If it be so, why am I thus?
Text: Genesis 25: 19-26
Most of us remember the promise God gave Abraham concerning his descendants becoming a great nation.
God made a covenant with Abraham that is recorded in Genesis chapter 17.
Abraham was at this time 90 years old, an age when most people would have given up on ever accomplishing anything great in life.
But God appeared to Abraham and said, “I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”
God said, “Thou shalt be a father of many nations. I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee.”
It shall be “an everlasting covenant.” In other words, not only to you, but to your offspring forever and ever.
You know the story of how Abraham and Sarah his wife were both well-stricken in age, and yet God said “Sarah, your wife shall have a child.”
The story is old, you’ve heard it before, but Sarah, even though well past the childbearing age in her life, did conceive and have a son, just like God has promised.
God is a God of His word! When God says it, He will bring it to pass!
His promises can be depended upon. Someone may promise you something and they may not keep their promise, but God never breaks his promises.
Even when it seems an impossibility, God is a God of the impossible, and nothing is impossible for Him to do.
God always has a time and a plan to fulfill His promise. It may not always be when we want it, but it will always be directly in God’s timing.
You see, God promised Abraham and Sarah a son, and through this son, many nations would come into existence.
How could this be? Abraham was almost ready for the nursing home, and Sarah not too far behind.
Yet in Genesis 21:2, the bible says, “And Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, AT THE SET TIME of which God had spoken to him.”
Not a day too soon, not a day too late. But it was at God’s set time! Abraham was 100 years old when this birth took place, but God is a God of his promises.
You all know the story. They named this son, Isaac.
Isaac grew up knowing about the covenant God gave to his father Abraham.
He too, would be a part of that covenant. So he took a wife named Rebekah.
It seemed the covenant was in danger again. She was barren, could not have children.
So Isaac entreated the Lord on the behalf of his wife, Rebekah.
It is interesting that both Sarah and Rebekah were barren, but God wanted to prove that the children of the promise was not simply the fruit of nature, but they were God’s gift of grace.
This great nation would not become great because of man’s efforts and accomplishments, but it would be because of God’s great Love, God’s great mercy, God’ grace, and God’s promises.
Now, no doubt Rebekah also had knowledge of God’s covenant. She no doubt was aware that God’s covenant included her.
She knew her husband Isaac depended upon her to bring forth a son, that continue on with God’s promise to create a many nations.
But how could it be so? She was barren! What a disappointment!
No doubt it took some time before she realized she could not have children.
They waited and waited for a sign of her pregnancy. But no sign came.
Could it be that God is not going to fulfill His promise?
Could it be that she would not be in God’s covenant after all?
In the midst of their anxieties, Isaac entreated the Lord, or earnestly prayed unto the Lord, because the desired son they wanted was not just to have a child, but because the desired son was to be the heir of promise.
God answered his prayer. Rebekah conceived and became pregnant.
But it was not a normal pregnancy. Complications began.
There was an internal commotion within her womb.
It was more than the normal kicking and moving around, but it was a violent commotion.
I think it became so severe that she must have thought, either, “I am going to die, or I am going to loose this baby.”
So she said these words, “If it be so, why am I thus?”
Or, “If the covenant of God is so, why am I having these problems with this pregnancy?”
If I am in the will of God concerning this covenant, why am I having such severe complications?
If God’s word is so, why am I in this condition?
So she began to inquire of the Lord.
Have you ever inquired of the Lord? Have you ever asked him a question?
Have you ever asked, “WHY?”
Have you ever asked the Lord, “Lord, if I am in your will, why am I going through this problem?”
Or, “Lord if I am doing what you told me to do, why am I in the middle of this trial?”
Can you imagine the three Hebrew boys about to the thrown into the furnace of fire saying, “Lord we have stood for you, we have not bent our knee to this idol the king has set up. We have done what is right. So why are they about to throw us into this fiery furnace?”
Or old Daniel, standing in the lion’s den saying, “Lord I have prayed faithfully three times a day. I have continued praying to you even when they made a law that forbids me to pray to y0u.
Lord, if I am your servant, if I am in your will, why am I in this lion’s den?”
The children of Israel had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt. They had been set free from the iron hand of King Pharaoh.
They were on their way to the land that God had promised them.
They were smack-dab in the center of God’s perfect will for their lives.
But they came to the Red Sea. Impassible! Impossible! Impractical! Infeasible!
Unattainable! No way, Hose’!
Now they were supposed to be on their way to the land that flows with milk and honey, a utopia, a land of paradise, their dreamland!
But the Red Sea was an impossible barrier to their goals.
If it be so that God is going to take us to the land of promise, why is this Red Sea in our way?
Why are we having so much trouble getting there?
What about Paul and Silas, locked up in a dungeon? Bound with shackles! They had been unmercifully beaten with whip. Their backs were bruised and bleeding.
What on earth had they done? They had been doing God’s work.
They had been preaching God’s word!
They were in the center of God’s perfect will.
So if it be so, why are they thus? If it be so, that they are in God’s will, why are they in the shape they are in?
Doesn’t God keep us from this sort of thing?
Oh, let’s go on a little bit before I answer all your questions!
What about those disciples out in a ship? A big storm came up! They were tossed about! Water was coming into the ship. They were in danger of capsizing and losing their lives.
And you know what? Jesus was the one who sent them out there!
They didn’t even want to go in the first place. But Jesus compelled them to go!
Let me give you another illustration.
What about ole Job?
He was a man of integrity! He was a man of perfection! He was a man who lived for God down to the letter!
No one on earth even compared to his righteousness and integrity. He walked with God!
Yet, Job lost everything he owned. He lost his cattle. He lost his camels. He lost his houses. He lost his dear children.
He could have said. “If it be so, why am I thus?”
If I am perfect in the sight of God, why am I sitting here in sackcloth and ashes, with boils from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet?”
If it be so, why am I thus?
After Rebekah inquired of the Lord, the Lord told her,
“Two nations are in thy womb, and two manners of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.”
So in essence, she was about to deliver a set of twins.
When they were born, one of them was full of red hair. Red hair covered his body, and they named him Esau.
The other one came out second, and as he was coming out of his mother’s womb, be grabbed a hold of his brother’s heel. They named him Jacob.
You know the rest of the story.
Isaac prayed for a son, and twenty years later, twins were born, and God’s covenant would continue on.
Now, let’s see how this applies to the people of First Assembly of God in Dardanelle, Arkansas.
Some of you are going through difficulties.
Some of you feel that God has promised you something, and you haven’t received it yet.
Some of you feel you are in God’s perfect will, but you are facing difficulties that cause you to say, “If it be so, why am I thus?”
Some of you were in God’s perfect will, doing what God wanted you to do, but someone hurt you, someone upset your applecart,
Somebody caused great pain. Now you are saying, “If I was in God’s will why did that happen? Why am I thus?
Some of you are like those disciples, you feel like God sent you out on your little ship and everything was fine and dandy. The water was perfect, the waves were calm, and the sun was shining on your perfect day.
But a storm came up and hid the sun from your perfect day. The winds began to blow and the perfect waves became great billows that beat against your ship.
And you said, “If I am doing God’s will, why am I thus?”
Let me tell you something my friend, God is still in control of your life!
When you seemed to have lost control, God has taken control!
When you have lost your composure, God still has His!
God knows where you have been, He knows where you are now, and He has already made plans to where He wants to take you.
There’s not a devil in hell that is able to stop God’s plan for your life if you will be obedient to God.
What He says, He will bring to pass.
In spite of the storms, He will come through for you my friend!
There’s not a storm so severe,
There’s not a trial so deep,
There’s not a mountain so high and,
There’s not a valley so wide,
That God cannot conquer on your behalf!
Be patient in your storm, for He will come walking on the water.
Be patient in your fiery trial for He will walk with you through the flames.
Be patient in your pain for He will give you a song in the night.
Be patient in all your discomforts for He will bring rest to your soul.
Be patient with your burdens for He will take them and carry them for you.
You see, we don’t always understand the things we go through!
Sometimes it just doesn’t make any sense at all.
Sometimes it just seems down-right unfair and we wonder what God has against us!
But through the sufferings of Job he said, “When I am tried, I shall come forth as gold.”
Remember these three points:
God always has a purpose. He always has a reason. He always has a plan.
Through Job’s suffering he saw an unfailing God.
Through Israel’s confrontation with the Red Sea they saw a God of deliverance.
Through the disciples experience with the storm they saw a powerful God that even the winds and the waves obey His voice.
The highways are not all straight. Some are smooth, some are rough. Some are hilly, some are flat.
The highways of life aren’t always smooth either, but you must stay on the road if you plan to make your destination.
You see, we must learn to allow God to have complete control of our lives, even when we cannot see the way, knowing that HE can see the way.
We must learn to relax in His presence, allowing Him to work on us in the way He sees best.
We don’t always know what His plans for our lives are.
We don’t always know but, what this storm, this trial, this temptation, this situation, is God’s preparation to take us into greater and better things in our lives.
With every great conquest in life, there must be preparation.
If we are to be conquerors, there must be some battles.
With every mountain, there must be some valleys.
With every victory, there must first be a battle, or even a failure.
Just because you are experiencing some bad times in your life doesn’t necessarily mean you are out of God’s will, or that He is punishing you, or He has forsaken or rejected you.
Allow God to do His perfect work in you.
If it be so, why am I thus?
Just be patient! Walk in obedience to God. Live in His presence! Trust in His direction. Be patient with His will.
God has something great for you!
