God Plans the Way

Earlier this week, I left my house a little before 6:00 am to go exercise. It was a bit foggy, but nothing too difficult. I worked out for close to an hour, but when I left, the fog was worse. Way worse. Have you ever driven through fog so thick you can’t see two inches in front of you? The fog was so thick that I almost pulled in to someone else’s driveway!

Life can feel that way sometimes. You can see where you want to go on the horizon. You set your sights on it. You start moving toward it, but then the fog comes down. It clouds your vision. What used to be clear is now a haze. It is in those moments we can question whether we are making advancements in the right direction. We need the fog to lift so we can see clearly.

As we continue the journey through the book of Genesis, we come to a story of great risk. A man is sent out on a mission but without crystal clear guidelines. How is he going to know when the job is done? How does he know how to do the job right?

Genesis 24:1–9 NASB95

Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way. Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he owned, “Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land; should I take your son back to the land from where you came?” Then Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there! “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. “But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this my oath; only do not take my son back there.” So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

This servant is given an assignment. But just because he is given an assignment doesn’t mean that he has everything planned out ahead of time. What we are going to do today is examine this story and see how God provided for him, and how he provides for us today.

If you are going to be an effective witness, you will need to remember three truths we can draw from this story.

God has a design for your life.

Abraham was getting old. He was coming to the end of his life. Like any parent, what he wanted to see was his children taken care of. What does every parent want from their children? Grandchildren! What is required for grandchildren? A spouse! IN this case, a wife for Isaac. So this is a continuation of the fulfillment of promises, but it is also the fulfillment of every parent’s dream. So, Abraham calls one of his servants and sends him on a mission: Go find a wife for my boy. But not just any wife, go back to where I came from and look for one there among my own people.

Why is this? The Canaanites are corrupt. God brings judgment upon them many hundreds of years from now. Israel had a long history of marriages between other nations and it didn’t work so well for them. This is not about interracial marriage. This is about faithfulness to the God of Abraham. Abraham knew if Isaac was to marry a Canaanite woman, the probability of him continuing to follow God while simultaneously being influenced to follow other gods would be very low. So, Abraham sent his servant on a mission to find a wife for Isaac from Abraham’s own people.

You need to know that this chapter is not an allegory for the Christian life. But if we are to see ourselves in this story, we are the servant. Our master, or Savior, Jesus Christ, has sent us out on a mission. Abraham had a plan. He knew what he wanted for his son. He sent the servant to go execute that plan. From before time began, God knew one day you would be born. He also knew that one day you would hear and respond to the gospel. He knew that you would become his child. Therefore, he also knew he was going to have a plan for how you should live your life based on this relationship.

God has a design for your life. He is in the reconciliation business, that is, the restoration business. He is restoring everything to its original design. You and I were not meant to live like this. When God created the world, everything was very good. Everything worked in harmony. There was no separation between God and man, no natural disasters, no sickness or disease, no suffering of any kind. He is in the business of restoring us and the world to its original state.

When you need fuel for your car, you don’t grab a scoop of dirt and shove it in the tank, do you? When you grow a garden, you don’t water it with gasoline , do you? Of course not. Those things have to be used for their intended purpose to be effective. You are no different. If you want to be effective, you need to operate according to your design. God designed you, so you get your operating instructions from him.

The servant worked for Abraham. He was not given the freedom to execute Abraham’s plan his way. He was to execute Abraham’s plan Abraham’s way. You were designed. You were designed by God. You will be most satisfied in life when you learn to operate according to that design.

He will supply every need for that design.

Since you are designed by God, and he has a design for your life, he will give you everything you need for that design. First, we see in verse ten that through the blessings of God to Abraham, the servant has every provision for the journey. He has camels, jewelry, other fine things, food, and water. It’s not explicitly stated at the beginning of the chapter, but this servant doesn’t travel alone. Verse 32 tells us there were others traveling with him.

But God doesn’t just provide necessities for the trip. How is he supposed to know which woman is the right one? He knows where to go, but which one is he supposed to choose? So, he asks for a very specific set of circumstances to take place as the indicator he needs to know which woman to approach.

Genesis 24:12–21 NASB95

He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. “Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.” Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had had relations with her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” She said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink. Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

Don’t you wish it always happened this way? Don’t you wish you could ask God for a very specific sign to know that the next action you take is truly part of his design for your life? But we know it isn’t. In fact, it’s rarely like that. If we look at Abraham’s life, how many documented occurences are there where God clearly showed up and gave him clear, direct guidance for what’s next? The answer is seven. Seven times in 62 years. These are instances in scripture where God showed up in a clear, direct way to provide direction to Abraham. So, it’s rare!

God doesn’t meet the servant’s expectations because he spoke them. God does so because he is gracious, and it is part of the plan for this assignment to be successful. She does exactly what he expects!

No matter where you find yourself today, no matter what stage of life you are in, what if you already have everything you need to do what God wants you to do? You may not have everything for the bigger vision, but you have everything you need to do everything God wants you to do right now. You don’t need to wat for a sign. If you are, let this be it. You already have everything you need to take the next step.

If you’re unclear on what God wants you to do or how he wants you to do it, those are the conversations I love. Let’s get together and talk about how you can get clear so you can get moving.

But that brings me to the next point...

When God gives the signal, be ready to move.

I love this story. It is a super long chapter, and much of it is this man retelling the story to Rebekah’s brother Laban. I think my favorite verse is verse 21.

Genesis 24:21 NASB95

Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

The guy just got everything he asked for and he’s waiting. Is this it? He’s not questioning it. It takes a really long time to draw water out of a well for ten camels. They can drink a lot of water! He wants to make sure she finishes the job. But then the camels finish, and the man jumps in and pierces her nose and slaps some gold bracelets on her as a commitment. This is like a marriage proposal by proxy. But the Lord gave him the signal, and he acted.

Have you ever missed an opportunity the Lord laid out for you because you hesitated? I learned the term analysis paralysis a year and a half ago. It means you analyze something to death and never do anything about it. You never take action. The moment I heard it, I realized that was me. God has been spending the last year and a half breaking me of that and it has been HARD! Sometimes it just hurts!

But here’s what I learned. You’re going to fail. But what will you regret more: taking the shot and missing, or never taking the shot in the first place? I regret never taking the shots God lined up for me. I look back now and realize how obvious it should have been, but I hesitated. I analyzed it to death. I never took the shot. Now, I take the shot. I might miss, but I don’t want to live another day without taking the shot. I’d rather try and fail than never try at all.

When God gives the signal, be ready to move. If the door opens, walk through it because it won’t be open forever. What door is God inviting you to walk through? Has he given you clear signs and you are just analyzing it to death? This is your sign.

Disclaimer: This is not a call to be reckless, foolish, or place yourself in a situation that would cause you to be a poor steward of what he has already entrusted to you. This calls for wisdom, but it also calls for action. Do something. What does he want you to do? This is how you get through the fog and set your eyes on the horizon.