In Genesis 25 after naming the sons of Ishmael, Abraham’s son through Hagar, who become twelve tribal rulers it says: And they lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them. v. 18. That’s what God said to Hagar while she was pregnant with Ishmael and had run away from Sarah: and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers. Genesis 16:12. We find the word of the Lord coming now to Rebekah, wife of Isaac, when her twins within her were jostling and He said: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. v. 23.

God foretold what would happen while each was still in the womb. I find that incredibly comforting. God knows us intimately. Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ Isaiah 46:8-10.

While God’s purposes will stand we live our lives just as Ishmael, Esau and Jacob (twin sons jostling in Rebekah), and all of us do. And often we live in hostility to one another and yet, incredibly, wonderfully God’s purposes stand in the end.

If God was a tyrant He would force us to do exactly what He wanted; and how often do we see that played out by humans throughout our history and today? We want our will to be done even though that will causes great hurt and harm. Thankfully, it isn’t our will that will stand in the end because we can’t know the beginning from the end for every person who has ever been or will yet be. I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me. Job 19:15-27.

I love Job’s response to God after God spoke to him and his 3 friends. “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:2-6.

These accounts of Ishmael, Esau and Jacob, are in the very first book of the Bible. In the last book…Look I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Revelation 22:12-13. Running throughout the whole Bible is the beautiful thread of God right there in the midst of each of us. He loves us enough to give us this history of us and Him. He knows our beginning from our end. I take such comfort in that. This world may not make any sense and feel like it’s become unmoored….but my Redeemer lives.

My husband and I watched the movie The Railway Man recently. Based upon a true story of British prisoners of war held by the Japanese and forced to help build the Burma Railway during World War II. After being liberated, one man was still held prisoner by his memories of the torture and inhumanity of his captors. Years later he returns to confront one of his captors who was trying to redeem his earlier actions by giving tours of the place that held such horror for so many…including the captors. Initially, he went with the intention of killing his former tormentor; yet found he couldn’t. He returns home. The former captor writes to him and he returns again with his wife and at that reunion, they find forgiveness. No one will be redeemed by the very violence that enslaves us. Only God can redeem and bring healing where deep hurt destroys. How we each of us need that healing. God’s love will bring healing to each of us lifting us out of pain and we will be redeemed…our beginning and our end.