I’d like all of my various missions in life to be successful—wouldn’t you? For the next few weeks we’re hanging out with Abraham’s servant, a lesser-known Bible bro who’s got some secrets for successful missions to teach us. What current “mission” of yours are you most passionate to see successful? Keep that in the back of your mind, open your Bible to Genesis 24, and let’s go!
Our story starts with father of the nation of Israel, Abraham, (hereafter referred to by his favorite nickname, Abe) laying out a mission for his servant. We’re not told much about the servant, not even his name, but only that he’s Abe’s oldest servant and the man in charge of his household. His mission? To find a wife for Abe’s beloved son, Isaac, through whom God would make Abe into a great nation. Regarding the future wifey, Abe gives two qualifications:
1. She must be a relative of his. Why? Abe is taking seriously to the nth degree God’s promise that He’d give the land to his descendants.
2. She must be willing to go. The servant would have to travel to where Abe’s relatives lived in order to fulfill this mission, and Abe wanted to clarify that Isaac should not go and live among his relatives for the sake of marriage, but rather she should be willing to leave her family in order to come and be Isaac’s wife.
So Abe’s servant sets out on the long journey he must make to the town where Abe’s brother settled. When he arrives, he stops beside a well outside the town, where the women are coming out to draw water. Then he does what I believe is the first secret for a successful mission:
Pray in faith.
Abe’s servant begins by acknowledging God as Lord and asking Him to give him success on his mission. Then things get interesting as he sets forth a very specific if/then type of request for God’s guidance:
If he asks one of the young women at the well to give him a drink and she says, “Sure, and I’ll water your camels too,”
Then she’s the one God has chosen to be Isaac’s wife, and this is how the servant will know that God has made his mission successful.
I find this prayer fascinating, primarily because—spoiler alert!—things go down exactly as the servant has petitioned. Note with me several elements of the servant’s prayer:
It’s specific. He gives a detailed request for God’s leading, not a general “direct me.”
It’s bold. He states unapologetically what he’d like God to do; he’s straightforward and to the point.
It’s humble. Though bold and specific, he’s also reverent. We don’t get the sense that the servant is making a demand of God but rather that he highly respects God and is committed to performing his part in this mission well because of his deep love for his master, Abe, not because of self-interest.
It’s faith-filled. As we’ll see next week, the servant runs to complete his part of the if—to ask a woman at the well for a drink—indicating to me that he fully expects God to come through for him.
Wow! What a power-packed prayer! I believe there’s a beautiful hand-in-hand relationship between these four elements of prayer. Boldness without humility is demanding, specificity without faith is babbling, and so on. I’m challenged to examine my prayer life and ask God to strengthen me in the areas in which I’m weak. How about you? Which of these characteristics do you sense God wants to grow in your prayer life? By the way, if you’re thinking that you’ve got to get all the elements “right” before you speak a word of prayer to God, think again! Because God’s Spirit lives in those who believe in Jesus, prayer is dynamic! So the way to mature in prayer is simply to pray. Show up and engage in conversations with God, and He will guide you to a deeper prayer life.
Now we come to one of my favorite parts of this narrative. Before the servant even finishes praying, he sees Rebekah! If you’re familiar with the story, you know that Rebekah is the one who will become Isaac’s wife. So God brings the answer to the servant’s prayer right in front of his eyes while he’s still praying! Most of the time I’ve had to do some waiting (sometimes a lot of it!) for God to answer my prayers, but on a few occasions He’s answered my prayer while I’ve been praying or immediately after I finished praying, and let me tell you, those moments are faith-builders that make me want to do a happy dance unto the Lord.
We’ll pause the story right there and return to it next week. For today I’d like you to consider that mission you’d really like to see successful; how might praying in faith influence the outcome? What are you waiting for? Start praying about that mission today, and see what God does.
