Good Morning.
But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:22-23)
In my opinion, this is one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible and definitely is one of the more prophetically significant. The struggle going on within her womb was about who would be born first and inherit the birthright of the firstborn. But more than two children struggling with one another, the Bible makes it clear that the struggle was between two opposing forces bound to contend with each other until end of the age. The struggle was so troubling that Rebekah went to get answers from God about what to do. In fact, according to Jewish tradition, her life became so unbearable that she wanted to die.
To some degree, each of us can relate to her situation in that we understand the struggle that can occur within us from time to time. The struggle I’m referring to is the one between spirit and flesh. For those in Messiah, we are called a new creation having been born again and yet we remain in this corruptible flesh. Our carnal nature wars with our spirit man desiring to rise up and suppress the spirit. Our spiritual man contends with our carnal inclinations striving to crucify our flesh. Sometimes the struggle can be so intense that we might question, “Why am I feeling like this?”
Messiah never said that this walk would be easy. To the contrary, He said it would be filled with trials and difficulties because the way is narrow; a better translation would be “troublesome.” Imagine being pressed until it feels like the very life is being squeezed out of you except, in this case, the goal is to squeeze the death out of us. The struggle is intended to bring us to the place that we might live abundantly and inspire others to do the same. That is exactly what we signed up for until the day that corruption puts on incorruption. Take heart though because Messiah overcame the world and has promised to empower us to do the same. The struggle is real but the reward for enduring and overcoming this world is immeasurable.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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