Footnotes
†24:22: A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.
Get to know God
God will make all things possible for His promises to come true
Anyone placed in the position of the servant in this story will say the same thing as in Genesis 24:5 because it is so dangerous for a young lady to follow a stranger to go to a foreign land to be the bride of a man she had never seen before! Most likely, Isaac would need to go and woo her. That is the only thing that make sense.
However, in this case, Abraham knew that God had made the covenant and had given the promises that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Abraham had walked with God (Genesis 24:40) and had grown to know that God is a covenant keeping God. On Abraham’s part, he was to believe and ensure that Isaac and his descendants should stay in Canaan to inherit the land. Therefore, however impossible it may seems, for the servant to bring the bride to Isaac, Abraham knew that it will be God who will make all things possible.
Walk with God
This is not a story where we should learn to be hospital to strangers and follow a stranger. This is not a story to convince a young lady to follow someone and put her entire life at risk.
We need to read this story in its entire context about Abraham. This part of the scripture tells us how much Abraham’s faith had been strengthened through his walk with God (Genesis 24:40). What does it mean when Abraham said he walked with God in Genesis 24:40?
We read in Genesis chapter 12 and 13 that Abraham would build altars to worship and call on the name of the LORD. Abraham did not began with great faith like what he was in Genesis 24, he had his fears but he would always call on the name of the LORD — worshiping, praying, believing in the love of the LORD. This is what it meant to walk with the LORD
My child, when you walk with the LORD, He will reveal to you the great plans and blessings He has for your life. Our LORD is God Almighty, supreme ruler of the entire universe. He has every good gift to give us. When He reveals His plans, His calling for you, stand firm in faith in what He promises you. When you stand firm in faith in His promises, nothing is impossible with God. All your decisions should be centered around God’s plan for your life.
Hence, this story is about Abraham standing firm in believing that God will do the impossible to fulfill His covenant. It is not a story to teach about hospitality and accepting naiveness. When you walk with God, God will give you wisdom.
It was God who led Abraham to grow in faith
We read in Genesis chapter 12 and in Genesis chapter 16 that Abraham began as a man who would trust in human reasoning — that he had to protect himself when he went to the Pharaoh and that he had to have his child through a younger woman since Sarah had passed the child-bearing age. However, having walked with the LORD and having experienced the faithfulness and unfailing love of God, now Abraham believed only in God.
He knew that if God had given the covenant, if God had promised that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan, then God would provide a wife without Isaac having to move out of Canaan.
So you see, it was God who led Abraham through the whole journey of growing in faith. This is how God works in our lives too. Everything that God allows to happen in our lives is to lead us through a journey of knowing that He is a God who loves us with unfailing, gift-lavishing love. He is a God who has great plans for our lives, who desires to bless us mightily.
Are you wondering…
How to become a believer?
You can be a believer simply by saying this prayer:
Dear God, thank you for so wonderfully make me and thank you for sending your Son, LORD Jesus to die for me so that I can have the blessed life that you intended for me — a life of leadership and fruitfulness. Now I believe and accept Jesus as my LORD and Saviour. I believe that from this time forth, I am a new creation, I am born again and I have the eternal life that Jesus came to give me. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
