By Tracie Miles
"Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them." Genesis 25:26b (NIV)
Do you ever get tired of waiting on God to answer your prayers? I do.
I get tired of saying the same old prayer day after day, month after month, year after year. Tired of telling God about the same old problems still going on. Tired of hearing myself pray about the same old issues, leading me to wonder if God is as tired of hearing my prayer requests as I am of praying them.
Recently I bowed my head and admitted to God that I was simply tired of praying and waiting.
In a heavy state of emotional exhaustion, I turned to my Bible. I hoped a few verses would jump straight into my heart and give me patience. That day I read about when Isaac's wife Rebekah gave birth to twin sons. One sentence in particular caught my eye and God used it to speak hope into my soul.
“Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” — Genesis 24:67
The Torah portion for this week, Chayei Sarah, is from Genesis 23:1–25:18 and 1 Kings 1:1–31.
Nothing can replace the loss of a loved one. But it’s common to feel some degree of comfort when a new love is found – like a new spouse, friend, or baby. So it’s not surprising, Scripture tells us, that “Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” after he married Rebekah. However, the Sages tell us that Isaac was comforted by much more than the love of his wife. With Rebekah’s entrance into Isaac’s tent, a part of Sarah returned, too.
Mary Southerland
Today's Truth
So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided" (Genesis 22:14, NIV).
Friend to Friend
As I worked through the seemingly endless number of emails, my heart grew heavy and my soul cried out to God - so many women in so much pain. I could feel their fear and confusion in every word. Their circumstances were all very different, but they were all really asking the same question, "Where are you, God?"
I was already tired and overwhelmed, having just returned from speaking at a women's conference in an area of the country where the economy had taken a nosedive. So many of the prayer requests were centered around one deep need – the provision of God. And honestly, I was struggling with the same question in my own life.
I hurt. The doctors said it was fibromyalgia and that the medical world doesn't really understand the disease, so my treatment options were "iffy" at best. I had a lot of questions but no one seemed to have any answers.
