“The Least Likely” – FBC Morning Light (1/13/2025)

Well, good morning. I'd like to share some thoughts with you today from Genesis chapter 25. I hope they'll be an encouragement for your journey through the rest of the day. One of the things that strikes me as I read chapter 25 of the book of Genesis is just how typical it is that God chooses the least likely to be his people.

You see this in this passage because, remember, in the story of Abraham, he has two sons. One of them, the firstborn, is Ishmael, and Ishmael is born by the mechanistic workings of Abraham and Hagar, Hagar given to him by his wife, and so forth, Sarai.

And yeah, I mean, it's just kind of a messy thing. But anyway, nevertheless, Ishmael is the firstborn. Isaac, who comes about 13 years later, is the younger. And in this passage in Genesis 25, we read about the prolific offspring of Ishmael.

Ishmael is far more, has a far greater family, larger family, than Isaac does. And so it begins in verse 12, says, this is the genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham's son. And then when you read through this, he fathers 12 princes, and these princes all become, you know, kind of leaders in their own little world.

And all this is going on, while here's Isaac. And what does Isaac have? What does Isaac have? Now remember, Isaac is supposed to be the child of promise. It is through Isaac that God promised he was going to give seed to Abraham and, you know, cause all the nations of the earth to be blessed.

And yet, what does Isaac have? He's married, he's got a wife, but his wife, he's barren. And you read of this in verse 21, it says, Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because he was barren. So Rebecca can't have any children.

Isaac, her husband, is the younger brother of Ishmael, who is, he's just got a bunch of kids and offspring. And so this is quite ironic. And then when, you know, Isaac prays to the Lord and says, Lord give me a son, then yeah, Rebecca gets pregnant and ends up having twins.

And yet the Lord promises that it's the younger of the two twins who's going to be the leader. The older is going to serve the younger. Again, this is just a flip of what one would expect. This was just the opposite of the norm.

The older one is supposed to be the dominant one, not the younger. And yet, this is often the way God works. He chooses the least likely to be his peculiar people. Now, this isn't reserved for the Old Testament.

God Chooses the Least Likely in the Old Testament

This is something that we also read about in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and he says this, You see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, which is what you would expect.

I mean, if you were wanting to foster some global enterprise, of course you would use the prestigious people, you would use people of influence, you'd use the rich and powerful, right? Not God. Verse 27 says, God has chosen the foolish things to the world to put to shame the wise, and God's chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.

So, look around you in your church. How many famous people are there in your church? How many people in your church are truly mega wealthy people? How many of them are academically at the top of the class?

Very, very few in the church as a whole qualify to be in those camps. And why is that? Well, for one thing, that no flesh should glory in his presence. And then this continues and says, but of him in verse 30, are you in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption?

To what end? That as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. So today, as you go through the journey of this day, glory in the Lord. You may not have a whole lot of money, you may not be recognized as famous, you may not be considered the top of the academic class, there may be nobody calling you up for advice and wisdom about how to run the country, but God in his grace has chosen you, and God in his grace has done so for the praise of his glory.

Let's give thanks to him for that today. So our Father and our God, we are thankful that you take such unworthy people as we are, and you redeem us for yourself, for your glory. May we glory in that, we pray in Jesus' name, and for his sake.

Amen. Alright, well listen, have a good day. May the Lord bless you as you go through it.