January 8 - Genesis 25:1-4, 1 Chronicles 1:32-33, Genesis 25:5-6, Genesis 25:12-18, 1 Chronicles 1:28-31, 1 Chronicles 1:34, Genesis 25:19-26, Genesis 25:7-11

Good morning everyone,

Sarah lived to be 127 years old and then died at Kiriatharba. Abraham mourned and wept for her. He bought a plot of land with a cave that was in it from the Hittites and buried Sarah there. Then, life goes on. I can only imagine his grief and how incomplete he had to have felt, now left without the woman he had spent the better part of a hundred years with.

With the passing of Sarah, Abraham became concerned about whom Isaac would marry. After all, Abraham is now quite old, having reached the age of 140. Isaac, himself, is approximately 40 years of age. Abraham wanted for Isaac a woman from his home town, so he sent a servant to his relatives living in Haran. This servant traveled in a caravan with ten camels laden with supplies and gifts. As they approach the city, the servant prays to God, did you get that?, he prayed to God, asking for a sign that he might know he has found the right woman. The servant would ask one of the women, “Please give me a drink from your jug.” If the woman said yes and offered to water his camels too, this was to be the sign. God answered the servant's prayer before he even finished praying it. Everything the servant asks for happened precisely as he had prayed. Hello Rebekah.

With Isaac married, and a decade after Sarah’s death, Abraham took another wife, had six more sons. At age 175 he died. His sons Ishmael and Isaac attended the funeral and buried their father with Sarah in the cave on the plot of land that had been purchased from the Hittites.

Isaac inherited everything from Abraham, including God’s promise to make his descendants into a great nation. And why not? In Isaac we see total submission and obedience to God. He was prepared to be the sacrifice God asked Abraham to make of him. Don’t think for one moment, he didn’t know what was going on when Abraham bound him and tied him to the alter. Isaac also gladly accepted the wife others had chosen for him, no questions asked

It is in Isaac’s submission, we see an image of Christ. Being God, Jesus could have chosen not to go to the cross, yet such a choice would have condemned us all. But God, (love those two words) in His infinite love for us chose to be obedient and submit to the cruelty of the sacrifice that was laid out before him even unto death. Isaac gives us a picture of that submission in his own life though we rarely give Isaac the credit for being a man of faith. 

Every day we are asked to submit and obey, in one way or another. Sometimes huge challenging requests taking us out of our comfort zone. Other times, not so huge but acts of obedience just the same. God does not require us to submit because He is a slave driver or a bully, but because He is a loving Father and He knows what is best for us. And you know what? The blessings and peace that we gain from humbly surrendering and submitting ourselves to Him daily are a gift of grace that nothing in this world can compare to. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..