A family is more than a collection of human beings who are blood kin. A family is more than the sum of its parts. It is a living, shaping, powerful unit that teaches us our most important lessons in life. It teaches us who we are, how to act, whom to relate to, and what is important in life.

I like what Chuck Swindoll says about the family: “Whatever else may be said about the home, it is the bottom line of life, the anvil upon which attitudes and convictions are hammered out. It is the place where life’s bills come due, the single most influential force in our earthly existence.” I agree.

A family that has its priorities right has a much better chance of succeeding. As Christians, we need to regularly re-evaluate our agendas and plans for our families in light of what we discover in God’s Word.

What are your priorities in family life? Do you have spiritual priorities? How does your faith relate to your family life? Although we all come to God as individuals, faith is also for the home.

This morning, I want us to take a look at three families in the Old Testament: Isaac and Rebekah, Amram and Jochobed, and Elkanah and Hannah. Form them, we will learn some principles for success in family life.

I. FAMILIES CAN HAVE FAITH IN THE PROVISION OF GOD

our first couple are Isaac and Rebekah
Isaac was living with his father and mother in the land of Canaan

he was the blessed son of promise that God had given to Abraham and Sarah in their old age
but Isaac had grown up, and it was time for him to take a wife

Abraham did not want his son to marry any women of the land of Canaan, so he made arrangements to send a servant back to Mesopotamia to find one of his kinsmen for his son Isaac to marry

Genesis 24:2-4 He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” NIV

A. ISAAC AND REBEKAH TEACH US ABOUT THE PROVISION OF GOD

Isaac discovers that he is going to have to trust that God will provide just the right spouse for him

additionally, he had to trust that God would give his father’s servant wisdom in selecting that woman

don’t ya know that Isaac must have taken his father’s servant aside and said, “Please, please make sure she’s really cute!”

Isaac is going to have to trust that God will superintend all of the circumstances surrounding the selection of his bride

now, I don’t know about you, but I would probably want to be just a little bit more involved in the selection process than Isaac was

but hey, that’s they way they did it back then
Father really did know best

we find that the servant ended up in the city of Nahor in Mesopotamia

God was already there, and He was at work
through an interesting set of circumstances, God answers the prayer of Abraham’s servant and leads him to a young girl named Rebekah,

and she just happens to be related to Abraham’s people

the servant and Rebekah go to her house and he tells her family all about his journey to find Isaac a wife, and how God has answered his prayer

the proposition was made that she return to Canaan to meet Isaac
but now Rebekah had a decision to make

would she trust God and go, or not?
you see, not only did Isaac have to have faith in the provision of God, but Rebekah also had to have faith

Genesis 24:58 “So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said." NIV

well, you know the story – she came back, and there was a great wedding

she and Isaac were married, and they lived happily ever after, right?

well, not quite right
you see, although they had experienced God’s provision, they had another test to face

Rebekah was barren

they have a choice to make – what would they do?
would they try to figure out some human means to get a child?

would they follow the example of Isaac’s parents, Abraham and Sarah, where Abraham fathered a child by Sarah’s slave girl, Hagar?

or would he and Rebekah trust God to fulfill His promise?

ILLUS. I can just hear the conversation that Isaac has with his father, Abraham. I can hear Abraham telling his son, “Isaac, don’t do what your mother and I did. Put it in the hands of our God Jehovah and He shall provide.

the Scriptures tell us that Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, and the Lord answered him and Rebekah conceived

Genesis 25:21 “Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.” NIV

they trusted God for a child, and god turned their faith into His provision
it seems that Isaac and Rebekah had learned to trust God for all things in their family
they had to learn to trust God for one another, so it seemed natural to trust God for their family
and we see that God met them each step of the way

He honored their faith and provided for their need

B. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM ISAAC AND REBEKAH?

we learn that families need to trust God for what they need
the God who knows when a sparrow falls to the earth certainly knows your family’s needs

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes it is hard to trust Him in all things, but I will tell you from personal experience – God never fails us

when you are facing a financial crisis and you do not know where the money is going to come from to pay the bills, you need to trust in the God who provides
when you’re young and wondering about your future, and who your spouse is going to be, and what kind of job you’ll have and where you’ll live, you need to trust in the God who provides
when you find out your job has been terminated, you are out of work and you have not made plans for a change, you need to trust in the God who provides
when one of your children gets into trouble and you are hurt and embarrassed and do not know where to turn, you need to trust in the God who provides
when you are sitting across from the doctor, and he tells you the news is not good, you need to trust in the God who provides

who are you going to trust when those situations arise?

trust in God

“Blessed are they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2:11, NIV)
“Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.” (Psalms 4:5, NIV)
“Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10, NIV)
“As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a shield to all those that trust in him.” (Psalm 18:30, KJV)

you see, the moral of the story is that the More We Depend on God, the More Dependable We Find He Is

II. FAMILIES CAN HAVE FAITH IN THE PROTECTION OF GOD

our second family is Amram and Jochobed

they were the parents of Moses, and this story is found in Exodus, chapter two

A. AMRAM AND JOCHOBED TEACH US ABOUT THE PROTECTION OF GOD

God had blessed Amram and Jochobed with a baby boy

Exodus 2:1-2 “Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.” NIV

in a Jewish home, there was great rejoicing when a male child was born

but there was a very big problem
the Pharaoh of Egypt had decided that since the Israelites were multiplying so greatly, he would kill all the newly-born male children to cut back on the population

what would you do in such a circumstance?

how would you deal with the possibility of having your newborn son thrown into the Nile River to be devoured by crocodiles?
could you have faith in the protection of God in those circumstances?

in spite of the circumstances, Moses’ parents chose to hide him

they chose to believe God, and to have faith in God’s protection

if they were found out, no doubt severe penalties would have been imposed upon them and Moses would have been killed

they had to have a faith that would overcome fear

and this is precisely the kind of faith they had

Hebrews 11:23 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

their faith overcame their fear

they trusted in God to make a way for their son, and God turned their faith into His rotection

we are ll familiar with the story of how they placed Moses in a basket and set it afloat on the Nile, trusting in the protection of God

and God’s protection was there – God guided that little basket down the river, straight into Pharaoh’s daughter’s arms
not only did God protect Moses, God gave him a palace to live in
he was raised with the finest education Egypt could provide, and with all the privileges of being a member of the Royal family
God was there with His protection

B. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM AMRAM AND JOCHOBED?

they trusted God to take care of the son He had given them, and God made a way for him
you must learn to trust God with all that you have

you need to trust Him with your spouse
you need to trust Him with your finances
you need to trust Him with your children

ILLUS. From a human perspective, it is difficult at times to trust God with those people or things so very close to us. From the anxiety of a mother sending her child off to school on that first day, to the fears of a father entrusting his precious daughter to her husband, the challenge is to have faith. But the nature of faith is to trust God, not only for ourselves, but for others as well. Martin Luther said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. It is so sure and certain, that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

trust God with what you have – especially your children

III. FAMILIES CAN HAVE FAITH IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

our third story is about Elkanah and his wife, Hanna

Hannah teaches us to trust in the providence of God

providence is the unceasing activity of God whereby, in His overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds his people and guides and governs all events, and circumstances, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for his own glory

A. THIS IS A STORY OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

Hannah, like Rebekah in our first story, was unable to have children, but she ached to have a child – especially a son

she saw other people’s children and it broke her heart that she had not been blessed with any of her own
he husband loved her and tried to make life as easy for her as possible

the picture 1 Samuel gives us of Elkanah is that of a concerned husband who understood and cared deeply for his wife

it is a beautiful picture of gentleness and compassion
but in spite of her husband’s sympathy and understanding, Hannah was greatly distressed

like Isaac and Rebekah, Hannah decided to trust God for His provision

and so she came to the Temple and she prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly, and she made a vow and said,

“. . . O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.” KJV (1 Samuel 1:10-11)

Hannah trusted God, and God answered her prayer

God gave her a son and she named him Samuel

but I want you to notice here that she not only trusted God for a son, but she trusted God to use her son, who was yet unborn

in her prayer, she promised God that if He would give her a son, she would give that son back to Him
and that is precisely what she did
after Samuel was weaned, she took the boy back to the Temple of God

don’t you know that had to be a terribly difficult vow to fulfill?

but because she did fulfill her vow, God turned her faith and faithfulness into His providence for Israel
you will recall that God used her son, Samuel, to become a great prophet in Israel

God used him, at a strategic time in the history of that nation, to turn them back to God
and it was all because of hannah’s faith and faithfulness

B. WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HANNA?

we learn to have faith in the providence of God, and to trust God to use what you give Him

you see, we must not only trust God for what we need, and trust God with what we have, we must trust God to use what we give Him

the critical question this morning is: What have you given Him?
you see, God cannot use what we do not give Him

2 Timothy 1:12 “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” KJV

God is able to guard and to use only what we have entrusted Him with – including your life

if you trust Him with your finances, He can use them not only to meet your needs as a family, but also so that His kingdom work can be advanced
if you trust him with your work and career, He can use that to be an example to fellow workers of how a Christian responds to the pressures of the marketplace
if you trust Him with your marriage, He can use it to teach your kids what Christian family life ought to be; how Christ can be the head of the home, and two people can love and relate to one another in spite of the pressures of life
if you trust Him with your life, He can use you to share the good news to a watching world, of what a difference the forgiveness of Christ can make in a human life

make an offering today, of your life to God, and trust God to use what you give Him

Through these three stories, we see the powerful principles that God lays down to guide the Christian family.

Isaac and Rebekah trusted God for one another and for a son. They had faith in the provision of God. The lesson is to trust God for what you need.

In the lives of Moses’ parents, Amram and Jochobed, we see faith overcoming fear. We see faith in the protection of God. The lesson is to trust God with what you have.

Finally, in the life of Hannah, Elkanah’s wife, we see faith in the providence of God. Not only would God give her a son, God would also use her son in His service. The lesson here is to trust God to use what you give Him.

May our families also reflect these principles of faith.

Families of Faith