen in my life if that’s gonna happen to any degree, and prayer is so central to that. I just pray that God will help me to understand how critical prayer is to the purposes of God.
You know, I thought about simple illustrations. One of them would be if you’re out in the yard and you’ve got a piece of, a tool or something, a power tool, and it’s the kind that you had to plug in. You ever been out in the yard, the other end of the yard, and you get ready to do something, and you pull the button, trigger, and nothing happens? Yeah, if you’ve ever been out with a power tool, you’ve had that happen.
So what do you do? Well, you follow the cord back, and maybe this is an extension, then you check that connection, then you check to where it’s plugged in. It’s a very simple illustration, but if I’m gonna do something with a tool, it’s great to be willing to do it, to wanna do it, to pick it up and walk out there and try to say I’m clipping bushes or whatever I’m doing, that’s great, but what good is it if I’m not connected to any power? Nothing’s gonna happen.
See, the problem, there’s no lack of power back at the house unless it’s December 7th or 6th or whatever it was [reference to a power outage]. There’s no lack of power at the house, and here I am with a tool willing to use it, what’s the problem? There’s a connection that’s broken. Do you think that, do we understand that there are times when God wants to do something, wants us to do something, and the absolute missing link is prayer, where we get connected to God in such a way that what happens is not us, it’s not I, but it’s Christ living in me?
