[00:00:02] Welcome to Gracious Words. Gracious Words is taken from the Weekly Women's Bible Study
[00:00:14] taught by Cheryl Brodersen at Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.
[00:00:19] Let we behold to glory God in the face of Christ. It shows us who you are, revealing who you are.
[00:00:34] Charles Spurgeon said,
[00:00:35] The fulfillment of God's promise is always sure, yet it is often slow.
[00:00:40] Isaac and Rebecca prayed for a child for 20 years, but they never lost sight of God's promise
[00:00:45] and saw their prayers answered in a divine way.
[00:01:04] Deserender, we surrender to you
[00:01:10] And now here is part 2 of Cheryl's message titled, Discerning the Will of God
[00:01:19] 35 years prior to Abraham's death, that was when Isaac married, and then they waited 20 years.
[00:01:28] Isaac prayed for Rebecca. Now, I love the fact that he did not look for an Egyptian maid.
[00:01:40] He prayed and prayed and prayed. I wonder when he started praying after one month, after one year, after three years, after five years.
[00:01:51] I wonder what his prayer sounded like. If it started very calm, Lord please, you know how we start prayer?
[00:01:58] Lord just please do this. Lord would you heal my back? Lord would you heal my back? Lord would you please heal my back?
[00:02:08] Do you know how it gets stronger and stronger?
[00:02:10] I wonder if Isaac's prayers became more serious, more strong.
[00:02:20] I wonder what he said. I wonder how long he prayed the duration of one prayer, the length of his prayers.
[00:02:29] At some point as they waited, Isaac began to entreat and then plead because the word is plead.
[00:02:37] Not just pray, but he plead with the Lord for Rebecca. The Lord granted his plea, verse 21, and Rebecca conceived.
[00:02:48] Here was God using Rebecca's bareness to elicit the attention of Isaac and Rebecca.
[00:02:54] God will often use deficits to get our attention. We usually look for natural solutions to our problems,
[00:03:02] but it is when we realize that we need divine help, that our soft prayers turn into entreaties and pleas.
[00:03:11] When God has our attention, our full attention, he can direct us.
[00:03:17] We read in John 6 that it was only when Philip realized the greatness of the deficit,
[00:03:23] that 5,000 hungry men, no bread, no resources nearby, no money, no time, that his attention was riveted on Jesus.
[00:03:33] And he was ready to obey and receive whatever directives Jesus gave him concerning feeding the people.
[00:03:43] As we move on, we realize that God also used the delay in Rebecca and Isaac's life.
[00:03:53] Had this pregnancy happened right away, would Rebecca have sought the Lord when the pregnancy got difficult?
[00:04:02] Or would she have thought, oh this is just natural, this is just what happens?
[00:04:06] But because she knew this pregnancy was a direct answer to prayer, when her womb just didn't feel right, she went to seek the Lord.
[00:04:19] Now, Rebecca feels that something is not right in this pregnancy. She's waited 20 years and something's not right.
[00:04:28] It's before the times of sonograms. I don't think I needed to tell you this, but it's before the times of sonograms.
[00:04:34] And she has no idea what she's carrying. Can you imagine? I know with one of my sons, I think it was his elbow and I would watch just this thing move across my stomach back and forth.
[00:04:47] But she's feeling all this uneasiness, all this activity in her womb.
[00:04:54] And I think people are saying, oh it's her first, she's waited 20 years. Of course she's a little nervous about this.
[00:05:00] But Rebecca is so serious, she's like I'm going to go and seek the Lord. She specifically goes and seeks the Lord.
[00:05:10] It's almost like Lord, I am not moving until you tell me what is going on in my womb.
[00:05:18] Have you ever had a place like that? Lord, I cannot move until you tell me exactly what is going on. Why these circumstances?
[00:05:26] You know so many times we just try to persevere. But when your alarm is going off, your dog is sleeping in bed with you and your back is out and your daughter's having false labor.
[00:05:37] You have to say Lord, what are you trying to tell me right now? What am I missing? What do I need to see? You have got my full attention Lord.
[00:05:49] What do you want to say to me? Don't you love that the Lord always has a word, that he spoke to Rebecca?
[00:06:00] Remember at this point, Isaac has not had any direct encounters with the Lord. He's received the promises.
[00:06:07] The others have been sent away. He knows the promises, the promises that were given to his father Abraham, but they have not been repeated to Isaac yet by God.
[00:06:20] They have only been told him by his father. Though he's received the promises of God, the inheritance of Abraham, the beautiful wife that he loves,
[00:06:30] an answer to prayer with the pregnancies, he has not had a direct encounter with God as Abraham did. But Rebecca hears the word of the Lord.
[00:06:45] She hears it even before her husband does. I don't know what that means but I like it.
[00:06:51] Verse 23, God speaks to Rebecca and says two nations are in your womb. In other words, you're having twins.
[00:07:00] These twins will be two different nations. Two peoples will be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other,
[00:07:09] and the older will serve the younger. It is because of this dilemma that Rebecca seeks the Lord and receives the direction and the answer on what is happening and what God's will is for the future.
[00:07:26] God uses dilemmas, those places of uneasiness that we just can't shake to bring us into his plans and purposes. Pamela Markey, who's a, she's head of our Bible college in Hungary, amazing woman,
[00:07:41] She and her husband went to the Ukraine as missionaries with all their children, but when she first married her husband George, she was told that she would never ever have children.
[00:07:53] That it was just, it was not going to happen. And so because she was told it wasn't going to happen, she went ahead and went to med school.
[00:08:01] She was in medical school. She was also teaching and she became pregnant by a miracle. And the Lord spoke to her and told her she was having a girl.
[00:08:12] Well, her husband George came into the room one night and he says, Pamela, I just need to tell you, the Lord showed me that you're having a boy.
[00:08:19] And she said, really? Well, we'll see who the true prophet is because God told me we're having a girl. He said, well, I know what the Lord said.
[00:08:28] And months later, she had fraternal twins, a boy and a girl.
[00:08:37] So according to the word of God to Rebecca, she had twins. But these were two distinct boys, two peoples, two nations, two absolutely different personalities, one who was always first and getting for himself,
[00:08:54] and one who hated coming in second, two different pursuits, one who was restless and always seeking what he wanted outside the promises of God, outside his home.
[00:09:11] And one who took care of all the responsibilities of his parents' household, shepherding, farming, management. He stayed with the tents.
[00:09:21] One who doesn't care about the promises of God, ready to assimilate into Canaan.
[00:09:28] And the other desperately wanting the promises of God and identity with his grandfather Abraham and what God had promised.
[00:09:38] One who puts his physical needs above spiritual promises versus 29 through 34.
[00:09:45] And the other who capitalized on an opportunity to receive God's blessing.
[00:09:53] Just as God told Rebecca, it happened.
[00:09:57] Rebecca's dilemma propelled her to seek the word and will of God.
[00:10:02] God's word to us prepares us and allows us to be active participants in his will.
[00:10:10] Moving on to Genesis 26, Isaac has been in B'er le Hoirei, but God wants to move him further into the land of promise.
[00:10:22] And a famine comes to Canaan.
[00:10:24] A famine that could be absolutely disastrous for Isaac and his household.
[00:10:29] His animals depend on water and grain.
[00:10:32] There's no way that Isaac can stay where he is.
[00:10:36] He has to move on.
[00:10:39] So Isaac moves into Philistine territory, G'rar.
[00:10:45] It is in this place that Isaac has his first recorded personal encounter with God.
[00:10:53] God appears to him and God tells him, do not go to Egypt.
[00:10:59] Now Isaac is seeking the directive of God.
[00:11:04] God, where do you want me?
[00:11:05] Where do you want me?
[00:11:06] And God says, I'll tell you where I don't want you.
[00:11:08] I don't want you in Egypt.
[00:11:10] Isn't that great?
[00:11:11] It's like, Lord, give me a husband.
[00:11:13] I'll tell you who I don't want you to marry.
[00:11:15] Now that works.
[00:11:17] One directive.
[00:11:20] He is to stay and sojourn in Canaan.
[00:11:24] And God promises to be with him, to bless him and to give him
[00:11:28] and his descendants all the land that he swore to Abraham.
[00:11:33] God then promises that as he gave to Abraham, he will give to Isaac.
[00:11:40] Verse four.
[00:11:41] And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven.
[00:11:44] I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed
[00:11:48] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice
[00:11:52] and kept my charge, my commandments, my statues, and my laws.
[00:11:57] God does not give Isaac specifics.
[00:12:01] I don't know about you.
[00:12:02] I love specifics.
[00:12:04] I'm one of those people that read the directions of how to assemble furniture.
[00:12:09] I look at all the pictures, but I also read the words.
[00:12:13] I'm one of those who before I sew anything, I have to read the whole pattern
[00:12:17] through and see where I'm going.
[00:12:19] When my GPS gives me directions, I look at what streets are going to come next.
[00:12:25] I'm one of those.
[00:12:26] You've met me.
[00:12:27] I'm one of those.
[00:12:30] I love clarity.
[00:12:32] I had my son, you know, I said, honey, how do I do this on the computer?
[00:12:36] And he's telling me.
[00:12:37] He's just telling me.
[00:12:38] But he's using terms that like boot and other things I don't understand.
[00:12:44] So I said, honey, I want to show you the way that we did it in the 80s.
[00:12:49] These are called post-it notes.
[00:12:51] Could you just write it?
[00:12:53] Put a number one, number one post-it note for, you know, and step one,
[00:12:58] number two posted note.
[00:13:00] I even have different colors, honey.
[00:13:01] If you want to use those, he's just looking at me like, I can't believe we're
[00:13:05] related.
[00:13:08] I do not speak computer.
[00:13:10] I just don't.
[00:13:13] God is not giving Isaac specific simply, don't go to Egypt, stay in the land.
[00:13:19] These are the only directives, but God is going to use this to show Isaac how
[00:13:28] he guides and how he leads into his will.
[00:13:30] God uses this famine, a shortage of food to move Isaac away from where he was
[00:13:36] settled, the B.R. Leroy, to where he wants him to go in the same way it is
[00:13:43] often through shortages, deficits that God shows us where he wants us.
[00:13:50] Sometimes it's we have this apartment that we love, but the people say,
[00:13:55] you know what?
[00:13:55] We're going to redecorate.
[00:13:56] It's not for you anymore.
[00:13:58] It could be a job.
[00:14:00] It could be just your landlady wants to move back in our house.
[00:14:08] Remember living in England and we had this house, we'd really settled in.
[00:14:12] We'd lived there for 18 months.
[00:14:15] Our landlord loved us.
[00:14:16] We paid our rent on time before we lived there and had been broken into.
[00:14:20] And so the wife was like, I'll never live there again ever.
[00:14:24] But she came.
[00:14:25] He brought her in because he liked the way I decorated the house.
[00:14:28] So she came in to see and in the car on the way home, she says,
[00:14:32] I want the house back.
[00:14:34] There's a good feeling.
[00:14:35] The good feeling is back in the house.
[00:14:36] She didn't know it was the spirit of the Lord and only was with us.
[00:14:38] But she wanted the house back.
[00:14:41] And I remember all of a sudden we had to move.
[00:14:43] And we didn't want to move.
[00:14:45] We had settled in.
[00:14:47] But then God had the cutest little cottage on Casselis Road for us.
[00:14:52] It was so much better even though it was smaller than that house.
[00:14:56] It was more convenient.
[00:14:57] It was such a blessed house.
[00:15:00] The neighbor wanted to hear all about Jesus after we moved.
[00:15:04] They would have us over.
[00:15:06] They would come to our house with a glass of wine and say,
[00:15:09] Cheryl Dulling, what was it you were telling me about Jesus the other day?
[00:15:14] We just knew God wanted us in this other house.
[00:15:17] And he had his ways of doing it.
[00:15:20] And it was, you know, what seemed in some ways like a disaster,
[00:15:26] a difficulty, was actually God directing us.
[00:15:30] In Gerard, Isaac becomes concerned that Rebecca's beauty will cost his life.
[00:15:37] Funny how this man can have this incredible and personal encounter with God
[00:15:42] and then believe he's going to die because his wife is so beautiful.
[00:15:46] Of course I know Brian's had that problem more than once.
[00:15:48] But we won't talk about this. It's not about me.
[00:15:52] But he tells the man that Rebecca is his sister.
[00:15:56] Then a bimlak, the king of the Philistines, looks out a window
[00:15:58] and just happens to see Isaac caressing Rebecca and thinks,
[00:16:03] that's a little more than brotherly love.
[00:16:07] And a bimlak calls Isaac and rebukes him
[00:16:10] and puts a protective bounty on his head.
[00:16:13] Now Isaac has a protected status.
[00:16:18] None of the men of Gerard can touch him.
[00:16:21] Isaac prospers in Gerard and boy would it be tempting to settle in Gerard
[00:16:27] when all his crops are bringing a hundred fold.
[00:16:32] And he has protected status, his animals are increasing
[00:16:36] and he has more in his household, in employees and servants than ever before.
[00:16:42] Oh, this seems like this must be the blessed place.
[00:16:46] Why? Because how often do we base the will of God
[00:16:54] on the blessings, the peace, the prosperity?
[00:16:59] But that's not the way to know the will of God.
[00:17:02] I had somebody call me and they said,
[00:17:04] you know, Charles, I've got some questions about,
[00:17:06] you know, should I do this or should I not do this?
[00:17:10] And she's speaking to me.
[00:17:12] I said, listen, I can give you a hundred reasons why you should.
[00:17:16] She's like, oh, and I said, I can give you another hundred why you shouldn't.
[00:17:20] Oh, I said, but at the end of the day,
[00:17:23] you can weigh out all the pros and cons.
[00:17:25] But God doesn't use pros and cons, does he?
[00:17:29] He has his will.
[00:17:30] And sometimes his will looks absolutely ridiculous.
[00:17:33] It's all cons and no pros.
[00:17:35] If I do that, I might die.
[00:17:39] It doesn't look like it.
[00:17:41] I remember when we moved to England,
[00:17:42] taking our kids out of a Christian school,
[00:17:45] going on a, you know, having for the first time in our lives,
[00:17:49] Brian and I were in the black and had a savings account.
[00:17:53] It felt so good.
[00:17:55] And moving to England meant an end to all of that.
[00:17:58] It's just everything.
[00:17:59] We had a house.
[00:18:00] We had a church that was substantial, that loved us.
[00:18:05] And yet we felt so much that God is saying, pick up everything,
[00:18:10] move to a country that you do not know that you're unfamiliar with
[00:18:15] and start a church.
[00:18:18] It was crazy.
[00:18:19] I mean, no offense, but Calvary Chapel Vista,
[00:18:22] I hope the same for Calvary Chapel Coastal Coastal Coast,
[00:18:23] got voted best church in Vista three years in a row.
[00:18:28] And our mayor was Mormon and she loved us.
[00:18:31] We had so much favor, but when it comes to the will of God,
[00:18:35] it's not about prosperity.
[00:18:37] It's about the will of God.
[00:18:40] And it cannot be measured or discerned by pros and cons,
[00:18:45] but only by actively seeking it.
[00:18:48] As he's there, the men of Grar become envious,
[00:18:52] but what of it?
[00:18:53] Isaac has protected status.
[00:18:56] Abimalak becomes intimidated by Isaac's might and success.
[00:19:02] And Abimalak calls Isaac in and says, go away from us,
[00:19:05] for you are much miter than we.
[00:19:08] Rejection is so hard.
[00:19:11] We take it so personally, don't we?
[00:19:14] Later Isaac will say, what are you doing here to Abimalak?
[00:19:16] I thought you hated me.
[00:19:18] Rejection is so hard.
[00:19:20] And yet God will use rejection to get us away from the wrong
[00:19:24] people in the wrong place.
[00:19:27] We want to leave on our own initiative without being told,
[00:19:31] but sometimes we need that push that only rejection can bring.
[00:19:37] After all, Isaac was enjoying great prosperity and grar.
[00:19:40] The last thing he would want or conclude was that God
[00:19:45] wanted to move him on.
[00:19:46] Now Isaac doesn't move too far away.
[00:19:50] He moves to the valley of Grar.
[00:19:51] This is probably about three miles out of Grar.
[00:19:56] Since water is an essential, he goes to where his father,
[00:20:01] Abraham had been.
[00:20:04] And he sends his servants to dig up the wells that Abraham
[00:20:09] had first dug.
[00:20:12] Why?
[00:20:12] Because Abraham, by digging those wells,
[00:20:15] had established water rights.
[00:20:18] Therefore Isaac had a right to that well.
[00:20:22] But this first well brings him in conflict with the herdsmen
[00:20:25] of Grar.
[00:20:26] And there is a quarrel.
[00:20:30] So he names it Easek strife.
[00:20:33] Do you know what naming it means?
[00:20:34] It means he's taking authority over it.
[00:20:37] It means he's saying, I'm not a victim of this,
[00:20:40] but I'm moving on.
[00:20:42] Isn't that great?
[00:20:43] I'm not a victim of this quarrel.
[00:20:46] I'm not moving because I'm a victim.
[00:20:49] I am moving because I don't want a quarrel.
[00:20:54] Isaac does not put up resistance or fight,
[00:20:57] even though the well is his by right.
[00:21:01] He moves on.
[00:21:02] His servants dig another well somewhere in the valley
[00:21:05] of Grar and another quarrel ensues.
[00:21:08] And Isaac names this well Sitna or Inmedi.
[00:21:12] But again, he names it.
[00:21:15] He puts a name to it.
[00:21:16] He takes authority over it.
[00:21:19] His servants dig another well moving on further.
[00:21:22] And at this one, there's no quarrel.
[00:21:25] So they call it Raoboth, meaning God has made room for us
[00:21:31] or prepared this place for us.
[00:21:34] And we shall be fruitful in the land.
[00:21:36] Verse 22 from there, Isaac and his honor on Teraj
[00:21:40] move to bear Sheba.
[00:21:42] Now bear Sheba is about 17 miles away from Grar.
[00:21:46] It's the first place that Abraham built an altar.
[00:21:51] Now Isaac so far has been redigging,
[00:21:54] redigging his grandfather's wells.
[00:21:57] But when he comes to bear Sheba,
[00:22:01] he doesn't first redig his grandfather's well.
[00:22:06] He rebuilds his grandfather's altar.
[00:22:09] And it's in this place after building that altar
[00:22:12] for the second time God appears to Isaac,
[00:22:14] this time at night.
[00:22:16] It's almost as if God is saying,
[00:22:18] welcome, I've been waiting for you to arrive.
[00:22:21] And God reiterates his promise to Abraham.
[00:22:24] That now belongs to Isaac.
[00:22:26] I am the God of your father Abraham, do not fear.
[00:22:29] For I am with you.
[00:22:30] I will bless you and multiply your descendants
[00:22:32] for my servant Abraham's sake.
[00:22:35] After all Isaac has been through,
[00:22:36] the departures, the delays, the deficits,
[00:22:39] the dilemmas, the difficulties, the denunciations
[00:22:42] and disagreements God is saying,
[00:22:44] don't be afraid.
[00:22:46] It's over.
[00:22:48] You've arrived.
[00:22:49] And this is when Isaac builds his first
[00:22:51] and only recorded altar to God.
[00:22:54] Here is a place that Isaac is reclaiming for God.
[00:23:00] He is proclaiming the God of Abraham
[00:23:06] over the land of Baal.
[00:23:08] He is saying this land belongs to God.
[00:23:14] Isaac calls on the name of the Lord worships.
[00:23:17] Isaac pitches his tent, settles in this place.
[00:23:21] News follows from his servants
[00:23:23] that they have discovered water.
[00:23:26] You see first the appearance of God,
[00:23:29] first the word of God, next the altar,
[00:23:31] next the water.
[00:23:33] Isaac had it out of the wrong order.
[00:23:35] He thought first the water, then the word of God,
[00:23:40] then the altar.
[00:23:43] But God is showing him first the word of God,
[00:23:46] then the altar, then the well.
[00:23:49] This means that Isaac can settle in and down.
[00:23:52] There is water for crops, company and animals.
[00:23:55] This is the second confirmation of God's will,
[00:23:58] the first being his encounter with God.
[00:24:00] A third confirmation follows.
[00:24:02] Here comes, look who's coming.
[00:24:04] Here comes a bimlak with a huzath.
[00:24:09] No doubt a huzath, it says a friend.
[00:24:13] Commentators believe this is a friend of Isaac's.
[00:24:17] And a bimlak saying, look, I've got your friend.
[00:24:20] It's going to be peace because he's also coming
[00:24:22] with the commander of his army.
[00:24:25] God will often use deficits and dilemmas
[00:24:28] to get our attention.
[00:24:29] We may look for natural solutions to our problems,
[00:24:32] but it is when we realize that we need divine help
[00:24:35] that we get serious and our prayers turn into pleas.
[00:24:39] This was Rebecca's situation,
[00:24:41] and it drove her to seek the word and will of God.
[00:24:45] God responded and gave her direction
[00:24:47] and answers regarding the future.
[00:24:49] God often uses dilemmas in awkward places
[00:24:52] to bring us into his plans and purposes.
[00:24:54] He wants us to be active participants in his will
[00:24:58] and may use difficult circumstances to get us there,
[00:25:02] but in the end it is for our good.
[00:25:04] We hope you have been blessed by today's Bible study.
[00:25:07] For more information about the Gracious Words Radio program
[00:25:10] and the teaching ministry of Cheryl Brodersen,
[00:25:13] please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:16] Coming up next time on the Gracious Words program
[00:25:18] we'll conclude our look at the will of God
[00:25:21] as we continue our series, Our Great Creator.
[00:25:23] In the book of Genesis with Cheryl Brodersen.
[00:25:26] We do hope you make plans to join us.
[00:25:29] Again for more information please visit our website at graciouswords.com.
[00:25:33] We will come for you Lord and wonder, wonder
[00:25:42] We will fall on our knees and surrender
[00:25:47] We surrender to you
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