It would be easy to think that Isaac’s prayer was answered immediately. Rebekah was barren, Isaac prayed, and along came the twins! (Genesis 25:21). However, notice that Isaac is 40 when he gets married (Genesis 25:20) and the twins don’t arrive until he’s near retirement (25:26). The Lord is once again not in a hurry. We could miss this and think in the Bible when people pray, their prayers are answered immediately. In a sense they are, it’s helpful to remember God always answers prayer, but sometimes the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not yet’. For Isaac it was a ‘not yet’ for about 20 years! Even in this family that had the promises of God, they suffer with living in a broken world. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, one of the results was ‘pain in childbearing’ which includes, not only the physical pain of giving birth, but also the pain of not being able to conceive as well, the pain of loss, the struggle with ill health in our children.
We don’t know why God doesn’t answer the prayers of his people immediately as we would want, perhaps He wants to teach us perseverance, certainly he wants to make us more like Jesus, but ultimately we can trust that He is the sovereign Lord who is working for the good of His people.
How can we know that? Our reading from Mark 9 shows us a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, the beloved Son of God. When He comes down from the mountain, He meets a man who is experiencing some of the pain of child rearing-his son is sick.
The disciples had had a go at helping, but had got nowhere. Jesus’ answer is far more immediate than the answer Isaac prayed for. But He still wants to help the father in his faith. Jesus encourages him to believe and the distressed father answers “I believe, help my unbelief.”
Those honest words are met with Jesus graciously and powerfully restoring his son.
Where do you struggle to believe and trust that Jesus is at work for good?
I heard recently about a lady who was struggling to believe, her pastor was encouraging her to trust fully in Jesus but she said she just couldn’t. As the pastor left her house, he stood hesitantly at the bridge over the river at the end of her garden, he kept putting one foot on and then taking it off. Exasperated she shouted out, “entrust your whole weight on the bridge, it will hold you!”
And He replied, “and you entrust your whole weight to Jesus, for He will surely hold you up!”
It’s a great image of relying fully on Jesus. Why can we trust Him? Well, not only is He the glorious son of God (v7), but He is also heading to the cross where He will take the curse for us to end all pain forever (v31).
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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