II

Of course it's possible to explain this paradox away. We could blame the problem on Rebecca. Perhaps she is just a chronic complainer for whom the most benign pregnancy would be unbearable. Or we could perform a little theological slight-of-hand and reverse the obvious meaning of the story, proclaiming twins to be a double fulfillment of God's promise. This paradox can be explained away -- unfortunately, that will not solve our dilemma, for this is only one place where asked prayer results in pain.

Have you forgotten Moses pleading with God, asking for someone to help him carry the heavy burdens of being the nation's deliverer? God told Moses to anoint Aaron as High Priest, and Aaron became Moses' heaviest burden, giving him problems at every turn.

Or what about that remarkable story from 1 Samuel? Israel asked God for a king. God told Samuel to anoint Saul as king. Then Saul descended into madness, becoming a paranoid schizophrenic.

Or the tragic story of Hosea, praying to God for a wife and being told to marry Gomer. So he married Gomer, who in a few years abandons him and their children to become a prostitute at the temple of Baal.

And what about Paul, with his overwhelming desire to go to Rome to preach the gospel? He writes a marvelous letter to the church there -- that letter containing the most profound theology in all of the Scripture, filled with the prayerful expectation of a future visit. Then God answered Paul's prayer and he gets to Rome. But do you remember how? He is led to Rome in chains. It is in Rome that Paul is murdered by the fiend Nero.

It is not simply biblical characters who struggle with this paradox. I remember Jim and Laura. They were the best-looking couple I had ever seen. He looked like an all-American football player. She looked like a movie star. They had been married right after college, but had postponed having children while Jim got established in business.

It was five years into the marriage before they tried to have a child. Then it seemed they couldn't have children. A series of tests failed to reveal any physical reasons, but still no pregnancy. Finally, they resigned themselves to a childless future.

Laura was thirty-eight and Jim was forty when they announced to their startled friends that Laura was pregnant. Their friends were concerned for Laura, since thirty-eight is late for the first child. Their friends had good reasons to worry, for the pregnancy was a difficult one, but nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of Jim and Laura. Laura said, "We have been praying for a child for ten years. This child is a gift from God. He is not going to let anything go wrong."

In reality, everything went wrong. The pregnancy permanently damaged Laura's health. The baby, a little girl, was born with a congenital heart problem. Medical care over the next six years drove Jim and his business to the edge of bankruptcy. Two weeks shy of her sixth birthday, the child died. She had spent almost half of those six years in the hospital.