Isaac and Rebekah: Twenty Years of Waiting and a Faithful God

Introduction

"What is youth?" That is the question that opens this message, preached on a special youth Sunday at the Église Évangélique Libre de Lyon. The service closed a month of prayer for young people, on the theme "You are not too young."

Youth, the preacher reminds us, is "both an age and a passage": the age of possibilities, commitments and choices, but also an unsettling season full of "emotional roller coasters." Young people live under the pressure of the moment, and it is in this context that "we ask them in ninth grade to know what they want to do with their lives," as if it were natural to know that at 14.

The text chosen, Genesis 25:19-26, is the fourth message in a series on Isaac. It is about waiting, patience and trust, and it speaks to everyone, whatever their age. Two young people from the church, a girl and a boy, came to give their testimony in the middle of the sermon.

Outline of the Message

1. The Main Characters: A Family Carried by the Promise

• Since the beginning of September, the series has followed Isaac's miraculous birth, his complicated childhood alongside his half-brother Ishmael, and then his marriage to Rebekah, chosen by his father's servant, who had left that choice in God's hands.
• Isaac's lineage fits in one sentence: "Abraham became the father of Isaac." It is a long way from the long genealogies. The point is to present Isaac as the child of the promise made to Abraham: "I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing."
• Rebekah is the daughter of Bethuel and the sister of Laban. Terah, Abraham's father, is both Rebekah's great-grandfather and Isaac's grandfather. Generation after generation, God's people are slowly taking shape.
• The twins carry in their names a detail of their birth. Esau comes out red, "like a hairy garment." Jacob holds his brother's heel: his name evokes someone who trips up, who supplants. "Have you ever wondered what you would be called if your parents had had the same intention?"

2. A Text That Looks Simple

• Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren, and the Lord granted his prayer. Isaac asks intensely and persistently, God answers, and Rebekah becomes pregnant.
• The preacher pretends to wrap up quickly with Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it will be given you." "For once, I'm getting off easy. All's well that ends well."
• Then he turns to a young girl in the congregation: "What do you mean, you don't agree with me?" Because the experience of prayer is not always that simple.

3. A Young Girl's Testimony: A Prayer That Seemed to Be Ignored

• She had to leave behind her friends, her family, "my world." Everything was new to her.
• She prayed for friends who would never judge her. Later, she found them. Then everything changed, and those friendships vanished "like dust before my eyes."
• She wondered what she had done wrong and saw it as a punishment. Praying became painful: "I felt far from God, I felt forgotten, ignored."
• Over time, new friendships were born. One day, in the middle of a fit of laughter, she understood: "God had not ignored me all that time." Her advice: "Has my prayer really not been answered? Do I really want that?"

4. Twenty Years Between Two Verses

• The text is framed by two details: Isaac is 40 when he marries Rebekah (verse 20) and 60 when the twins are born (verse 26). Behind verse 21, almost twenty years go by.
• Isaac did not pray for himself, to have descendants, but for his wife: "It is a prayer of intercession full of love."
• The story seems to repeat itself, as with Abraham and Sarah. But this time Rebekah does not offer her servant, and Isaac does not go looking for another mother for his descendants. "There is faithfulness in this plea": a humble and urgent prayer, both surrender and insistence.
• The pregnancy is hard. After twenty years of waiting, Rebekah comes to say: "If it be so, why do I live?" She inquires of the Lord and receives a clear answer, though not necessarily a reassuring one: two nations, two peoples who will be separated, and the older will serve the younger.

5. Our Relationship With God: A Young Man's Testimony

• Converted at an evening for young people, a young man wanted, before his baptism, to "know God by heart" and to be "the perfect Christian." He came to understand that our relationship with God resembles the relationship between a father and his son: an unconditional love, given by grace, that comes before we even try to please him.
• "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand" (Psalm 84:10). He puts it this way: a few seconds with God are worth more than a thousand seconds elsewhere, between two classes, during a break, or when opening your phone.
• No need to feel guilty if you struggle to pray or read the Bible. What matters is the heart: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
• To young people who hesitate to be baptized because they do not feel worthy: "Baptism is a commitment of the heart, not a sign of perfection. God is not looking for perfect Christians, he is looking for Christians who want to move forward with him."
• The preacher then returns to the full passage of Matthew 7:7-11: if we, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, "how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?"

6. God's Timing

• When the trial lasts, it is human to ask: why is God doing this, what am I doing wrong? Why did Rebekah have to wait twenty years? "Honestly, we don't know. And often that question why doesn't help us move forward much."
• What we do know is that the waiting did not drive Isaac and Rebekah away from God. They did not let their relationship with him grow distant. They learned that everything is in God's hands, and that he fulfills his promises "when he wants and how he wants."
• This text does not say that everything we ask for will happen, "much less that if it doesn't happen, it is because we did not pray enough or because God is punishing us." It strengthens our assurance that God fulfills all his promises in his time.
• The congregation is invited to name the promises that touch them: he will never abandon us, he is with us every day, nothing will separate us from his love, he does not cast out the one who comes to him, he loves us as we are, his grace is infinite, he comes back, he comforts.

7. Staying Confident in the Trial

• "If your prayer does not seem to be answered, do not forget that God has heard it." He may already have answered in his own way. He knows your heart and your deepest desires, and he gathers your tears (Psalm 56:8). He has plans for you of peace and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11).
• The greatest figures of the Bible went through trials. Moses stuttered and lacked confidence. David was hunted down and committed very serious sins, and yet Jesus comes from his line. Elijah went through a depression so deep that he wanted to die, and he stood beside Jesus at the transfiguration.
• The apostle Paul was not healed in spite of his prayers, "and it was not for lack of faith." Jesus himself, seized with dread and anguish, prayed that the cross might pass from him, then submitted to the Father's will.
• The message ends on Philippians 4:4-7: "In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."

Key Takeaways

• Behind a single verse of Genesis 25 lie twenty years of waiting, pleading and faithfulness.
• Isaac prayed for his wife: an intercession full of love, both surrender and insistence.
• Relationship with God matters more than perfection: God looks at the heart, and a few seconds with him are worth more than a thousand elsewhere.
• An unanswered prayer does not mean you prayed badly or that God is punishing you. He hears, and he may already have answered in another way.
• God fulfills his promises when he wants and how he wants. Waiting is a place to stay close to him.

Personal Application

1. What request have you been bringing to God for a long time, and how does this waiting affect your relationship with him?
2. Who could you intercede for this week, as Isaac pleaded for Rebekah?
3. What if God had already answered one of your prayers in a way you have not yet recognized?
4. What "few seconds with God" can you slip into your day: between two classes, during a break, when opening your phone?
5. Which promise of God do you want to keep in front of you during this time of waiting?

Verses Cited

• Genesis 25:19-26
• Genesis 12:2
• Matthew 7:7-11
• Psalm 84:10
• 1 Samuel 16:7
• Romans 8:38-39
• John 6:37
• Psalm 56:8
• Jeremiah 29:11
• Philippians 4:4-7

Frequently Asked Questions

How long did Isaac and Rebekah wait for a child?

Almost twenty years. The text is framed by two details: Isaac was 40 when he took Rebekah as his wife (Genesis 25:20) and 60 when Esau and Jacob were born (Genesis 25:26). Verse 21 sums up those twenty years of pleading in a single sentence.

If my prayer is not answered, does it mean I did not pray enough?

No. The preacher stresses that this text does not say everything we ask of God will happen, much less that if it does not happen, it is because we did not pray enough or because God is punishing us. He reminds us that the apostle Paul was not healed in spite of his prayers, and that it was not for lack of faith.

What should I do when the waiting drags on?

Do not let your relationship with God grow distant. Isaac kept pleading, and Rebekah inquired of the Lord when she was troubled. The message invites you to ask yourself whether God has already answered in another way, and then to make your needs known to God with thanksgiving, following Philippians 4:4-7.