Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. — Genesis 25:21
Isaac prayed for his childless wife Rebekah, and she then became pregnant. It wasn’t as easy as it might sound. In fact, Isaac and Rebekah had been praying for this for nineteen years! Now, after nearly two decades of waiting, their prayer was answered. This was a prayer marathon, and it was no easy sprint to the finish line.
This is so inspiring because this is often how prayer works in our own lives. Sometimes, we pray to God, and our prayers are answered immediately. But, often, we don’t get an instant response to our prayers. It’s easy to give up after praying for the same thing over and over again. The powerful lesson that we learn from Isaac and Rebekah is that we must press on and keep praying. The very next prayer may be the last one—the one that opens the door.
The Hebrew word that means “to pray” can also mean “to dig.” This is because praying can be like digging. Praying hollows out a tunnel between us and what we are praying for. Just because we haven’t reached our goal yet, doesn’t mean that we haven’t made progress—we’re just not there yet.
I encourage us all to keep praying, no matter how long we’ve been praying or how impossible our situation might seem. According to tradition, Rebekah was physically incapable of having children. Yet, after nineteen years of prayer, of digging through the impossibilities, God made a way for her to give birth to twins.
Friends, we must pray and pray again. Some things require only a few prayers, and some require many. Keep digging through until your breakthrough.
