Laura had said this child was an answer to prayer, a gift from God. Was this an answer to prayer? Can answered prayer result in pain?

III

Where do we turn to get a satisfactory answer to this perplexing question? Rebecca turns to God. Look at verse 22:

"Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the Lord.

This was not Rebecca's only option. She could have turned away from God and looked for answers elsewhere. She could have reverted into her past.

She could have walled herself in from this new revelation of God, denied the promise had ever been made, denied the prayer was ever answered. She could have turned back to embrace the polytheistic idol worship of her ancestors. She could have sung, "Give me that Old Time Religion, Give me that Old Time Religion. It was good enough for Terah, it's good enough for me."

She could have embraced the religious fads of her day. She could have followed the star-gazing astrologers, or turned to the fertility cult of Baal. That is the option many choose. Multitudes of people are turning to other gods today, following Shirley McLaine into the new age with all its self-help books and religious smorgasbord.

She could have opted out completely, letting her disappointment and heartache turn to self-pity. She could have rejected God and the things of God, descending into a kind of apathetic cynicism.

But Rebecca chose none of these options; rather she turned to God and the Lord answered her. Look at verse 23:

The Lord said to her, "Two nations are in your womb and two people from within you will be separate. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."

This answer is not simple, but neither is life. Here Rebecca comes face to face with the harsh reality of faith. To be chosen of God involves both a blessing and a burden.

Rebecca will be the mother not of one child but of two. Yet these brothers will war against one another. Rebecca will be the mother not of one nation but of two. Yet these two nations will war against one another. This is the price of obedience to God. It involves both a blessing and a burden.

If you are looking for "sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain," you need to look somewhere other than the Bible. The Bible is not a fairy tale or a B-western movie. Read these stories and hear the agony of the chosen of God as they struggled under the burdens of their chosenness. Hear the weeping of Jeremiah, the suffering of Job, the heartbreak of Hosea, the anguish of David, the anger of Amos, the pathos of Peter, and the pain of Paul.

To be chosen involves both blessing and burden. The blessing comes in some mysterious way as we carry the burden. It is in the bondage of Egyptian slavery that the nation of Israel is born. It is in the heartache of a marriage gone bad that Hosea experiences the grace of God. It is in a Roman dungeon that Paul proclaims the Gospel in its purest form. Do I need to remind you of those strange words from the Hebrew epistle concerning our Lord? Remember what the writer said, "For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross." It is in carrying the burden that we receive the blessing.

Will you permit me to return to say another word about Jim and Laura? A couple of years had passed since the death of their daughter. There were a few couples sitting around talking. Someone in the group said, "You know, Jim, life is hard to understand. We thought that Laura's pregnancy was an answer to prayer, but it turned out to have been a terrible tragedy."

Laura reached over and took Jim's hand. They looked at each other and smiled. And Jim said to his friends, "That was no tragedy. Our Susan was a blessing sent from God. We would not trade one single day of those six years for anything this world has to offer."

To be chosen involves both a blessing and a burden, and it is in the carrying of the burden that the blessing comes.