Saturday 26 September 2015

Psalm: Psalm 98

  Background

The task of seeking a partner is complicated; there are manyfactors involved! We may feel it is hard enough today with the fastpaced nature of our lives and the sheer busyness of the modernworld. I wonder though if Abraham had an even harder job on hishands? Abraham wants Isaac safely married and producing heirs.(Isaac's mind in this is not explored.) He wants Isaac to meetsomeone from his own ethnic group, which is difficult as they livein Cana and not Israel. A Canaanite woman will not do. But Isaacmust stay where he is and not go back home, or the land so hard wonwill be lost, and Abraham's sense of destiny and purpose will bedenied. You could almost wish that they had the Internet and adating site with enough boxes to tick to cover the complicatedessentials that are demanded.

The story is told as another example of Abraham's faith even inthe sadness of his own loss and concerns of his advancing years.God will somehow work it all out for them, plus the aid of afaithful go-between. Isaac is again a remarkably passive part ofthe story; not this time to be sacrificed, but married off tofulfil his father's will. There is something, deeply touching andrestrained about the way that the two do eventually meet. It takesJane Austen many hundreds of pages to fix Elizabeth up with herDarcy. It takes the author of Genesis two lines. Rebekah slips fromthe camel, puts on her veil, and trusts God. Love will find a way,and despite the huge number of assumptions about the role of women,their status, the highly constrained choices that are being made,there is a sense of love.

To Ponder

• In what way do you think God is concerned with humanrelationships in all their complexity?

• What would you like to share with God about your ownrelationships at the moment?