LIVING FAITH
Genesis 24:1-67
In the days of Abraham the bible did not exist. There were no Sunday Schools, sermons, worship songs. It was just one man getting to know God, believing his promises, following his instructions. This, in essence, is what it means to walk with God.
Even the servant knew Abraham’s God, as he told Laban, “I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.”
When he bowed down and worshiped God after finding Rebekah, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master.” He knew of God’s kindness and faithfulness.
And, humbly, he acknowledged that this God had been personally leading him and watching over him in his journey to serve his Master. “As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” This, he acknowledged, was God’s kindness to him.
Rebekah could not have known much of Abraham’s God. Perhaps some stories of her granduncle who went away to pursue an ideal, a dream, a voice in his head, God? Yet it seems that this God has led this man to her home, to seek her to be a bride for his master’s son. What led her to say yes? A romantic notion? The wealth of Abraham bequeathed to his son? To me it was the intriguing prospect of knowing this God.
When Isaac looked up and saw camels approaching, his life was about to change. We learned of his mother’s death in chapter 23. His father is already very old. As the camels arrive, bearing his future bride and a story of how God had led the servant to her, Isaac finds comfort.
The God of Genesis 24 is your God today. Even more so, with your status as his child because of Jesus Christ, and with the presence of the Holy Spirit in you. Yet did these people have a more intimate knowledge and experience of God than you do? Is your God confined to the pages of your Bible, or is he alive and powerfully involved in your life today?