Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20050918.htm

BIBLICALLY PARENTING THE MATURING CHILD
Part IX: Parenting When "Good" Potential Spouses For Our Children Are Hard To Find
(Isaac, Abraham and Rebekkah - Genesis 24:1-59)
  1. Introduction
    1. God calls us to raise our maturing children to keep themselves morally pure and to wed only committed believers in Christ in accord with Ephesians 5:3 and 2 Corinthians 6:14.
    2. However, as apostasy increases, it can seem that fewer morally upright and spiritually committed "good" parties exist for our children to wed! The parent and maturing child may wonder just how to go about addressing his need for a spouse in view of this dwindling "pool" of potentially good partners!
    3. Abraham's handling of this very need for his son Isaac sets an example for Christian parents and their maturing children today (as follows):
  2. Parenting When "Good" Potential Spouses For Our Children Are Hard To Find, Genesis 24:1-59.
    1. A great need existed for Isaac to have an appropriate, Biblically eligible spouse:
      1. Contrary to the option believers today have of remaining single if they have the gift of celibacy (1 Cor. 7:1-2, 6-9), God planned and promised to make of Abraham's seed a great nation, Gen. 12:2; 15:3-4.
      2. Then, when Isaac had been born as that seed, God promised Abraham He would make this nation come through Isaac's seed, Genesis 21:12c, so God wanted Isaac to wed so he could produce children!
    2. However, a great hurdle existed to Abraham's acquiring an eligible spouse for Isaac:
      1. Abraham, Isaac's father, had been called of God to leave his kindred and homeland in Ur of the Chaldees and go to Canaan, a land of morally evil people, cf. Genesis 12:1 with 24:1-3; Genesis 15:16.
      2. He was to stay there; God had revealed to leave it was against His will, Genesis 12:10-13 with 20:1-8.
      3. Accordingly, due to God's calling, Abraham was greatly disadvantaged in being able to find and introduce his son, Isaac to an appropriate, godly, eligible spouse in accord with his era's customs!
    3. Nevertheless, based on God's work just to PRODUCE Isaac, Abraham knew that SOMEHOW God would Himself lead him and Isaac to find an adequate, Biblically eligible marital partner for Isaac:
      1. God had miraculously produced Isaac in the old ages of Abraham and Sarah, Gen. 18:10-12 with 21:5.
      2. Thus, the promises of God with the testimonies of God's leading in his life to date regarding Isaac's origins indicated there had to be a divine provision of an adequate spouse for Isaac to marry!
    4. Putting all these facts together, Abraham correctly concluded that, to address Isaac's need, he himself was to stay in Canaan, but that he should send his servant to the most likely realm to find a good spouse:
      1. Abraham chose to stay in Canaan rather than travel to find a wife for his son as the custom of the day required: he wanted to stay in God's will by remaining in the Promised Land!
      2. However, Abraham also knew the most sensible place to seek an eligible spouse was not in the land of the wicked Canaanites where he dwelt, but back in his homeland and among his kin; thus, he sent his trusted servant back to Ur of the Chaldees to look for a spouse for Isaac, Genesis 24:1-4.
      3. In the process, God miraculously provided a spouse for Isaac, smoothing out the paths of all involved:
        1. The Lord led Abraham's servant to meet Rebekkah, Isaac's future wife, Gen. 24:12-14; 24:15-26.
        2. God led Rebekkah's family to be willing to let her leave to wed Isaac in Canaan, Genesis 24:50-51.
        3. God also led Rebekkah to be willing to wed Isaac whom she had never met, Genesis 24:57-58.
        4. Finally, God led Rebekkah and Isaac to fall in love when they met, and to marry, Genesis 24:64-67.
Lesson: Abraham (1) obeyed God in his own walk (2) and continued to trust God to find a Biblically eligible spouse for Isaac based on the fact that God had provided Isaac in the past. (3) Abraham also used common sense -- he looked in the most sensibly suitable geographical location for a potentially good spouse for his son, and (4) God did the rest to make the match come to pass!

Application: To obtain an eligible spouse in today's world, like Abraham did in his apostate era, (1) we should KEEP WALKING by faith in God, (2) trusting that IF our child IS to wed, GOD will put him into contact with the right person just as He has met every past need for our child! (3) We must also use common sense, leading our our child to look in the correct REALMS (like Biblical churches and Christian groups over bars and frat houses) for a godly spouse! (4) God will do the rest for His glory!