Genesis #22: The Blessing - A story everyone needs to hear

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

We saw God at work in the life of Abraham and Sarah as they sought to live into God’s promise.

Now, working our way through Genesis, we see how the generations to follow Abraham live into becoming a blessing to, as the scripture said, a blessing to all the families of the earth.

Today, we look at Genesis 24. It’s a familiar story to many of us, but even so, I encourage you to read the whole thing today. We aren’t going to read it in our time together… it is the longest chapter in the book of Genesis… but we will read portions of it together. I really encourage you to read the whole thing.

I’ve heard it said that the OT is the NT concealed and the NT is the OT revealed. What that means is that the pages, the stories, the point of the OT, is to direct the reader to Jesus. Not just our need for him, but that we would see him… if only vaguely.

Where in the NT, we see it clearly calling back, pointing us back to the OT. Saying see… this is what they meant when… this or that.

For instance, in our story of Abraham and Sarah. Their story reached it’s pinnacle when Abraham took his son up the mountain of the Lord to sacrifice him. And God intervened and gave him a new sacrifice and reminded him of the covenant.

I don’t know about you but in our small group we talked about how that story was filled with parallel’s to the crucifixion of Jesus. The father taking the son’s life, the son trusting the father completely, the son carrying the wood for the sacrifice to the altar. On and on, the story pointed us to the crucifixion of Jesus.

Here again, we have gospel archetype.

Only this time it is of Pentecost. You know when God sent the Holy Spirit to fall upon the disciples in the upper room. Filling them with power to live out their calling to go and make disciples, preparing the church for a promised life as the bride of Christ.

That’s what we see here. The father sending out his most trusted servant. Giving him all he needs, even spiritual favor, so that he can go out and find the one who will come back and be a faithful bride for his only Son.

As we work our way through the story, you may find other breadcrumbs that lead you down toward Jesus… and you should because the OT tells us what to expect in Jesus.

But the stories of the OT don’t just tell us what happened, they don’t only tell us about Jesus; the stories of the OT also tell us about ourselves and the part we play in this grand narrative of God.

But today, where do we fit in the story? Who is the God using to teach us today? Abraham is important, but he’s not the point. Isaac is important, it’s aobut his wife for goodness sake, but he’s not the focus. Rebekah is certainly a main character, but only to give us context. The main character in the story today is the servant. We don’t even know his name.

Verse 2 tells us that it is Abraham’s senior servant. It could be Eliezer from back in chapter 15 maybe. The one who was to be Abraham’s heir before Isaac came along.

Could have been, and if so, imagine how he felt you would feel, called by your master to help the one who displaced you. A little jealous? probably? Let’s see how he responds.

It begins with a passage we actually read last week as we saw Abraham recognizing his own mortality and beginning to look out for Isaac’s. He calls his senior servant in, his most trusted, the one who has proven himself faithful and gives him the task of finding a wife for his son.

Calling - Genesis 24:1-10

I don’t hear anything but willing devotion.

Abraham asks him to place his hand under his thigh and swear an oath. This sounds strange to us. It gets more strange when you do a little digging.

The “thigh” was simply a euphemism for the male organs of procreation… as though he says, swear on the lives of my children, my grandchildren, on my family name, that you will do this. For Abraham it was, swear on the promise of God.

Could have just said that I guess. But now you will never forget it and neither will the servant for sure.

Go to my homeland and get a wife for my son. Now I checked on a map, it’s about 500 miles from where Abraham was in Hebron to where he was from in Haran what we know of as northern Syria. 500 miles on a camel who would put in about 20-25 miles a day. This was a 3-4 week journey. Which is why he had 10 camels loaded with supplies and of course the dowry for the brides family.

An awesome calling. And he even gave him an out, saying that if she wouldn’t leave her family and come back with a stranger, then he was released from the oath. God would help him find her, but the decision was ultimately going to be hers.

That’s the thing that reminded me of how we fit in this story.

We are the servant of God and I think we can see some lessons her as to our calling. This is a short course on evangelism.

You see, we are called to invite people to faith, but what if they don’t respond? That’s up to them as well.

Through the rest of this text, I found some other lessons for us as we answer the call of our heavenly father to go.

Can you imagine what’s happening over this 3-4 week journey? He’s probably thinking, how in the world am I going to find the right one? Oh yea, God’s angel will lead me. How does that happen? Where are you leading me?

I just want to stop a moment and say, God led him as he was on the way. He didn’t sit there and say, God show me … answer me… bless me .... no he began what his master told him and along the way, God led him.

That is for some of you today I think. You may be waiting for what God is going to do in your life, in your business, in your family, in your marriage, in your church, and nothing’s happening… because you aren’t on moving.

When I learned to drive my grandfathers GMC, we kids would go out and sit in there for hours pretending to drive. It was almost impossible to turn the wheels on that old truck while it was parked.... it didn’t have power steering. But once you got it moving even a child could steer it.

The direction of our lives doesn't change while we are sitting still.

Expectation - Genesis 24:11-14

So after 3-4 weeks of travel, where did God lead him?

Verse 11 tells us to the wells outside the city in evening time when the young girls would come.

Isn’t how God works. When he calls us to share our faith, he begins to move us to enter the lives of people who need to hear.

You may find yourself surrounded by people needing hope because they have failed to succeed on their own; they need to hear that your hope is alive because of what Jesus has done.

You may be around some folks who claim to be Christians yet get caught up in complaining because they need to be reminded that He is their joy.

You may be surrounded successful yet empty people who actually need to hear that there can be real meaning to life.

You may be around some anxious people who need peace.

Look what he did. He expected God to guide him. God led him to the right place; where the women would be. And when he got there the first thing he took the right posture; prayer.

He didn’t say… boy oh boy, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel… I can’t lose now… my master is going to be so happy with me.

No he remained expectant. Expecting God to be at work, not just in getting him here, but in showing him who to approach.

This is how we use wisdom in sharing our faith.

Just like the servant here. Being faithful to his calling, he expected God to guide him.

And now he would look for God to give him confirmation. To make clear the next step.

That was what he prayed for, and now God provides the confirmation he was looking for.

Confirmation - Genesis 24:15-21

Genesis 24:15–21 NIV

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.” “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

Exactly what he prayed for.

Now for a minute on prayer like this. What was the miracle here?

Did God MAKE her do what he had prayed? I don’t think so.

I think, and I could be wrong here. That God shaped the servant’s prayers. God inspired his words in the prayer, knowing what she would do and who God wanted to be Isaac’s wife, God’s spirit told the servant what to pray. The spirit is at work in everyone here you see.

Before he finished praying… God was already at work.

She was beautiful for sure… but more importantly she had a servant’s heart.

What do I mean.

I’ve read that camels can drink up to 20 gallons of water. there were 10 of them; that means she volunteered to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth over and over to fetch up to 200 gallons of water.

I don’t know about you, but when our daughter was a teenager, it was tough to get her to fill a dog’s bowl of water.

Rebekah had a servants heart for sure.

Now I’ll be honest that verse 21 sounds strange at first… that he just watched her getting all this water. But that’s not what he was watching.

He was looking for confirmation that God was at work.

That should be our approach when it comes to sharing our faith.

Let me assure you, very few people are looking for messages from God. But God has prepared some to hear from him. Instead of just blasting everyone we know with how they ought to turn to Jesus… and that is the truth by the way… we would be better witness if we sought confirmation from God that the timing and message are appropriate… is this the right person?

Once you are committed to the call, ask God to make it clear.

The other day I felt God telling me to go to the grocery store that someone there needed to hear about him. I went, got donuts and the store was empty… except for one woman at the register. We had a great chat and I invited her to church… nothing more than that, because I didn’t feel any more than that was necessary.

My point is, make sure you are willing to answer the call, expecting God to be at work, that you look for confirmation. If you aren’t willing to do the work, you will never see opportunities.

I know because I’ve been there.

I’ve prayed, lord show me people who need to hear your message of hope… all the while knowing I wouldn’t share it. and you know what… I never saw it.

Will you share Jesus?

If you will, he will confirm it.

Then you can begin to establish the groundwork.

Look at the servant’s next step

Patience - Genesis 24:22-33

Genesis 24:22–33 NIV

When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.” Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring. “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.” “Then tell us,” Laban said.

10 shekels of Gold. Now that’s about $10k. Impressive for sure.

The problem is that too often Christians get bad wrap for beating people over the heard with the bible because we don’t start out this way.

the Servant could have said immediately, I prayed for you and God wants you to come to Hebron with me to marry my master. Will you come?

You have a drinking problem. You know that’s a sin and Jesus wants to set you free.

To the one who stresses.... you know that Jesus brings you peace, what you need to do is surrender to him

No, the servant is patient, he looks to build a relationship with Rebekah, some good will. he’s not buying her, he’s blessing her for her servant’s heart. He asks about her father’s home that he might continue the conversation. It’s obvious God is at work here. This is not the time to rush, this is the time to listen, to Rebekah, to her family, and to God… so he pray’s.

Praising God for leading him!

Then we see Rebekah runs to her mother. and her brother, seeing the jewelry, returns to see this man and show him the way.

When they get back, before they eat or care for themselves, the servant tells them the whole story. He doesn’t leave anything out. He shares what his master had called him to do, what he did, he even shared his thoughts and impressions, how God was speaking to him along the way.

My Story - Genesis 24:34-54a

I’m not going to read it all as it’s a long passage, but

His presentation isn’t just the story of how His master came about and his journey. It’s about how God has been at work in the whole process. From the time God called Abraham to leave his family until when Abraham called the servant to this task. All along the way God has been leading this thing. God is in charge. And God has led him to Rebekah to be the source of blessing for the world.

Quite an amazing story that he has to tell, but he waits until the very end to show them the gifts he has brought them.

This is a beautiful picture of how we might share our faith with others.

We commit to the call; we expect God to lead us to the right person in need of what we have to share; we wait until God has confirmed our expectations; then we simply tell the story. Tell our story about what God has done in our lives and what he promises to do in the lives of everyone who believes and follows him.

You see, when we share our faith, we needn’t get caught up their issues so much. We can’t really help people with that. God changes hearts.

People know their lives, their “issues”. What people need to hear is how God createed them, loves them and is looking to bring meaning to their life, to set them free from the things that bind them. That God has an eternal purpose for them. What faith makes possible.

Faith in Christ isn’t about stopping all our sins… it’s about entering into a relationship with the God who created you and loves you.

Understanding that once he moves in, he starts “rearranging the furniture”.

In our story with the servant, his presentation is convincing. Everyone seems happy and ready to follow God’s plan.

Invitation - Genesis 24:54-59

The next morning though, the family isn’t so sure about sending their Rebekah off 500 miles away with a stranger.

So they suggest we take more time.

The servant doesn’t fall for it.

He knows nothign is going to change in 10 days. It’s clear that Rebekah is the one, the question is, will she say yes.

This was his concern in the beginning remember.

So the family says, lets ask her.

Genesis 24:58 NIV

So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said.