Abraham is getting very old and he knows that his time on Earth is limited. He wants to make sure his son marries a woman from a God believing country rather than from a foreign land. He shares this with his head servant and his servant prays for God to help him find a woman from a God believing place. It's neat to see how God answered the prayer and how the servant constantly bowed and praised the Lord.
Two things. First I remember praying constantly for my daughters that they would want to marry God believing men. So I'm thankful for the son in laws that Karin and I have. Second, it's a challenge for me not to be just a Praying person but a person who gives thanks to God on a very regular basis. I don't want to just be a person who asks for things but I also want to thank him and praise him from my heart for all that he does.
I love you guys! I love reading what each of you write! I gain so much insight and am blown away by your personal testimonies. And Brian, thanks for sharing your giving story to the man who had nothing.
I want to add how thankful I am for my son in laws and we do the Love Letter Challenge together via texting. And use each other as support and accountability.
I also use Saturdays as my Praise day. My prayer walk is only praises and if I see a need throughout the day, I speak to God about it through praise. I’m trying to discipline myself so I’m not always asking but praising and thanking God more.
When reading today, I thought of 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” How important it is to be in unity and yet I also thought of how trusting Isaac and Rebekah both were to get married without even personally knowing each other prior to this time. I wouldn’t recommend a marriage proposal sight unseen to my children or even others, but they trusted God and it worked because it was His plan.
Here’s the link for Are You Gonna Be Ike’s Girl?
https://youtu.be/fml0ERmum_I
Okay GUYS! HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE. On my prayer / praise walk this morning, I felt God speak to my heart that just as he loves us and wants us to be holy and faithful to him, so I am to be a husband who loves my wife, am faithful to her, and be holy with all my relationships so that she is number one apart from God. So I feel I am to challenge myself with each chapter we read on how I can tie that chapter in with bettering my relationship with my wife. So if I forget to mention a challenge for myself in regards to my wife, call me out on it.
Normal hospitality of that day required women at a well to offer water to weary travelers but not to their animals. Abraham’s servant asked God to show him a woman with a heart of service – someone who would go beyond the expected. Consider this – the jars used to carry water back then were large and very heavy … a dry camel can drink up to 25 gallons of water … there were 10 camels and Rebekah watered the camels until they were done. Now, we can clearly see her servant heart. That’s the kind of servant I want to be to our Lord.
Wow!! Knowing that information really gives a different perspective on what Rebekah was willing to do!
I have read through the Bible many times using different versions, buy having the feedback from you Bible scholars has really made an impression on me. Thank you everyone for your contributions. I look forward to my time with you on a daily basis. Thank you Blair for initiating this plan. I hope it continues for ….how many days will it take to go through the entire Bible?
Janet, it will be about three years! I hope we ALL hang in there! So glad to have you on board ☺️
I’m looking at this from Rebekah’s view. she wakes up, its a normal day same as every other day. Then she sees travelers and camels, she probably does what she does everyday and helps them out with some water, than bam…The lord changes her life forever. Its just like our lives today, we go along thinking today will be just like every other day , but……..we never know how or when God will make changes in our lives, but we need to be ready to answer His call.
This reading brings to mind one of my favorite hymns, Here I am Lord. As I read Rebekah’s family ask for 10 more days with her – which to us probably does not seem like an unreasonable request (if our own children were out of the blue about to leave the family and be married to someone we’ve never met) and when asked, she says “I will go.” I heard the hymn lyrics of, “I will go, Lord. If you lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.” Rebekah was so brave and strong when she replied I will go. Abraham and all of his family has favor with the Lord and Isaac was mourning the loss of his mother and Abraham was growing older and preparing to leave as well and Rebekah holds the Lord’s people in her heart by agreeing to marry Isaac and it says, Isaac was comforted.
I pray that when called to where God wants us to go, we answer without hesitation like Rebekah did. We bravely say, “I will go, Lord.” And we hold His people in our hearts.