Do you ever get tired of waiting on God to answer your prayers? I am feeling that way today. Just tired. Tired of saying the same old prayers day after day, month after month, year after year. Tired of telling God about the same old problems that are still going on. Tired of hearing myself talk about the same old problems that are going on. Just tired. And honestly, wondering if God is as tired of hearing about them, as I am praying about them.
This morning I was sitting here staring at my Bible, hoping that God would suddenly color a couple sentences with yellow highlighter to help me clearly understand what He is doing behind the scenes, and that my waiting is not in vain!! I knew I would feel better if I could just get a little message from God this morning.
And you know what? He did just that.
Today's reading in my Chronological Bible was about Abraham and his descendants. After I got through reading all the genealogy information, which can get a little tedious, I began to read about the births of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham.
Now this is a story that I am very familiar with, where Rebekah bears twin sons with Isaac, and that Esau was red and hairy when he was born, and Jacob was grasping Esau's heel.
But as I read through the pages, God did highlight a sentence for me - not with yellow highlighter, of course, but in my heart. After reading this sentence, my eyes averted right back to the beginning, and I read it again. I believe that God illuminated that verse in my spirit and it suddenly gained new meaning.
That sentence can be found in Genesis 25:26, which says that Isaac was sixty years old when his twins were born. Honestly, I really never paid much attention to how old Isaac was, and maybe to you, that sentence does not seem that mind blowing.
But today this verse jumped out at me, because I had just read in Genesis 25:19, that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. Let's do the math here - twenty years! Isaac had waited twenty years for God to answer his prayers for Rebekah to bear him some children.
Twenty years?! Wow, that is a long time to wait for anything. But the important truth here, is that Isaac never gave up hope that His Lord could make the impossible, become possible, and that His Lord was listening to his prayers.
Another thing that stuck out to me today was in Genesis 25:21, where it says "Isaac pleaded with the Lord". The word "pleaded" is a strong word, which actually means to appeal or ask earnestly for something, and to use arguments or persuasions to try to get someone to come around to your point of view.
So it appears through this verse, that Isaac did not simply just ask God to give him some sons, he begged. He pleaded. He probably laid face first on the ground on more than one occasion over those twenty years and poured out his heart to God. He probably let God know all about how he was feeling, his concerns, his hurts, and his disappointments. The fact that he "pleaded" with God, sounds as if he had heated prayer time with God, telling God all the reasons why he needed his prayer answered. And I can only imagine that he probably spent a lot of time gently persuading God that if He answered his prayers that He would surely be glorified through it.
I can relate to Isaac doing that, because I too find myself pleading to God sometimes, and trying to explain to him how badly I want Him to answer my prayers. I have found myself telling God that I would give him all the glory if He would just answer those prayers. I would make it worth His blessing. Please, please, please God? And how about right now?
But this passage reminds me that God not only listens, understands, cares and hears.... He answers. Maybe not when we want, or how we want, but He answers.
Maybe it will take twenty years to get His answer to my prayers. Or maybe it will take twenty minutes. But today, I am finding peace in being reminded that God is not unaware of my concerns or my hurts, and He is not tired of hearing from me, but instead, He is just waiting until the right time.
Today, I choose to pray for patience in the waiting, and strength to believe that one day, my prayer will be answered.
This morning I was sitting here staring at my Bible, hoping that God would suddenly color a couple sentences with yellow highlighter to help me clearly understand what He is doing behind the scenes, and that my waiting is not in vain!! I knew I would feel better if I could just get a little message from God this morning.
And you know what? He did just that.
Today's reading in my Chronological Bible was about Abraham and his descendants. After I got through reading all the genealogy information, which can get a little tedious, I began to read about the births of Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham.
Now this is a story that I am very familiar with, where Rebekah bears twin sons with Isaac, and that Esau was red and hairy when he was born, and Jacob was grasping Esau's heel.
But as I read through the pages, God did highlight a sentence for me - not with yellow highlighter, of course, but in my heart. After reading this sentence, my eyes averted right back to the beginning, and I read it again. I believe that God illuminated that verse in my spirit and it suddenly gained new meaning.
That sentence can be found in Genesis 25:26, which says that Isaac was sixty years old when his twins were born. Honestly, I really never paid much attention to how old Isaac was, and maybe to you, that sentence does not seem that mind blowing.
But today this verse jumped out at me, because I had just read in Genesis 25:19, that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. Let's do the math here - twenty years! Isaac had waited twenty years for God to answer his prayers for Rebekah to bear him some children.
Twenty years?! Wow, that is a long time to wait for anything. But the important truth here, is that Isaac never gave up hope that His Lord could make the impossible, become possible, and that His Lord was listening to his prayers.
Another thing that stuck out to me today was in Genesis 25:21, where it says "Isaac pleaded with the Lord". The word "pleaded" is a strong word, which actually means to appeal or ask earnestly for something, and to use arguments or persuasions to try to get someone to come around to your point of view.
So it appears through this verse, that Isaac did not simply just ask God to give him some sons, he begged. He pleaded. He probably laid face first on the ground on more than one occasion over those twenty years and poured out his heart to God. He probably let God know all about how he was feeling, his concerns, his hurts, and his disappointments. The fact that he "pleaded" with God, sounds as if he had heated prayer time with God, telling God all the reasons why he needed his prayer answered. And I can only imagine that he probably spent a lot of time gently persuading God that if He answered his prayers that He would surely be glorified through it.
I can relate to Isaac doing that, because I too find myself pleading to God sometimes, and trying to explain to him how badly I want Him to answer my prayers. I have found myself telling God that I would give him all the glory if He would just answer those prayers. I would make it worth His blessing. Please, please, please God? And how about right now?
But this passage reminds me that God not only listens, understands, cares and hears.... He answers. Maybe not when we want, or how we want, but He answers.
Maybe it will take twenty years to get His answer to my prayers. Or maybe it will take twenty minutes. But today, I am finding peace in being reminded that God is not unaware of my concerns or my hurts, and He is not tired of hearing from me, but instead, He is just waiting until the right time.
Today, I choose to pray for patience in the waiting, and strength to believe that one day, my prayer will be answered.
8 comments:
Great truth, Tracie. God works on his timing that's for sure. Sometimes I wished he owned the same watch as me.
Hugs!
I needed this today!
I'm right there with you. I had to grin at Micca's comment about God's watch! Loved Lysa's post today about sending praises of God *ahead* to fight for us. Goes right along with what you said. Thanks!
Tracie,
I'm reading the same Chron bible (over at Wendy's) and what you pointed out was my takeaway, too. Twenty years! Daunting and encouraging at the same time, isn't it?
Tracie, I know just how you feel! I'm reading the NLT Chronological bible and following along with Wendy Pope's video blogs. When I read that about Issac's age I just thought, "wow, that's pretty old to be a father!" :) Being half his age I got to thinking about Rebekah's age---not sure if it mentioned her's. (I know that in those days it wasn't uncommon for girls to get married quite young). Despite their ages I know God knew what He was doing then and He knows what He's doing now in our lives.
So....I too must wait and see when/how God is going to answer my prayers. Remember that not only does He answer in His timing but also in the way that is best. (Although it may not seem like the best answer at the time...)
-Amy V.
Tracie, That is exactly what I needed to hear today. I was just sitting at my desk praying about a situation that I have been praying for for years and promising God the glory when He answers :) Thank you for the reminder that God hears us even when our prayers aren't answered in our timing!
Tracie,
So true! It is always nice when God shows us that while the answer isn't hear yet, He is still listening.
Jenny
thank you SO MUCH for that post. I do believe God was speaking to me through you. I am beginning to understand more about my situation and things are a bit clearer now.
Post a Comment