Something caught my attention as I read the commentary portion of the Life Application Bible today. How come it hasn't registered in my mind all this while? So Abraham married another woman called Keturah after the death of Sarah, and it sounds very new to me. There's a lot in God's word to discover all the time....oh, for Grace to spend more time in His Word and pay attention to the details! Amen.
The story of Gideon began with the explanation that, 'the Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight...so He handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so cruel...' The interesting bit for me is the fact that 'the Midianites were desert people who descended from Abraham's second wife, Keturah (Gen. 25:1,2). From this relationship came a nation that was always in conflict with the Israelites. There was nothing wrong with re-marrying after Sarah died; for Gen. 25:5 & 6 explain that 'Abraham left everything he owned to his son Isaac, gave gifts to his other sons and sent them off to the east, away from Isaac'. After his death however, Abraham had no control over how events would turn out.
Remember that the Ishmaelites also became trouble for the Israelites. May the Lord guard us against relationships and connections that would cause a negative impact on the next generation. May we move beyond 'living anyhow' for the pleasures of the moment, forgetting that our current actions have lingering consequences. One of Dayspring's resolution cards for women puts it like this, "I will make today's decisions with tomorrow's impact in mind and consider my current choices in light of future generations".
5th August 2016
Accra, Ghana.
