Isaac & Rebecca

Dive into the ancient stories of Isaac and Rebecca with us on the Cheer Up! Podcast. Discover how faith and family drama intertwine in Genesis.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. I am your host, kara R Hunt, and with me is the amazing Sherry Swalwell. How are you doing today, sherry?

Speaker 2: 0:33

I am doing great and I have to tell you I keep thinking about our topic today Isaac and Rebecca. All week long I've been thinking about it and I am so excited to talk about them today as the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, and I just keep thinking about what we were talking about about Abraham and Sarah last week too, about the whole people-pleasing and the holy fear that Noah had, and how much better life would be if we all just kind of lived with that holy fear of God.

Speaker 1: 1:06

Isn't that amazing? And for those of you who have not yet, if you did not hear last week's podcast, which was on Abraham and Sarah Isaac's parents, then please go back and listen to it, after you listen to this one. And while you're at it, if you haven't downloaded the chair podcast yet, then please go ahead and do so and like and heart it if at all possible and I know those differ on whichever platform you're listening, but definitely if you can download it, like it or heart it and share it, you know, if it blesses you, that just blesses this podcast a lot, because it just helps to get out there into the algorithm of these different platforms and that way when someone's looking for a podcast that covers these type of topics, it'll pop up. So thank you all so much for doing that. Now let's get back into what Sherry was saying. Oh, my goodness, holy fear, right, that is just amazing, and I can't wait to dig more into the Isaac and Rebecca story. I can't. Sherry, what have you got for us today?

Speaker 2: 2:13

So thinking about them. So, first off, I guess, before I jump in, they are found in Genesis 21 through 27. And, as I said last week, abraham's story finishes in Genesis 25. So they overlap, because that's just the awesome way that God is, and isn't that the truth? Like, my life overlaps with my parents, my parents' life overlap with their parents, their parents overlap with their parents, and my kids' life inter or overlaps with my, my parents, which are their grandparents and then great-grandparents, and so on and so on. So that just is another indication, or another telltale sign that the Bible is true, living people and not just a bunch of fictional characters. So, abraham, one of the things I loved about him is that he knew the importance of making sure that his child, this son Isaac, who God had promised him, and so he knew it was a big deal, because all the people behind that were going to be coming from the lineage of Isaac. God was going to bless the lineage of Isaac, I should say, and so he wanted to make sure that he didn't have a wife that would pull him down. And we all know the importance, kara, of good wives, wives that will bring the best out in their husbands, wives that will share theive, that are purposefully submissive to their husbands and who want knew served God, instead of finding a wife, a Canaanite wife, who he knew did not serve God, who served the pagan gods Instead. We talked about that a little bit last week, although, I have to say, abraham had great intentions, but everybody has free will. So, while things started out well and Isaac ended up marrying Rebecca, who was um one of the descendants of late Laban Laban was the brother I'm trying to think me and my generational stuff is not the best. So Rebecca's dad no, rebecca's brother was Laban. Laban ended up being playing a pivotal role in Jacob's life. Jacob was one of the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, so he was part of their family lineage. Rachel or Rebecca was.

Speaker 2: 5:03

So Rebecca comes back and I just got done saying how we women have a choice and we have a huge role to play actually with our husbands. Being a wife is not a well. We are called to be submissive, yes, but it is an active submission, meaning we choose to submit to our husbands. We choose to bring out the best in them. We choose to honor them. We choose to submit to our husbands. We choose to bring out the best in them, we choose to honor them, we choose to respect them, we choose to play our role in our marriage, which is the nurturing role, while we allow our husbands to be the protectors, the providers, which is huge responsibility. And the Bible tells us too that the men, the husband, in marriages are the ones who are held the most accountable. So, as wives, when we submit to our husbands and when we bring out the best in our husbands, we are doing what God called us to do.

Speaker 2: 5:58

I say all that to say Rebecca, even though she came from a family lineage that knew better and knew that role, she didn't. So her and Isaac got married. She got pregnant and she had twins, esau and Jacob. And Jacob became the favorite of Rebecca, esau became the favorite of Isaac, and Isaac came out first, even though they were twins, and so Isaac was supposed to. According to the laws and the rules back then, he was supposed to be the one to get the birthright, but God had told them that Jacob would actually end up getting the birthright. Well, rebecca took it upon herself to help Jacob get the birthright, and so there was a bowl of stew, there was some anger, there was some deception. I'm not going to tell you the whole story because I want you to read it for yourself from the Bible. But when it was all said and done, jacob ended up running for his life because again that whole sibling rivalry we've talked about Esau was out to get him. Esau was furious and he kind of sort of had a right to be. He had been done wrong and so so nobody would blame him, humanly speaking.

Speaker 2: 7:13

So then we have. So we have Rebecca tricking her, her husband Isaac, jacob tricking his father, isaac. Then Jacob ends up tricking no, then Laban, the uncle, his uncle. He goes in and hides out and lives with his uncle and he fell in love with this girl, rachel, and he's like, ooh, I want her. And he fell in love with this girl Rachel, and he's like, ooh, I want her. So he agreed to work for seven years for Laban and he'd get this girl Rachel. Well, little did he know that there was a custom that the older girls had to be married off before the younger girls. Laban failed to tell him that. So Laban said, ooh, he's a great worker, I'm going to have him work for Leah. First he tricked him, gave him Leah as a bride, because they get all covered beforehand, so it wasn't until the next morning that he realized it wasn't Rachel that he had married. So then he had to work in another seven years for Laban in order to get.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Rachel. Well, so Jacob was tricked by Laban. Jacob had tricked his brother and his father with the help of his mother. And then there was a whole jealousy thing with Rachel and Leah, because Leah could have kids and Rachel couldn't, and Jacob loved Rachel more and not as much Leah. And then the whole 12 tribes, the brothers or their sons. I mean, he ended up having 12 sons and this is where Joseph comes in. He's part of the 12 sons which become the 12 tribes, which fulfills the prophecy of the whole Isaac thing that God gave to Abraham way back in Genesis 12.

Speaker 2: 8:51

So there's a, it's a whole big like it's better than a soap opera, and by that I use the term soap opera loosely, maybe I should say family drama, and by that I use the term soap opera loosely, maybe I should say family drama. The Bible is truth. The Bible shows the good, the bad and the ugly of family relationships and just people with sin, and so that's kind of the whole Isaac and Rebecca in a nutshell. And, like I said, there's a lot of trickery, there's a lot of deception. And that whole adage I don't even know where it came from. I mean there's a Bible verse that goes with it, but like the saying that we have in the world is what goes around comes around, and it's so true.

Speaker 2: 9:33

I like how the Bible says it better you reap what you sow, and God's showing way back in the Old Testament how true that is. You reap what you sow, and God showing way back in the old Testament, how true that is. You reap what you sow, you. You start out with trickery and deception. It'll come back and bite you and and that's exactly what happened with Isaac and Rebecca.

Speaker 1: 9:56

So what do you think, um, kara? What do you want to add to that? Actually, not much, except just reiterating what you just said. Because before you had even mentioned it and you were talking about how it all kind of related back what he had to deal with with Rebecca and Leah and Rachel and everything, and then what transpired with his parents, I kept thinking you reap what you sow. You know biblical truth of biblical truth, right, and he sowed a lot of trickery and so trickery came back to him.

Speaker 1: 10:31

So we've got to be very careful in our modern day lives to remember that our actions have consequences. We may think that, oh, I'm just going to do this today and they're not going to know, know about it, and I'm just going to deceive them. I mean, and if they do know about it, they may be upset, but then I still win because I get this new office, this new job, this new project and everything else. Well, you know, just be prepared down the road if someone doesn't do that to you when you're least expecting it. So that's the part I wanted to reiterate.

Speaker 2: 10:58

And it goes so much more. I love how you said that it goes so much more than just doing things to other people Like for me myself, I this year, 2024, god has really well, we've just we've had quite quite the last two years, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It's just been really rough, and so God is kind of breathing new life into me.

Speaker 2: 11:28

And I have talked on this podcast multiple times about how I have had emotional issues with food and just issues in that regard. But every part of your life plays into every part of your life. So having issues with food then also rolls over to um, not having as organized of a house as I want to goes into people pleasing goes into you know, like everything is interconnected. And so this year I have decided to give myself grace and I was told I don't. I don't even know where I read it or what, but anyway, god highlighted it for me. I always tell God I need a billboard, and so he highlighted it for me. And he's like Sherry consistency over time, little changes over time, consistently, will bring about the big changes that you want. If you try to tackle it all at once, you have proven in the past that you will start out great, but then you'll die, you'll like quit and everything, everything that you accomplish, everything that you advance in or achieve, is going to go by the wayside, because you're going to be laying there, exhausted, going. I'm not lifting another breath and there's no, or another arm, and there's no way that I'm going to keep up what I did. So it'll all go back to worse than when you first started. So this year I have taken the approach of I am just going to make three consistent changes with my eating and I have eliminated actually four things, because one thing I eliminated two years ago and then this year I'm eliminating three altogether because none of them were really all that important to me, but yet it will make a huge difference. I would eat them out of laziness or out of habit, more so than because I really enjoyed them, and I'm noticing that the more those things are taken out of habit, more so than because I really enjoyed them and I'm noticing that the more those things are taken out of my life. There's still plenty of things that I love, but I feel so much better when I eat healthier and it motivates me to keep eating healthier because I love having energy and I love how I feel, same with my health.

Speaker 2: 13:37

I decided I'm going to just take one little tiny section and clean that. So, like one night I cleaned under my bed, organized it, straightened it out, and it's motivating because I look under there and I'm like man, that looks really good, that is organized, that looks fantastic. Okay, what else can I organize? And then I just take the next week, one little thing, and I brought that fun into our life. We have lived so many years, wasted so many years, where it's cleaning every weekend, cleaning every weekend but not getting anywhere because we're too tired and we have no motivation.

Speaker 2: 14:14

So if I clean one little thing and I see how great that makes me feel and I have a new saying now, and if it doesn't bring me joy and it doesn't serve a purpose, then I'm not keeping it Out, it goes, because I don't want to spend my whole life shifting things from place to place or picking things up and dusting under them when I can be out making memories, because memories are more important to me than stuff, are more important to me than stuff. And so I'm noticing that what you talked about what you reap is what you sow works in every area of our lives. So it's not just relationships, but the more you you do it God's way, whether it's relationships, whether it's food, whether it's organizing, whether it's time, whether it's whatever, whatever, the better it is. And so I just I think I want to leave that with people as your encouragement this week that this world is not going to be perfect. John 16, 33, these things. I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace In this world. You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. So, if we continue to choose to do it God's way, if we continue to ask him every day and say, okay, god, what do you want me to reap? Because that is what I need to sow today. So what do you want me to sow today, god? Where do you want me to sow it?

Speaker 2: 15:37

If we can have that holy fear of caring more about what God thinks instead of what people think of not worrying about being canceled. There are so many people in the last couple of years that have been canceled or that have been fired or that, you know it has not gone quote, unquote well for them. But God has turned that around and he has given them a bigger platform. He has given them a different platform. He has given them what they really need and he has used them in ways that they never would have been used if they had continued on in the original platform or original place that God had placed them on, in the original platform or original place that God had placed them.

Speaker 2: 16:25

So that also goes back to what we talked about last week of holding our hands or holding things in our hands, holding the mission, the purpose, the calling that God has given us loosely. Are we willing to give it back over to God if he says it had an expiration date? It's expired. I want you to do B, c and D now. Are we willing to do that? Do we have a holy fear of God? To hold things loosely so that we can continue to be used of him? Because our time here on earth, even though it seems like it's long, really short, and I know I've really been thinking lately that I want to make sure like I don't.

Speaker 2: 17:02

I don't want fear to hold me back. I don't want to go to heaven one day and have God say Sherry, do you remember 2023? Do you remember how I gave you that choice? And I'll be like, yeah, and you remember how you told me how scared you were? Yeah, all I wanted you to do was step out in faith. I was just waiting for you to take that one step, and it's okay that you didn't. But this is what could have happened if you did Like.

Speaker 2: 17:28

I don't want to have those conversations with God. I don't want to be that person who Abraham was invited to leave and to go, who knew where big old mark, and to be like yeah, I like it here instead, lord. Or um, noah, okay, we're gonna have this rain, noah, so I want you to build this ark. Um, can't you have john smith down the road? Build it instead, because you know I don't like carpentry. I don't want to be that person. I want to be the one who says, okay, god, I'm really scared, but I'm going to do it anyway. I trust you enough, I have faith in you enough. And, again, we've been talking about this every week, but I want to make sure that, I reiterate, we don't have to do it perfect. God is not asking for perfection. He is asking for our heart.

Speaker 2: 18:18

So what is one thing that you can do this week that can show God that you have faith, that you will step out, that you will do what he's asking you to do? Just one, one little thing that he's been asking you to do. Is it read your Bible regularly? Is it pray regularly? Is it pray before you get out of bed in the morning, is it? I don't know. What is it that God's asking you to do? Is it regularly tithing at your church, is it? I don't know. I really don't know, because that's the conversation between you and God.

Speaker 2: 18:54

So that is my challenge, or my encouragement for you today. So do you need prayer or encouragement? Do you want to talk to us about any of this? We would love to talk to you. So head over to cheeruppodcasts at gmailcom and we will start that conversation with you. Or head over to the Facebook group Cheer Up Podcast and start a community conversation. Or head over to the Facebook group Cheer Up Podcast and start a community conversation.

Speaker 2: 19:26

I love building community and I think that it's great to be able to encourage each other because, as fellow Christ followers, or even if you're just speaking and you just have questions and maybe you aren't a believer yet but you want to know more, head on over and let's start a conversation, Because being with other like-minded people or being with other people who love God as much as you do or as much as we do, it's refreshing. It's refreshing to be able to talk to somebody who's going to continue to point you back to God, who's going to offer to pray with you, who's going to give you scripture or point you back to scripture when you have questions. So if you haven't already joined the Facebook group on or the yeah, the Cheer Up podcast on Facebook, we would highly encourage it and we're inviting you again Next month. I can't believe it's already the end of March, kara, but next month we are going to stay in the Old Testament and we're going to be talking about some of the judges and the important people that go along with the judges. So we're going to be talking about Deborah Barak Sisera and Jael. Jael Kara says her name so much better than I do. Dale Kara says her name so much better than I do so. We're going to be talking about some judges next week or next month, as well as some highly important people that went along with them, so you aren't going to want to miss it. There might be not very many chapters dedicated to these people, but, oh my word, the impact that they made on the kingdom of God is huge and it is lasting, and I can't wait to share all of that with you.

Speaker 2: 21:05

So, having said all that, head on over to Kara's website, karahrhuntcom. She has lots of great resources for you. Head over to my website, sherryswallowcom. If you're interested in the membership again. If you're 25 or sorry, 27 years or younger, there is a young adult discount. If you are 65 and older, there's a sweet senior discount. If you just need help because life has hit you hard, email me clswalwell99 at gmailcom. Or if you have been extra blessed this year and you would love to gift a membership to, or multiple memberships to, different people, email me again clswalwell99.com or 99 at gmailcom and um, and we can make that happen as well. So I just want to say I have thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of genesis, tara, and talking about the different um. What are they called? Like faith giants or something like that? How does hebrews explain them.

Speaker 1: 22:18

oh, giants in the faith, yes, I think it's how it says it, okay.

Speaker 2: 22:23

Yep, I have just thoroughly enjoyed just being reminded again that every generation is going to have its own problems. Every generation is not going to do things perfectly, but God still uses us and his unconditional love shows through, and I just love that. Like how how can we not love that? So thank you everyone for being with us today. Have a great day, have a great week and please come back next week. We're going to jump from Genesis to judges and we're going to. That's what they are they're judges. I think I did say that. Sorry, my brain is still still waking up this morning, but they're so important. So I just want to say have a great week and we will talk next week.