Genesis 25:19-26
I recently read a statistic that sheltering in place led to serious weight gain of up to 16 pounds for 76 percent of Americans. Another 63 percent of U.S. adults admitted they are now prioritizing post-quarantine weight loss to counteract the dietary choices they made during the COVID-19 lockdowns. I want to suggest to you that while prioritizing weight loss to counteract dietary choices is a good idea, so too must we prioritize gaining wait—W-A-I-T to counteract the effects of division, greed, and the injustices that abound in our nation.
Our current national climate, threatens and endangers promises that have been made from becoming promises kept, just like the division, greed, and injustices in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (reference verses Genesis 25:19-26. It is during these times that we must gain W-A-I-T... And not the kind that comes from eating too many cakes and cookies. Isaac and Rebekah offer us a few W-A-I-T-gaining tips as they await the birth of their children Jacob and Esau. When God is calling us to gain W-A-I-T...
1.) We MUST PRAY. When Isaac sees that his wife is unable to have children, he PRAYS. On the night of his betrayal and arrest, Jesus makes his way to the Garden of Gethsemane to PRAY. Martin Luther King, Jr is quoted as saying:
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
On this journey of gaining W-A-I-T, prayer is an exercise that must be completed with regularity. Just as physical exercise must be completed regularly, so too must prayer. Some would say that like voting, prayer should be completed early and often. The Bible says, we are to pray without ceasing.
2.) We must also PAY ATTENTION to God's response. When Rebekah asks, “why is this happening to me” God says, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated. one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” God has given her the answer, but it is not clear that she pays attention to the response. Once the children are born, even though God has said that there will be separation, Rebekah and Isaac play a game of favoritism which does not help with the foretold division and greed.
IF you know there is going to be division and greed, because God has told you there would be, why not pay attention and seek out strategies that will help you in the long run—counseling for mental, financial, and emotional health would be a great way to pay attention to God’s response when we pray.
3.) And finally, we must TRUST THE PROCESS. Trusting the process was originally a slogan used by fans of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, though it has since become popular elsewhere in culture. It was coined during a rough patch for the team, and basically means that “things may look bad now, but we have a plan in place to make it better.” It took twenty years from Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage until the birth of Jacob and Esau—things may have looked bad for a while, but there was a plan in place to make it better. It took two and a half years for Blacks to find out they were free on Juneteenth... things may have looked bad for a while but there was a plan in place to make it better. COVID-19 is still in our midst, but we have a plan in place that is already making it better. Racism, Classism, Misogyny and police brutality look bad now, but we have a plan in place that will make it better.
We must pray. We must pay attention to the response. We must trust the process. As Hezekiah Walker sings, It will get better--It's gotta get (better)--It will get better--It's gonna be (better)--It will get better--'Cause God (God is in control)