Looking to the Hills: A Lasting Legacy

"Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless." (Genesis 25:21)

The very issue, the very obstruction that threatened to keep God's covenant promise from being fulfilled in Abraham's life was the same thing that threatened to keep the promise unfulfilled in his son's.

Though not relayed in Scripture, I have no doubt that Abraham shared his impossible-odds story with his son throughout Isaac's early years, solidifying an ingrained, consequential impression in Isaac's mind. After all, he was Abraham’s beloved son, the child of the promise, the long-awaited fulfillment he had yearned for, prayed for, and "believed God" about for many long years. Also, Abraham was no mere casual follower of God. He intimately walked and talked with God. He allowed God to uproot and redirect his life, to dictate his movement and determine his mission. His belief and action were powerfully synchronized. Truly, he was a man of authentic faith, and thus, "it was credited to him as righteousness" (Galatians 3:6), long before righteousness through Christ was made available.

So by the time Abraham left this earth, certainly, his impossible-odds story had been poured into Isaac, his beloved son. Certainly, it must had been shared so many times that Isaac could repeat it word for word because so deeply seared into his mind and heart it had become. Certainly, Isaac had come to understand that the God his father (and mother) radically followed was reliable and trustworthy and worthy of worship, no matter the hopeless outlook or odds he might one day face himself. Certainly, he had come to understand that this God—their God and his—"could even raise the dead" (Hebrews 11:19), a fulfillment Isaac had personally experienced when Abraham, in unwavering faith and obedience, laid the son of the covenant upon the altar.

Certainly, by the time Isaac faced his own seemingly hopeless situation, he knew that he could believe "him to be faithful who had made the promise" (11:11).

Just as his father had done.

And this is why Isaac "prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife. . ."

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I pray—sincerely pray—that throughout my designated time on earth, my three children always witness an on-going habit, a persevering construction of legacy, of my turning to the One who can do the impossible, of my crying out to the One who "gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not" (Romans 4:17). I pray that because they've witnessed Mom looking to God and trusting in His promises when confronting hard, sometimes seemingly hopeless circumstances of life, it impacts their lives in such a way that propels them always "to lift up [their] eyes to the hill." That it propels them always to call on "the Maker of heaven and earth" in their own personal distresses, in their own impossible-odds dilemmas. That it propels them always to undoubtedly know that their "help comes from the Lord" (Psalm 121:1-2), just as their mother's has and still does. And always will.

Hard times and waiting times are part of this sojourn of life and faith. None of us are immune to them. And they will either bring us closer to the One who is sovereign over all, or drive us farther away. They will either strengthen our trust in our Father who is all-wise and all-sufficient, or leave us disillusioned, discouraged, and disheartened. And the greatest impact on whether we grow closer or colder during such times is whether we continuously stay our gaze upward, no matter what.

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Though Abraham left Isaac his abundant worldly wealth, it was the power of prayer, energized by faith—looking to the Speaker of the Promise to make good His declared Word—that was, unquestionably, one of the greatest inheritances Abraham bequeathed his son.

Fellow sojourner, may this be said of you and of me in our spiritual impact, our lasting legacy, on future generations.