Saying Good Bye to Dad

O.T. #48  "Saying Good bye to Dad"
May 16, 2013
Genesis 25-Part1
And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.  Genesis 25:11

LET IT GLOW

It's a hard thing, having to say bye to your father. I was only 32 when mine passed away. It was a sudden thing, a heart attack took him early one Saturday morning. We say that he died in his sleep.
I am grateful that he didn't suffer a stroke and linger for days. It was much easier on him that way.
Though it was hard on my family, not getting to say our farewells.
Now it's time to say good bye to another father, the Father of our Faith, our patriarch, Abraham.

What do we know about the latter part of Abraham's life?

• Abraham lived another 35 years after Isaac married Rebekah. He remarried and had 6 more sons by Keturah. He gave these sons gifts and sent them away from Isaac. Doing this insured no competition or threat from his half-brothers to Isaac as the rightful heir. These guys    became various Arab tribes to the east of Canaan.
• Abraham died at age 175. Isaac and Ishmael buried their father in the same tomb as Sarah.  This may have indicated that they had been reconciled.
• Abraham would have been able to be with his twin grandsons, Esau and Jacob. (Rebekah     was barren for 20 years, as was Sarah.) The Covenant blessing was not inherited by the first-born sons Ishmael and Esau, but the chosen sons Isaac and Jacob inherited it.
• Abraham had at least 7 grandsons and 3 great-grandsons.
• Though faith cannot be passed on as an automatic transfer, Abraham could share the faithfulness of God throughout his life. I'm sure he retold the stories of his walk of faith       with their God to his grandsons.
• Finally, Abraham got to see the city he looked forward to, the one with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Heb. 11:10)
• Abraham died in peace (15:15); he died full (satisfied), and he died in faith (Heb.11:13).     This is the heritage Abraham left his son: his godly example (18:19), the tent and altar (26:25), the wonderful promises of God (26:2-5). These spiritual blessings mean far more to a son than any material wealth. (Wiersbe)

Can you imagine the reunion in heaven when Abraham joined Sarah?
I am looking forward to being with my parents in heaven. How about you? Have yours gone on
ahead too?
Am I sharing my experiences of God's faithfulness with my family? Have they heard about our
walk of faith with God? Actually, I think I should write them down as a legacy of faith to leave
them.

LET IT GROW

Isaac was the son of a famous father (Abraham), and the father of a famous son (Jacob), and sometimes we "lose" him as we study the book of Genesis. His life was less exciting, but he lived longer than any of the other patriarchs. It is unfortunate that Isaac's faith seemed stronger at the beginning of his life that at the end.

For the first 20 years of their marriage, Rebekah was barren. Isaac was 40 when he married
Rebekah, so that made him 60 when his twins were born. Can you imagine being that age and
having newborns?  We see that Rebekah had faith in God because she prayed (verse 22). The
struggle of the unborn children perplexed Rebekah, so she asked God about them.

In verse 23, the Lord revealed what was happening as the two boys struggled inside her, indicating their future:

• They would become two nations.
• They will be separated.
• One people will be stronger than the other.
• The older will serve the younger.

As it turned out, the twin boys were opposites in appearance and temperament.
We can describe Esau:
* the firstborn,
*was hairy and red headed,
* a man of the world, full of vigor and adventure, a skillful hunter,
* no spiritual appreciation, despised his privileges as the firstborn and chose to serve the flesh, *probably had no tent nor altar,
*was loved by his father, Isaac, who had a taste for game.

On the other hand, Jacob:
*whose name meant the heel-gripper (supplanter, schemer, deceiver),
* was a quiet man who stayed at home,
*His mother Rebekah loved him.

I'm going to leave it there for today. Tomorrow we'll see how these two interact with each other.

Do you have children who opposite in their personality?

LET IT GO

Keep serving the Lord in the latter years.

Share with my family the faithfulness of God in our family's life.

Pray for my grandchildren and future generations.