Rebekah’s Story Makes Me Wonder If Mistakes Part Of God’s Plan?

Mistakes and God’s Plan

My seven year old daughter loves to color, draw, and paint beautiful pictures. Even more so, she loves giving her paintings and drawings to those she loves. If she is painting a picture at our house and makes one little mess-up, she immediately gets upset and wants to start all over with a blank sheet. Her one little mistake she made on her picture wouldn’t have changed the fact that I still would have hung it up on the fridge and admired it all the same. 

Mistakes aren’t fun, mainly because they aren’t ever part of the plan. I don’t typically start projects and think, “Boy, I sure hope I mess something up!” Mistakes can cause messiness, drama, hurt, and change the whole plan, but thankfully we serve a God who can actually redeem our mistakes. I fully believe God anticipated our mistakes from the beginning, but thankfully He had a plan. 

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, 

for those who are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:28

All throughout scripture, we see story after story where God makes promises to his children who become impatient, make mistakes, doubt God, try to take control themselves, and God’s plan still prevails. I am not saying God loves when we make mistakes, but nothing can thwart His plan for our lives because He is a good and perfect God.  

“For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? 

His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”

Isaiah 14:27

Rebekah’s Story and God’s Redemption

One woman’s story in particular shows God’s beautiful redemption no matter what the cost. The story of Rebekah. This is a story about a woman whom God promised would bring forth two nations from her womb through both of her sons, Esau, & Jacob. God told Rebekah that the younger brother would serve the older. When reading the story of Rebekah in Genesis, we see a lot of deception, lies, and mistakes that are made, especially on Rebekah’s part. 

Genesis 25:28 tells us that Rebekah loved Jacob and favored him over Esau, her eldest son. Later on, we see in Genesis 27, that Rebekah finds out that her husband who is old in age and not in the best health is going to give a blessing to Esau instead of Jacob. This causes Rebekah to devise a plan in order to trick her husband who is practically blind by making her youngest son scheme against his father to receive the initial blessing. Phew!! That is a lot to take in! Of course, things don’t go too well when Isaac and Esau find out they were deceived. 

Because of Rebekah’s mischievous plan, this causes some family drama and Jacob had to flee to another land because his brother wanted to murder him. “Thanks mom!” Rebekah faced some dilemmas throughout this story, and she made plenty of mistakes like deceiving her husband. God’s promise still stood. And Esau eventually forgave his brother many years later. 

God’s Redemption

Like Rebekah, we too can face dilemmas in life, and can make the mistake of not trusting God’s plan out of worry or fear. Maybe God has made promises to you but the direction your life is going may cause doubt and uncertainty. 

I often question God by asking, “Is this really your plan? Are you sure? Do I need to take matters into my own hands?” This can lead to a much messier path and cause more mistakes and hurt just like Rebekah’s story. I encourage you sisters to keep your focus on Christ, learn from your mistakes, and allow God to redeem those mess-up moments in your life. Keep seeking after Him and allow Him to direct your path. God’s purpose and plan will prevail. 

“Forget the former things; Do not dwell on the past. 

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; Do you not perceive it? 

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” 

Isaiah 43:18-1

Kirstyn Doughty

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