Our daily reflections follow the M'Cheyne Bible reading plan, designed for those who want to read the whole Bible in one year. Each reflection focuses on one of the chapters from that day's readings. Darllenwch rhain yn Gymraeg.
Lord, prepare me to receive your word. Clear my mind and warm my heart. Assure me of your loving purposes for me, and speak into my life today.
There are a few surprises in today’s reading – if not to us, who may be very familiar with it, then certainly to its characters, and its first hearers.
Without an ultrasound scan, Rebekah is in the dark about the twins she’s carrying. Presumably it’s the pain of a particularly troublesome pregnancy that drives her to ‘inquire of the Lord’ (verse 22) and it’s then she discovers she’s carrying ‘two nations’, something that no doubt made more sense when she’d given birth to twins (verse 24).
But perhaps the bigger surprise is the news that the ‘older shall serve the younger’. It should have been the eldest son who inherited the birthright, making him the head of the family. Later in the chapter we read the episode in which this is handed over to the younger twin.
Unexpectedly, God chooses the younger brother to continue the promised lineage. What are the unexpected things you’re facing? What might God have to say in those circumstances?
God, thank you for the attention you pay to our lives. Help me to see the situations and surprises I’m facing as you do. Prepare me to see your perspective on unexpected things that cross my path.
This reflection was written by Helen Crawford, Bible Society's Digital Bible Experience Manager
Read the Bible 
Processing...