Genesis 24:10-14The Message
10-14 The servant took ten of his master’s camels and, loaded with gifts from his master, traveled to Aram Naharaim and the city of Nahor. Outside the city, he made the camels kneel at a well. It was evening, the time when the women came to draw water. He prayed, “O God, God of my master Abraham, make things go smoothly this day; treat my master Abraham well! As I stand here by the spring while the young women of the town come out to get water, let the girl to whom I say, ‘Lower your jug and give me a drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and let me also water your camels’—let her be the woman you have picked out for your servant Isaac. Then I’ll know that you’re working graciously behind the scenes for my master.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
A Servant’s Prayer
Genesis 24:12 New American Standard Bible
12 And he said, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, please [a]grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
Our reading for today opens with Abraham calling his most trusted servant to a special task – to swear an oath to go forth into his homeland and find a wife for his son, Isaac – from those who authentically worship Jehovah God not idols.
The servant makes a vow, gathers his master Abraham’s gifts on his camels and sets out on a journey to find a wife for Isaac from among Abraham’s relatives.
We do not know much about this “senior and most trusted” servant, but we can tell he has truly seen God at work in the lives of Abraham, Sarah, and now Isaac.
Mother Sarah is dead and Father Abraham is old, and he wants Isaac to marry.
Abraham is trying to arrange for a bride for Isaac, but only Jehovah God is the one who will really provide “our success” so that God’s promises are fulfilled.
Before the servant starts any conversations with the young women of the area, he prays to the God of his master and asks God to show kindness to his master.
Success for the servant will come by God’s taking the next step in this mission.
Why is the name of the servant not shared in this story?
Maybe it helps us focus on God as the primary actor in this drama – a servant who prays for success turns not to his own abilities but to the kindness of God.
Not knowing the name of the servant helps us put ourselves in his sandals.
How do we define “success”?
In this case, the servant’s success is the completion of Jehovah God’s mission by the most senior, most trusted servant for his master the Patriarch Abraham.
The master’s success is the ultimate goal of the servant.
Have we prayed the servant’s prayer lately?
Praying Our Great Expectations of God Will Be Met
The major emphasis of this passage is centered on what we might call the cooperation of the Spirit.
This is the missing note in much personal evangelism.
Many men and women have heard the command of God, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation
(Mark 16:15).
Mark 16:14-16 The Message
14-16 Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen him raised up. Then he said, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.
They have recognized this is a command, but then, in their uncertainty, in their “stubborn unbelief” they go out, acting as if all success all depends upon them.
This is where the grim-faced, fever-eyed fanatic comes from, on the one hand and, on the other, the fanatically shy, timid, blushing, flustered Christian who hardly dares to utter a word believing success is that thing they all desire least.
There is a failure to recognize that not only has God commanded us to do this, but he has also provided the Holy Spirit by which we will overcome, to go do it.
This is what we see as the story progresses.
Here is a man, a loyal servant, greatly expecting God to work for our success.
He does not go into this land and say to himself,
“Well now, I guess the success or failure of this whole job is up to me and me alone. I have to find this girl, and how in the world am I going to find “the right one”? And after that, I must somehow persuade her to come. How am I going to do that?”
For this loyal servant of Father Abraham, it is very simple for this man, because he knows within the deepest parts of his soul he is not left alone to do this task.
Hebrews 11:1-2 The Message
Faith in What We Don’t See
11 1-2 The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
An invisible partner is at work, going ahead of him, preparing the way for him.
I wish we would pray to successfully learn this lesson about our own witness.
Jehovah God has not left it to us to do alone.
John 3:16-18 The Message
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
The work of going forth into our own homelands, to pagan lands reaching men and women for Christ is not a matter of human persuasion, but it is a divine call.
Luke 10:1-9 GOD’S WORD Translation
Jesus Sends Disciples to Do Mission Work
10 After this, the Lord appointed 70 [a] other disciples to go ahead of him to every city and place that he intended to go. They were to travel in pairs.
2 He told them, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest his crops. 3 Go! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t carry a wallet, a traveling bag, or sandals, and don’t stop to greet anyone on the way. 5 Whenever you go into a house, greet the family right away with the words, ‘May there be peace in this house.’ 6 If a peaceful person lives there, your greeting will be accepted. But if that’s not the case, your greeting will be rejected. 7 Stay with the family that accepts you. Eat and drink whatever they offer you. After all, the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from one house to another. 8 Whenever you go into a city and the people welcome you, eat whatever they serve you. 9 Heal the sick that are there, and tell the people, ‘God’s kingdom is near you!’
We are called and sent – not just into all of the easiest places as Abraham sent his servant into – with that highest expectation of our own personal success.
As the stark reality of Luke’s narrative plainly puts before us in Luke 10:1-9 we are also summoned and called by God to try and to evangelize even the wolves.
We are also called by God to try and evangelize those who would not even give us the time of day or would offer to sell us us drugs at the point of a revolver.
We are also called by God to go and move and evangelize among those who are marginalized, untouchable, viewed by us as being too far gone even for our God to make even .01% difference, are too deeply inside our own “abhorrence zone.”
Overcoming our “abhorrence zones” thru the intercessory work of Holy Spirit.
Recalling first and foremost John 16:31-33 The Message
31-33 Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”
Jehovah God is the One who is continuously and miraculously at work to move, to overcome hate, to shape, to develop, to transform the lives and hearts of all.
Do you notice how Abraham’s servant does it?
Genesis 24:11-14 Names of God Bible
Abraham’s Servant Finds a Wife for Isaac
11 The servant had the camels kneel down outside the city by the well. It was evening, when the women would go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed, “Yahweh, Elohim of my master Abraham, make me successful today. Show your kindness to Abraham. 13 Here I am standing by the spring, and the girls of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 I will ask a girl, ‘May I please have a drink from your jar?’ If she answers, ‘Have a drink, and I’ll also water your camels,’ let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. This way I’ll know that you’ve shown your kindness to my master.”
First, he prays, revealing his expectation that God is at work.
In his simple prayer he asks God to make the way clear, to indicate the one to whom God would have him speak.
As he prays about his problem, he confidently, greatly, expects God to answer.
This is a wonderful concept to remember when we’re testifying and witnessing.
When I get behind the wheel of my personal vehicle, or go on a cruise ship or go someplace where I may be in contact with someone who doesn’t know the Lord, I try hard to recall to ask God to indicate who is the one He wants me to talk too.
Maybe there is no one; maybe the Lord wants me to spend my time reading or studying and praying and observing all of those neighbors placed into my path.
But very likely He does have someone He wants me to encounter and to engage with at some point in my future – I don’t know with whom God is working, but I know He will certainly direct me through ways of which I am hardly conscious.
“Jehovah, Lead, Guide, Direct my Steps. Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 37:23-34 The Message
23-24 Stalwart walks in step with God;
his path blazed by God, he’s happy.
If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;
God has a grip on his hand.
25-26 I once was young, now I’m a graybeard—
not once have I seen an abandoned believer,
or his kids out roaming the streets.
Every day he’s out giving and lending,
his children making him proud.
27-28 Turn your back on evil,
work for the good and don’t quit.
God loves this kind of thing,
never turns away from his friends.
28-29 Live this way and you’ve got it made,
but bad eggs will be tossed out.
The good get planted on good land
and put down healthy roots.
30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,
rolls virtue around on his tongue.
His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins;
his feet are as sure as a cat’s.
32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous,
he’s out for the kill.
God, alert, is also on watch—
Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head.
34 Wait passionately for God,
don’t leave the path.
He’ll give you your place in the sun
while you watch the wicked lose it.
Master, Creator, make me a servant of your peace. Help me continue to pray and seek for your will to be done on earth, in me, as it is in heaven. In your name, O Jehovah.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 