By M. U. Adikwu
Disappointments Of Isaac
It will be difficult to discuss the issue of disappointments without having to touch the three pillars of Christian Faith and origin, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The case of Isaac may not be as glaring as the other two persons but attempts will be made to state his own disappointments that made him to have appointment with God. Every Christian must note that in talking about the God of the Christians, it is practically impossible not to talk about Him as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These are our fathers in faith.
God introduced Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3:6). Other gods may introduce themselves as the god of Abraham, Ishmael and Jacob or the god of Abraham, Isaac and Esau, e.t.c.
You will quickly notice that there is a difference somewhere. Isaac’s disappointments may have come from the polygamous nature of his family as well as well as from the sojourn of his father in a strange land. He might also have been disappointed by God because his life was barren for over 20 years. He is also a good example of a person that God Himself arranged a disappointment around his family life.
It is noteworthy that many disappointments may arise from the fallen nature of man but for most people that God wants to be great, He arranges disappointments for them. This is because no man that has appointment with men (even if it is with himself) that can have appointment with God.
Early in life God had demanded that Isaac be scarified as a burnt offering unto the LORD (Genesis 22:2). From the Bible verse: “Take now thy only son Isaac whom you love, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains which I will show you,” two reasons can be deduced why God wanted Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. The first is to test the faithfulness of Abraham to God. Thus, God may also demand “our Isaac” to test our faithfulness unto Him.
Secondly, is to cut the relationship between Abraham and his son. Take your son “whom you love…” Many of us cannot have appointment with God because of our appointment with our children or even our wives.
St. Paul will admonish those who are married to live as though they were not married. Nothing should substitute God in our lives. For some, it is the love for fame. I do know that some people who lived in the past generations made names and were very famous. Some did not even allow this to get into their heads. Isaac Newton was a great scientist as well as a good Christian. We hear of people like Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling, etc. Many of them were religious in one form or the other.
Most modern-day scientists do not even believe in God. When they die, their names are forever forgotten. Today people effortlessly name their children after John, Peter, and all the early apostles because they had appointment with God. For Abraham, his problem was his, love for Isaac. Do you blame him? Who will have a child at that age from a “dead body” and not be proud of him. God had to arrange to break that love. I see Isaac forever saying to himself, “If not God, my father would have killed me.”
I am sure he was thoroughly disappointed in a father who would want to use his son for sacrifice. This gave him appointment with a God who could save at the last second to die. Isaac also knew the disappointment that comes when one loses his mother. More so, he was not married when his mother died (Genesis 24:67). To worsen this matter, he was the only son from his mother. He had other children to contend with and he was not the eldest. Ishmael was there to give him all the beating of his life. It is not a surprise then that Abraham had to separate them before he died (Genesis 25:6). With the death of Abraham and Sarah, the only thing that would have comforted Isaac in a strange land would have been his own children since he was not living with his brothers.
Unfortunately, his wife Rebecca was barren (Genesis 25:21). It had to become a matter of serious prayer for about 20 years before his wife could conceive. I am sure Isaac must have been seriously disappointed. He had no relatives, no land of his own, being a stranger in Canaan and to worsen it, no children.
The best option would have been to take his wife and return to where his father had migrated from. The Bible recorded that he did not do this because he hoped for a better country whose maker is God. He knew he was just a pilgrim on earth. How I mourn for people who run around from country to country in search of the good life. There is no such here on earth. Men like Abraham and his descendants knew there was no such life on earth. They lived in tents (Hebrew 11:13-16).
Do you know what? It was not as even though he was comfortable where he was living. He was not even allowed to drink from the wells his father had dug. Once the people of Gerar saw that Isaac was doing well, he became an object of hatred and jealousy (Genesis 26: 15-34). He was pushed from place to place. Anywhere he dug well; the people would refill it and pursue him out of that land. All these did not cause him to return. He believed God. For many of us, we would quickly have returned to the old way of life once conditions became adverse. It is in your adverse condition that God will meet you and show Himself mighty on your behalf.
When Isaac reached a point, where he dug well and he was allowed to settle and drink from it, he simply said, “The LORD has made room for us……” Many of us will not wait for the LORD to make room for us. We want to make the room for ourselves no matter what it takes. When God has not made a way and you insist, of course, the devil will make one but you must bow down
and worship him in one way or the other (Mathew 4:9). Like his father Abraham, Isaac also faced famine and the threat to take away his wife from him. He certainly had his own dose of disappointments.
Adikwu writes from Abuja and can be reached with phone: +234803 437 8988; email: adikwum@yahoo.com
