JANUARY 8

Genesis 24:4-–Genesis 25:21

WHOM TO MARRY

GENESIS 24:4, 25:20

"Thou shalt go unto my country. . .and take a wife unto my son Isaac."

Whom to marry is an important decision in a person’s life. Perhaps it is the most important.

We cannot help who our parents are. That is settled nine months before we were born. We cannot control how many children we have--though some feel they do with modern methods of birth control. We cannot choose the hour and place where we will die. But, we can control whom we marry! That is--if we think about it and do not let our emotions run away with our reason.

Abraham was concerned that his son Isaac would marry one of the Canaanite women. Canaan was where the father and son lived. It was the land to which God had led Abram and Sarai many years ago. It was the only land that Isaac knew. It was where father and son had friends and business acquaintances. Yet, Abraham knew that all those about him–except for a very few within his own household--were heathen people. They did not believe in the True God--the God with whom Abraham had a personal relationship.

The father’s greatest fear was that his son would marry into a race and religion that was not proper. Many parents have this fear. Many sons and daughters have been taught by their parents to be careful to whom they marry. I am sure Isaac heard about it all his life. So, it was not a surprise to him that his elderly father would send a trusted servant to Abraham’s far-away home town to search out the proper bride for his son.

We read later that forty-year-old Isaac married young Rebecca. He was a happy groom and she a trusting bride. The Bible tells us that Isaac loved Rebecca. What good words to read! Marriage should mean "love" as well as "reason." Let us encourage carefulness in marriage because the wrong decision can corrupt a life and ruin a future. (ysw)

"GLORY AND HONOUR ARE IN HIS PRESENCE"

(I Chronicles 16:27)

A most beautiful verse! He is with us in the hardest strait!

If it is His place for me, I will be strong though I am weak.

I may be glad, though I may weep, if I do my service as in His presence.

Glory and Honor unto him! (GGS, partially copied)

And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.

And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

(Genesis 18:10)

Under God's Care,

Yvonne S. Waite