Introduction
Big Idea: In all service, keep a ready eye on God’s providence.
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Well, good morning, family. It is so good to see you, visitors. It's good to see you as well. I love getting to the chance to meet you. And I met some new folks to our church this morning, and that's just such a joy. I would love to meet you after a couple of things as the the plates go out, just a little word of encouragement our our music team has done such a good job this summer. Were you blessed last week by the worship concert, that's good. I think about 16 of the team is at the sing conference as we speak in I believe it's in Nashville, and they're probably inspired. They're probably getting to sing without having to be in charge of singing those joyful things. They're probably getting some hot chicken somewhere, I hope, but pray for their encouragement. Then next week, we've got a series on work, on vocation, God's calling, and work in the world. And through that, we really want to help disciple you in your workplace. All work is God's work. You participate with God in all kinds of work. It's not just preaching, that's God's work or missionaries, it's God's work. All work in the world is God's work, and we want to do it faithfully for him. So we're going to kick off that series next week, a three week series on it as and we'll touch touch on some of those things in growth groups as well. Stand with me for the reading of God's Word. We are going to be in Genesis chapter 24 and we it's 67 verses long. I'm going to read the first 28 verses, and we will hit the highlights of the last number of verses through the points as we go through them this morning. But notice as you read, who the servant, who Abraham and the servant are referring to, as they address God. This is the same God that's in the room, same God who's in the room, same God who is over the heavens and the earth. He is working as well at our time as he was then. Now, Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to His servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had put your hand under my thigh that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of Heaven and the God of Earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son. Isaac, the servant, said to him, perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came? Abraham said to him, See to it 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 kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me to your offspring, I will give this land. He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from his this oath of mine only, you must not take my son back there. So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. Then the servant took 10 of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master. And he rose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, when the time when women go out to draw water. And he said, Oh Lord, God of my master, Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master. Abraham, Behold, I am standing in the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, please let down your jar that I may drink. And who will say, drink and I will water your camels, let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant, Isaac, by this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master before he had finished speaking. Behold Rebekah, who was born of Bethel, the son of Milka, the wife of Nahor Abraham's brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, Please give me a drink, a little water to drink from your jar. She said, Drink, my lord. And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, two bracelets for her arms weighing 10 gold shekels, and said, Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night? She said to him, I am the daughter of Bethel, the son of Milka, whom she bore to Nahor, she added, we have plenty of both straw and fodder the room to spend the night. The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and His faithfulness. Excuse me in his faithfulness, I know water. Say she's going to get water from me. Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about these things. Thank you. This is the word of the Lord
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our God, God of heaven and earth, Lord of all, sustainer of all, the one who is working out sovereign plans according to your good purposes. We do like this servant, worship You. We stand here with open hands, so to speak, wanting to give you praise and thanks for how you work. You have been working from that moment, you are working at this moment, bringing all things to your sovereign ends. And today, we're going to look at how you work in the world, through our labor, through your Providence, and we pray that You would help us be faithful, help us understand what's here and help us put into practice examples that we see. Father, I pray for our team that's in Nashville, being encouraged. Build them up, help them give John and Larry rest as they'll take some vacation and visit family and help them as well, give them a blessed time away. Thank you for the men and women who led us this morning and who continue to do that week in and week out, Father, we pray for you to help us faithfully do our work in the world, giving testimony to all that you do in our lives. And I pray that you would be working across our city various churches and various times to help them faithfully handle your word in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated well today we're going to talk about one of the most mysterious aspects of Biblical faith, our service to God and God's work in the world, how they work together in what theologians have always called providence. Providence, we have real agency. We have motives, we choose, we act. And at the same time, so does God. Through mankind's real agency, God carries everything along according to His purposes. Here we have an unnamed servant of Abraham. Perhaps it's Eleazar from earlier, but it doesn't say here, and he's going to do the work of his lifetime. He's going to find a bride for Isaac, the son of promise. Through his service, we're going to see God give to Abraham the next installment of his great promises on the way to a great nation, on the way to Jesus Christ. He takes the task with solemn responsibility. I'm now, every day, you are called into privileged tasks. You're called by God. You he is our maker, creator, sustainer, king, and he calls us to tasks and your your faith and God's faithfulness in tandem in what shines through this mystery called providence. Jesus uses an analogy in the last chapter of the Bible. Right toward the end of that chapter, Jesus says this about himself, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. For those of you who are new to the Bible, alpha and omega are the A to Z of the Greek alphabet. Jesus started everything. Jesus will finish everything, A to Z, but it means more. He is also every letter in between. I. He is working, and has been working all things according to His plan. John Piper writes this, the providence of God is his purposeful sovereignty by which he will completely be completely successful in the achievement of his ultimate goal for the universe. God's providence carries his plans into action, guides all things toward his ultimate goal and leads to the final consummation. End, quote, Genesis, 24 is one of those chapters where the dynamics of Providence shines bright and clear. It's not filled with miracles per se, but still, it's obvious God is orchestrating all the steps in the process to fulfill his promises. So looking at this, I think of the big idea from the servants perspective, in all your service, keep a ready eye on God's providence. Serve God, trusting his providence. God's providence is what ensures that his plans will always be successful. Since I know kids are here, and this is good for adults too, let's do a little picture time. Picture drawing time. Make I want you to make a block. Arrow pointing sideways. What do I mean? Like a block arrow, you know, make, make a rectangle, and at one end, put a point on it, an arrow. Say, we're going to make an arrow within it. Draw with a pen or pencil the smallest circle that you can not a dot. We're going to save the dots a circle. Draw a little circle, the smallest one that you can that's you small little circle, big arrow. You can draw a handful of other small circles. Other believers. Now draw a whole bunch of x's. Just start drawing x's. You can draw x's. The rest of the sermon, kids give you something to do. Draw x's. Once you've filled it up with x's, draw a dot. Now, use your dots. Okay, believers, you small little dot. God's big plan. The x's those who are opposing God's plan, those who are attempting Satan and his demon, all the people who reject God and God's good plan. They are the x's that fill up the arrow and the dots are all nature, all of nature, fallen nature, glorious nature, all the things that God uses both to our benefit, all of the things of nature that get in our way. All of those together still fulfill God's sovereign plans. That is providence. He uses all those things together to accomplish His will. In the end, it is the demonstration of His sovereignty in the most mind blowing way. And here is an illustration of how God's work unfolds in the world. For your part, all you are called to is the specific commands or calling you have your little circle. That's your job. The rest of the arrow is God's job. And when you get done today, I want you to take on your job full of hope and energy, knowing that God will fulfill His purposes and you will let go what is not in your control, the things that only God can do, the servant has to do this. In this passage, he is called, he is asked to swear an oath. But right away, he's asking the question, but what if she doesn't want to come? Ah, here comes your trust, this servant's trust in God's sovereignty. When you walk out today or you wake up tomorrow, you have a set of privileged responsibilities by your Creator and Redeemer. You have them, and you have promises to hope in commands to obey. So whether you're single or married, a mom or a dad, a sibling, whether you're a boss or a worker, whether you're a teammate, whether you're an artist, a musician, a scientist or a barista, you have, the areas in your life that you're responsible for, and God oversees all of it to his good purposes and ends. So as we walk through this unnamed servant, we're going to look at the stages of. Working with God in His providential work. Working with God, you're going to be given a task. Sometimes you won't see the product of it for decades. Sometimes you see the product of it before the day's out. And here we follow this servant as he fulfills something for Abraham, stage one in you working with God's providence. Commit, commit with an eye on God's providence. Commit with an eye on God's providence. Do what God calls you to do, knowing what belongs to you and also knowing what belongs to God. You just have one of those circles in that arrow. Know what belongs to you and know what belongs to God. This person does it right away. Verse one, it says, Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things that's going to go all the way back to chapter 12, verse one, in which he was promised to enter the land he would live in the land. He would have a nation that would come from him.
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There would they would be as numerous as the stars in the heaven or the sands on the seashore. And God had brought all things but the numerous land, the numerous people he's blessed. He has good relationships with his neighbors. He needs a son. God's providence is unfolding right before Him. Abraham, the story opens up with a with a problem. What's Abraham's problem? He needs a son for Isaac, who's going to carry on the line a promise. So he goes to his trusted servant, the oldest servant in the household, his chief steward, and he makes him swear an oath. It's the most intimate kind of oath a person could swear, and it has everything to do with how God would extend all his promises to Abraham. Look what Abraham says to him, I want to make you swear by the Lord, the God of Heaven and the God of Earth. Who is he supposed to swear by? Who is the witness Yahweh, eternal, self existing, God of heaven, God of earth. He owns and controls all things we are all asked at some level, to serve this great king, recognizing the one who is self existent, and the God over heaven and earth has the power to exercise all his good will. You can trust the one who calls you to do His will. Abraham has some criteria based on God's calling and promises. She can't be a Canaanite. Abraham is certainly aware of the curse on the Canaanites from Genesis chapter nine. He doesn't want the future inheritance to be compromised. There's an indication that the idolatry of the Canaanites is especially infectious as the stories of the Bible unfold. Anybody who intermarries with the Canaanites end up going after their gods wants him to go back to his homeland to find a wife. But will you will go to my country, to my kindred, and take a wife for my son, Isaac. Now the servant asks wisely, what if no woman agrees to come? What if I get there her family won't let her go, or she doesn't agree to come? What do I do? Should I take him to your homeland? No, he is. He is the son of the promise, and he your offspring are to inherit this land. I don't want that compromised either. No, don't do that. And then we see the shift. Because you think in chapter 24 verse 21 the main character is going to be Abraham, but it's not. The main character in this story is the servant, and Abraham now functions as pastor, as teacher, as the guide, the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my Kindred, who spoke to me and swore to me to your offspring, I will give this Land. He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife or my son from there. Abraham has believed the promises of God, and God is fulfilling him. This servant is given a task, saying, you can trust this God. He is going to fulfill his plan. God. But if she is not willing to come, if the right person is not willing to come, you are free from your oath. Abraham has believed the promises. God is fulfilling them. He needs to believe the promises as well. You can't escape. But think this through the one who holds planets in orbit stars and galaxies. He holds hydrogen to oxygen atoms to make water, which is essential to human life. This one is more than capable of providing a wife. When we are called to serve God, we can do it with a degree of optimism. Ephesians, 320, the apostle Paul, talks about his god this way, in praying to Him, who is he who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. Look at how freeing Providence is. God's sovereign work. He calls you to obey. He will promise to give you the energy to obey, the provision to obey, and he will take care of the outcome if the family won't let her go, the woman won't return, he's free. So our commitment is with an eye on God's providence. You don't have to guarantee the other people's responses. You simply have to obey and let God do The Work stage one, commit. Stage two, pray. Pray with an eye on God's providence. Pray according to God's providence. When God gives you a task or calling, we're always in the middle of discovering and participating in his work. You're going to wake up tomorrow morning, you're going to leave this afternoon, you're going to have certain set of responsibilities, and you have no idea what's going to show up in the first hour or the fifth hour. All of that is God's work. You start on the way and right in the middle, you might need to stop and pray, because it's not going according to plan. Even when it does go according to plan, there are so many variables. Look at verse 10, the servant took the 10 of his master's camels and departed. Why is he taking so many well, he needs to impress the family that Abraham's family Isaac will be fully able to take care of a woman he's taking the bride price. He takes the camels, takes all sorts of choice gifts from his master, and he rose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. Here in one verse, we know how much he is taking a lot of wealth, but he travels 700 miles. It's probably a month. And this was the easiest part of the trip, what gets hard is showing up at the city of Nahor Abraham's ancestral homeland, going saying, now what's God going to Do? So the servant prays, has his camels rest, sit and wait, and the servant doesn't know what's next, and he prays, oh Lord, God of my master, Abraham, that's verse 12. Please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master. Abraham, here now the servant is absorbing. He is owning. He is believing all the truths about who God is, the Yahweh, the Ever Living One, the I Am, the all powerful. He is the God of my master, Abraham. He is the one full of steadfast love. And you want to circle steadfast love, it's repeated often throughout the rest of this, because God to Abraham, a covenant to Abraham. And one of the key signs that a person's committed is a perpetual showing of kindness, steadfast love. And this is who God is. He is full of steadfast love and faithfulness. Show it now, God, behold, I'm standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. It's evening time. Let the woman to whom I shall say, please let down your jar that I may drink. And who shall say, drink and I will water your camels, let her be the one whom you have appointed to your servant, Isaac, by this I shall know that you have shown your steadfast love to my master. Remember, this is an this is an emissary for an arranged marriage. He's showing up to a land that he's probably never been to, and it's been many decades. Since the families have spent time together, how is he going to find the one? He comes up with a very appropriate and powerful sign, God, here's what you should do. It was common for the evening for the girls to leave their homes in the city, they would take a three jar, three gallon jar, water pot. They would go to the spring, which had steps carved into it. It could have been a big circle, and they would have run down the steps in a circle, or it could have been into a ravine. But they would go to the spring, they would fill their water. They would put the jar on the water and go the water jar on their shoulder, and they would go back home. It would be normal for a girl to be asked for water from a visitor who had come. And so this was to be a hospitable girl, but more than that, she was to volunteer to feed his camels or to water his camels. Now think of this, watering the camels. A camel could drink 25 gallons at a sitting. There are 10 of them.
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I'll know that this is the one, if she offers extraordinary hospitality. Be normal to give a stranger a drink. It would not be normal to feed all the camels would be exceptionally industrious and kind and hospitable and energetic. She's got strong shoulders like I mean, think, think of all the things he's trying to think of, this would be this kind of person. Would be a good map for Isaac. I don't know a parent that doesn't think through what would be a good match for a child when it comes to marriage. Here's the servant doing this. This would be a person of exceptional character. So he prays very specifically. I know if you're raising your children, they're in your their late teens, early 20s, and they're at a marrying age, and you're thinking about who they marry. This is descriptive, not prescriptive. I love when parents say, I want to see my children married in a biblical way, all right, well, you better get big nose rings and gold arm bands ready. Get your camels ready to travel 700 miles. No, that's this is descriptive. It's descriptive. There are biblical principles of wisdom to help your children get married, but we don't live in a time of arranged marriages. Certainly not go fetch her and bring her back marriages, sight unseen. But in his culture and in his time, this is wise and ambitious praying missionary to India, William Carey was famous for this saying, attempt great things for God, expect great things from God. This is what the servant was doing. He was attempting great things for God. He was expecting great things from God, and he prayed that way. Two other scriptures could help us. Many could here's two for you. First, John 1413, and 14. Jesus is telling his disciples, I want you to pray with great faith. He says, whatever you ask in my name, this I will do that my that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. The in my name is by my authority and according to my will. The servant is trying to discern God's will. In my own life, a sister gets cancer, a brother in the church gets fired. Well, I ask for big things, heal, restore, employ. Ask for big things. I let Jesus sort out what's his will. So ask James one five through six shapes that asking, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him, But let him ask in faith. So commit with an eye to God's providence. Pray with an eye to God's providence, the God of heaven and earth, who sustains and upholds all things, who provides all things, all the way to his design ends according to His promises, he is the God you can pray to and you can trust will provide what you need. Which leads us to the stir third stage, waiting, patiently, waiting, commit, PRAY, WAIT. You have to give time to watch God's will unfold. Now something. Going on in the story, you can tell Providence at work. Look at look at this. Verse, 15 before he had finished speaking, behold Rebekah, who was born of Bethel, the son of Milka, the wife of Nahor. Just so that we're sure that this is coming from Abraham's line, Abraham's brother came out with her water jar on her shoulder. Here comes Rebekah. Verse 16, the young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. So she is industrious, she is attractive, she is pure, and don't you, don't you see it here, verse 15 before he had finished speaking. I don't know how far it was from the spring to her house, but if it was five minutes, God was already providing the answer before he started to speak his prayer that happens all the time. In fact, God moves his people to pray, having in mind how He will fulfill it before they pray it. God has sent Rebecca to fulfill the request. Remember for us, Providence is only detectable in the rear view mirror. Providence is only detectable as you stop in the middle of activity and you look back and say, How have we gotten here? Providence is is discerned over time. God is working. She was beautiful, she's single, she's pure. She spoke exactly as he had prayed. She gives him the water, lets down the jug of water, the jar, and then says, I will, I will water all your camels until they have had their fill. A camel drinks 25 gallons or so. She has a three gallon pot. There are 10 camels she makes. I don't know was that 80 trips down the well. This is a catch. She's beautiful, hard working, industrious and over the top, hospitable. This is the part where we had some funny moments, as Lynn and I were talking about this verse 21 my whole point in waiting the man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not, and which said, I thought this was hilarious. She he let her carry all those jars of water up the stairs. I know as a patriarchal era, actually, it would have been offensive. I imagine you invite somebody over to your house. We want to have you for dinner. So I expect that you show up at 10 for the first cleaning of the house. We're going to vacuum everything, and then stay along the way, because I need to, I need to take that roller thing for the cat hair about four times today, and then I need you to go to the store with me and buy the food and get it prepared. And then you're going to cut the vegetables, and then you're going to marinate and then you're going to marinate the meat, and we're going to get it on the grill. I want you to come over for my to my house for dinner today. You wouldn't do that as a hostess or host, right? You would say, Come over. Here's the meal time, and you wouldn't want them to work. This was hospitality on steroids, but it was hospitality, nonetheless, she would have been offended if she offered hospitality, and then he would have started to help her. It would have been inappropriate, and he is sitting there for all of the trips down the well, knowing two more things need to happen. Her family needs to agree to let her go, and she needs to agree to go. He is waiting intently to see if this is the answer that the Lord has given. This one took a couple of hours, but in the story that we've been watching, God calls Abraham out at age 75 he doesn't have his promised son until he's 100 he waited 25 years obeying God from His first prayer somewhere two years After, in chapter 15, he's waiting 20 some years for his prayer to be fulfilled. Waiting is part of trusting God's providence. We commit, we pray, we wait. I think about every parent in this room or every grand. Parent in the room. You every teacher in the room, teachers. You just started this week. You do good work. You are pouring out knowledge and wisdom for a child's growth, knowledge and development, and it is decades before you know how all this will turn out. We wait. You have a calling for what you do next, and you wait for what God will do next. Commit, PRAY, WAIT along the way, give thanks. Some things happen here. Notice God's answered. Some prayers right away. We give thanks. So often the leaders, I always say the leader's dilemma is always being fixated on what's not done, always being fixated on what has to get done next. Do you live that way? Do you get something done and then you look ahead and I got all this other stuff. That's the leader's dilemma.
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It's the worker's dilemma. This servant stops and he says, already, this is a miracle. The fact that we are this far is a miracle. Verse 22 when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel and two bracelets for her arms weighing 10 gold shekels. It looks like a generous payment for her work. And he says, Please tell me whose daughter you are, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night? And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethel, the son of Milka, whom she bore to Nahor. She added, we have plenty of straw and fodder and room to spend the night. She is just the girl. She comes from Abraham's clan and is just as generous as Abraham. Remember when the angels and Jesus came to visit Abraham, and Abraham was running around as the host, eager to serve. Here is a woman, just like that, and the man bowed his head and worshiped. He just stops and moves to classic Jewish pose, hands up, head bowed, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master, Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and His faithfulness toward my master. He is thanking God that God is fulfilling His promises in His perfect way. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master's Kinmen. He is marveling I've got the right city and the right time. Remember, the easy part was the one month trip. The hard part was getting this that he would find the right family, and he has. Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about all these things, seeing a clear answer to prayer. He asked for lodging. She hears his testimony to the God of Abraham, understanding that she might be swept up in God's sovereign plans this very moment, he gives thanks wherever you are, wherever you are, middle of the day tomorrow, and God has shown you he has provided for you. It's worth Thank You, Lord for bringing me this far. Thank you for answering this far. There's more to come. Stage Five, after giving thanks, give testimony, the servants task isn't over until we get Isaac and Rebecca married. He knows that this is the right girl, but will the family be willing to let Rebecca go? Well, Rebecca had gone, told the family Laban, her brother, who is probably the oldest. We're going to see Laban later with getting brides for Jacob. Laban rushes to the scene. Come in O blessed of the Lord. You have to remember Abraham comes out of Ur of the Chaldees, where they worshiped the moon god. Laban is not likely a solo believer in the one true God. He has probably got many gods that he worships. The Moon God being one, Laban means white, or reference to the moon. So here is a here is a foreigner. Here is a idolater who recognizes. Recognizes the work of the one true God, blessed of the Lord. You servant, God has blessed you come in stay with us. The servant wouldn't even eat the meal that was put before him until he had shared everything that was on his heart and secured the bride for Isaac. So he said verse 34 I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. These are all echoes to 12. 212, three, God is fulfilling the promises, and the servant recognizes it Isaac and Rebecca would be a great match. And he says this because he wants to know whether he should move on and try to find someone or not, someone else or not. He says, Then verse 49 so now, then, if you're going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me, and if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left, I need to figure out what to do next if you're not the one. And Laban and Bethel answered and said, the thing has come from the Lord. We cannot speak to you bad or good. We can't approve or disapprove. This is God's doing. Here we have pagan idolaters recognizing the work of the one true God. And they say, Rebecca is before you take her and go, let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken him, giving clear testimony to God's providence, because he recounts the whole story, the God of heaven, the god of Earth, the God who fulfills His steadfast love, the God who fulfills His promises. The story has a double telling of the very same story, including, here's what I prayed and here's how I got in, here's how God answered. And everybody around was speechless. God is at work.
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Give testimony to what God is doing. I
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Amen, Abram had to wait 25 years. Isaac was now about 40 in 124 hour period God fulfilled the next stage of his promise to Abraham's servant. And God's work can be like that. Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it happens instantly. But serving God is worth it, whether the things unfold fast or slow. Let me say that again, serving God is worth it, whether things unfold fast or slow, trusting his steadfast love at all times is essential, whether he moves fast or slow, whether it takes 23 years to answer Abraham's prayer or two hours to answer the servant's prayer. God's providence in the life of Abraham was aimed at developing Abraham's character. He had one thing for Abraham. God's providence in the life of the servant was for another to get Isaac, a wife. God has different purposes for different people, but all of it moves across the timeline for his ultimate ends, he is the same good and loving God to all commit with an eye to His providence. Pray with an eye to His providence. Give thanks all along the way with an eye to God's providence. Give testimony about what God is doing that you see, finally, smile at God's providence. Smile at God's providence. I mean, there's no smile at the end, but you can't read the end of the chapter without a smile, because it's the love story that comes true.
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They send Rebecca, their sister and her nurse, Abraham's servant and his men. There was a little debate, let her stay 10 more days. And the servant says, No, I need to go right away. Rebecca. Are you willing? Rebecca was willing, and so off they went. They blessed Rebecca and said to her, our sister, May you become 1000s of 10 1000s, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him. I mean, here is the golden moment in the story. The golden moment is when the the idolaters, the moon worshipers, recognize the promise of of God to Abraham, recognize the true God's work in the world, and they pray exactly what has been promised. What was promised to Abraham and Sarah is now going to be promised through Isaac and Rebecca Ian.
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Two. Verse 62 Isaac had returned from beer lahi ROI and was dwelling in the Negev away from Hebron, back to where they had lived before. Isaac happened to go out in the evening to meditate. He was thinking and praying. And here is the moment of the story. Abraham starts the story, no bride for Isaac. The servant has no bride for Isaac. The camels and the caravan are moving along. Isaac is out thinking and praying, and he lifts up his eyes and he saw, and behold, there were camels coming. He could see an extra rider on the camels. It's a girl. It's a girl the same moment. I mean, look at I mean, is there ever? And they were there. Their eyes met across the room. Rebecca lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel and said to the servant, who is that man walking in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my master. So she took her veil and covered herself. It's a culturally different thing to do than our day, but this is the man she's going to marry, and so she puts on the wedding veil. Can you? Could you make it more romantic? Their eyes meet across a dusty field. When I saw you on the camels, I knew you were the one, as in telling that story. I saw you on the camels when I saw you praying. Then Isaac brought her into the Oh, sorry. Then the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. I mean, I think of this every time there's a faith, Bible, church, wedding, we love to store tell the story of God's providence. How boy comes to Jesus, girl comes to Jesus. They meet and join together. This is a work of God. This is what's happening. I mean, here now the servant is also the officiant at the ceremony, so to speak, and Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah, his mother, and took Rebecca. She became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. God's plan is often different than we expected, than when we started and obeyed. But God always fulfills his plan. Serve faithfully. Trust in God's providence. Providence matters to every one of us in this room. You might be single, hoping to get married, and it's a natural impulse from the creation mandate. But like, like Isaac, you want to get married, but unlike Isaac, you're not carrying the line to Christ. So you don't know with any certainty whether God has a spouse for you, but you know that God's plans always work for your good and his glory Providence matters to every couple. You may wish to have children. You don't know whether God will give them or not. Providence matters to every parent. God calls you to faithfully raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Just think though David Solomon, Hezekiah and Josiah were all men full of faith. Yes, they had trouble, but all of their children wildly rebelled against the Lord. You don't know how God's going to work things out. Providence matters on the job. Providence matters in evangelism. God calls you to work and speak, but he's in charge of the outcome. As we round to the end of the story, you can't help but think to yourself about another bride for a son.
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And when we think of another bride for a son, we think of the son who left his father to go get his bride. Instead of bringing gifts of gold, he brought the gift of His blood.
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Jesus had. Come. And yes, there were believers in that long line. But if we look to the cross, and you were to draw the last picture in our item today, there would be circles and x's and dots and all of those work together for Jesus to give us something more precious than gold, his very blood, to forgive our sins. If you are not saying yes to God and His service, I urge you to trust and repent, turn to Christ, the one who forgives your sins. Today, let's pray, Father. We are in awe and wonder at this beautiful story. It's one of the rare Happy Endings at the end of a chapter in Genesis, and it previews the ultimate happy ending for Jesus has made a bride pure by giving his life, promises us to arise arrive in the land of promise, the new heavens, the New Earth, where We will live with you forever. In light of that, help us trust you the God who providentially works Christ's name. Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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