Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The children struggled together within [Rebekah]; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, September 23, 2026
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God answered Rebekah. Like… literally. It’s pretty rare that the biblical writers accorded this privilege to women, so something really really big is about to happen. And that would be the birth of the kid who would one day be called Israel, and whose own children and grandchildren would become the twelve tribes of that nation.
Rebekah wasn’t thinking about any of that at the moment, of course. She was too busy feeling horrible because the twins in her womb were duking it out like prize fighters in a mud ring and she wasn’t having it. “What on earth is going on in there?” she asks God, wondering if there wasn’t something genuinely wrong with her. God reassures her that (a) she isn’t going to die or lose the pregnancy, (b) she’s having twins, (c) what’s happening in her womb is just the warm-up from the strife that’s going to continue between them for most of their lives and beyond, and (d) oh by the way, I’m going to turn conventional wisdom on its head and choose the younger one to inherit the promise I made to Abraham and Sarah, so, you know, don’t let anything get in the way of that.
If only God would be that explicit more often when we’re trying to understand the obstacles we face or make important decisions. The best we can do is, like Rebekah, be bold enough to ask, and be open enough to accept whatever answer we get, even if its not one we would have chosen. Unlike Rebekah, we’re probably not going to get a direct answer, so it’s critical that we have people in our lives—wise counselors—we can trust with our deepest hurts, questions, doubts, and confusion, so that God might speak to us through them, as God so frequently does.
Who do I turn to for guidance when I’m facing a particularly difficult decision in my life?
