For When Obedience is Confusing

Photo by Gleren Meneghin on Unsplash
​Have you heard the refrain, "I just worry about what it is going to be like for you kids in the future." It's a lament that flows from my own mouth now that the weight of parenthood sits on my shoulders. We just want the next generation to be ok, and if you happen to be in that generation, you just want things to be ok, too! 

In this chapter, we have such a beautiful slice of life in Abraham's family. So far in Genesis, we have only seen Abraham go through these supernatural problems and triumphs. Abraham was sent on this unknown journey into the wild, hundreds of miles away from anything he knew. In the next chapter, his lying is bringing down and entire country with sickness. The next chapter has him taking his personal army to go rescue his nephew from a coalition of pagan kings. After that, God Himself comes down and makes a covenant right in front of him. After THAT Abraham finds himself in the middle of a squabble between his two wives, and then after THAT Abraham has lunch face to face with God, and then after, after THAT God supernaturally gives Him as son whom he asks Him to sacrifice and then stops him last minute. 

Could we get a normal-sized problem to see how to faithfully work through that? 

Have you ever worried about the next generation? Have you ever worried about your own future? Well, Abraham has gone through that, too. So let's take a look at how Abraham (but mostly God) works through passing the torch. 

Obedience is practical yet not presumptuous.  

Let's look at this first section of nine verses. Abraham is coming to the end of his life. He has enjoyed, land, seed, and blessing, but he isn't the only one prophesied to enjoy these blessings. He is going to pass them down to his son, but his son is going to need a wife. As much as possible, Abraham is going to set the stage for this promise to continue. Summoning his best servant, Abraham relates his most important assignment yet: go back to the homeland and find a wife for Isaac. 

Imagine the pressure on that servant! Put yourself in his shoes. The future of Abraham's legacy (and the blessing for the rest of the world!) is now in your hands. Would you not start to think through what might go wrong? The servant does exactly this, and offers practical solutions like bringing Isaac with him. However, Abraham is going to take the trusting route. Leaving the land isn't an option. God has assured Abraham in some way that the servant's way is going to be provided for. 

While Abraham is obedient, he is not presumptuous (Matthews, 328). Maybe by the angel going before the servant, God means for the search to go on for some time. Perhaps God is going to do something that Abraham couldn't possibly plan for (it has happened before!), so in that case, as long as Isaac stays in the land, the servant will have done faithfully. The servant swears to this arrangement by placing his hand under Abraham's thigh (a symbol of Abraham's position of procreative "source of the family" as pointed out by Matthews, 326). 

The servant sets off on his journey and comes to a well. The servant is being strategic here, as this is the place where the ladies gather. Just because we have an assurance that God is going to prosper the mission, doesn't mean that we can go about it sloppy and careless. He is looking for a woman of character. He begins to pray, and I want you to notice how he goes about praying for who to choose amongst this sea of ladies. He asks the Lord that the woman of character would show herself by having her act like a woman of character (Ross, 419). 

You will notice that he doesn't pray that she would wear a certain color, or that she would walk up and say, "The Lord caused me to dream about you, and yes, I'll be Isaac's wife." Those sorts of things happen very rarely even in the Bible! God has given to us what we need in the wise application of His Word. Prayer is not meant to turn God into a Magic Eightball. He has given to us the guidance we need—He wrote it down! We don't have to be airy-fairy mystics wandering around waiting for writing in the sky while the writing sits in the book in our lap. As Dr. Ross put it, "God's will cannot be divined but may be discerned by those who prayerfully and righteously fulfill their covenantal obligations." (422). In other words, use what God gave you, a Bible and a brain. 

You'll notice also the restraint of the servant. Here comes Rebekah, and she says the line! She is ready to water the camels—all ten of them! He watches and waits. There is still the matter of her needing to be a relative of Abraham's. He doesn't know if she will fit this requirement or not. One scholar put it this way, "He is hopeful but not presumptuous, not outpacing God's timing." (Matthews, 335).

However, when the will of the Lord is revealed, the servant is exuberant, and he responds in worship. He praises God for His steadfast love, His always and forever, never-giving-up kind of love. It is clear that God is playing the long game. God's love is not a here today gone tomorrow sort of love. It is going to extend even unto the next generation. 

The same is true for you. God isn't just building the kingdom in your life. God's steadfast love is going to extend to the next generation, too. What will that look like? I don't know. Isaac's life was not exactly the same as Abraham's life, and Jacob's life was not the same as Isaac's life, and Joseph and Judah had very different lives than Jacob, yet God advanced His kingdom through them all. Even "In this story the Lord achieves his purposes through the loyal but cagey servant, the ambitious Laban, and the respectful but independently minded Rebekah." (Matthews, 322). The key in all of this is that the servant is trusting God to work through all these things. 

God will guide to His ends 

What is funny, though, is that God is firmly in the background on this whole story, yet His handiwork is unmistakable (Ross, 415). And that is what the servant attempts to convey as he takes on the second hurdle of his mission: convince the family to let Rebekah go. 

Convincing the family to let their daughter go doesn't seem to be any easier back then than it is now. They love their daughter, and she is obviously a very capable and willing help around the house. It is going to need to be clear that God is the one calling Rebekah, hence this long report in the middle of our chapter. The servant needs to make this very clear that God is the one behind this (Matthews, 339). 

He isn't only convincing the family; he is also convincing us. We have just read all that God has done to lead things just so, and the way that Jewish writing emphasizes something is by repeating it. We are meant to walk away from this story saying, "Ok, ok! God is obviously moving in this situation!" The covenant is advancing! It is going to beyond Abraham. It is so clear that even her family sees it. 

We have the advantage of being on this side of the story, knowing that it all will work out just as promised. But can you imagine the tension in the room with that servant? This is THE ONE for Isaac, but if the family or Rebekah herself doesn't agree, what happens next? This servant cares a lot about Abraham and Isaac. This isn't a business negotiation. This is a fight for the future. The same goes for the family of Rebekah. Do we trust this guy? Even after the initial yes, the family ALMOST stopped it by delaying things for ten days (verse 55). Rebekah comes in at the last moment and decides to leave, closing the matter. All that is left to do is meet Isaac and become his wife, which she does. 

This is only the beginning of her story. We have come to the halfway point of Genesis. We will only see Rebekah and Isaac for just a couple of chapters, yet they will provide the pivot point for the rest of the book. Rebekah is going to be a critical link for the next several chapters as her brother, Laban, will provide Jacob's wives, the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel, in the times to come. (Matthews, 322-323). We will be wide eyed at all that is going to flow in the second half of this wonderful book. And as if that weren't enough, we will see that God will carry his promises all the way to the true offspring of Abraham, the Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ Himself. 

God has overcome every obstacle. His covenant shall continue. So what are we to draw from this? Is this chapter meant to be an object lesson that as long as you think through things carefully enough and pray sufficiently that God will guide you towards what you want? No. There were at least three different points at which this trip could have failed. Rebekah could have needed to get home and not acknowledged the servant. The family could have said no. Rebekah could have said no, and none of that was in the control of the servant. He did what he could, but there was a reason that he fell to the ground to worship God when it all worked out. God is the one who gets the credit! 

So when things work out in your life, don't pat yourself on the back. Instead, fall to your knees. We have so much to worship God for in our lives. So many details have to go just so in order for our lives to turn out the way that they do. No one is able to even imagine, much less plan, for every setback or obstacle. Instead, don't settle to just be practical or pragmatic. Be practically obedient. Do what God says in wise ways, trusting and worshiping Him with the results.