Genesis 24. One of the ways that the writers of Scripture, the writers of anything, but specifically speaking here of the writers of Scripture, one of the ways that they draw our attention to whether something is important or not, if it's here it's important, but the relative importance of something is by the space that's given to it. And when we come to Genesis chapter 24, we are at the longest chapter in the book of Genesis.
It's the second longest narrative, the second longest story, the flood narrative is slightly longer, chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Genesis combined for 75 verses, but this one chapter here of Genesis 24 is 67 verses long. And my temptation when I come to this, and not to say that this would always be wrong, but is to get to something like this and say, well, we'll just kind of graze over the top and then focus down on one particular aspect of it. But I want to read the whole thing when we get to that point, because Moses, the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, thought we needed 67 verses of this story.
There must be something important here for us to read. This story marks a transition in the book of Genesis. When the chapter opens, the focus is on Abraham, who's been the focus of Genesis since the end of chapter 11.
By the close of chapter 24, the focus has shifted to his son Isaac. Isaac's appeared before this, obviously, but the focus will be on Isaac. And though Abraham's life does not end until the middle of the next chapter, chapter 25, we are being prepared for the screen to shift.
The camera angle is going to shift from Abraham and focus in on Isaac as the story continues. And the question that would be in the minds of the original readers and maybe even in the mind of Abraham and his family is, will God continue to be faithful to Abraham and to his family? Will God continue to be faithful to his promises? That's the question we should have as we read Genesis chapter 24. I'm going to read the whole chapter here, beginning in verse 1. Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
Genesis 24
1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 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, 3 that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 5 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?” 6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 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. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 And he said, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the young 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 for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
15 Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. 16 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. 17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” 18 She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. 19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 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. 21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, 23 and said, “Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” 24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 She added, “We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.” 26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD 27 and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.” 28 Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out toward the man, to the spring. 30 As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. 31 He said, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” 32 So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”
34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, camels and donkeys. 36 And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old, and to him he has given all that he has. 37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell, 38 but you shall go to my father’s house and to my clan and take a wife for my son.’ 39 I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ 40 But he said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way. You shall take a wife for my son from my clan and from my father’s house. 41 Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my clan. And if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
42 “I came today to the spring and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go, 43 behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44 and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46 She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms. 48 Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49 Now then, if you are 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.”
50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “The thing has come from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. 51 Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.”
52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the earth before the LORD. 53 And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments. 54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they arose in the morning, he said, “Send me away to my master.” 55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.” 56 But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.” 57 They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.” 58 And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.” 59 So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“Our sister, may you become
thousands of ten thousands,
and may your offspring possess
the gate of those who hate him!”
61 Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way.
62 Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel 65 and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Will God provide? Will God provide? God had promised to Abraham that through Isaac, his offspring would be named. At this point, Isaac is at least in his late thirties, maybe his early forties. And he also has not had children because he has not yet taken a wife.
But the resounding message of this chapter is that God will provide. God will answer his promises. He will faithfully give what is needed.
And we see this provision all throughout the chapter. Like I said, it's the theme of the chapter. Abraham knows that what his son needs, he needs a wife, but he needs a wife who is not one of the Canaanites, not one of the people of the land, who's not devoted to the gods that the Canaanites worship.
He needs someone who's willing to follow in his worship of the one true God of Yahweh. And Isaac himself was not to leave the land of promise. When the servant, it's probably Eliezer, who was at one point, the heir to Abraham's household.
And here the servant is called the oldest person in his household who is in charge of everything. So it's probably Eliezer, who was mentioned back in chapter 15. But here he says, well, you're sending me to find a wife for Isaac, but what if she won't come? Should I take Isaac there? And Abraham says, no.
And this is an expression of Abraham's faith, again, in God's promise to give this land, this particular land to his people. And he's confident that God will provide a wife who will come back with him twice over. He tells the servant that God will prosper your way.
God will bring what is necessary. The Lord will provide. So Abraham has faith in the capacity of God to provide the wife that Isaac needs.
The servant is dependent upon the Lord for clarity and who this is supposed to be. We see that in verses 12 through 15, when he comes to the land of Nahor, he gets there and he starts praying specifically. Okay, Lord, how am I supposed to know which one? So he prays this specific prayer.
The woman who comes out and offers me a drink, that would just be a polite thing to do. That's not going to really set her apart. But if I say, please give me a drink.
And she says, yes, and I will give water to your camels. That's the one, Lord, please let that be the one who it is to be. And it says in verse 15, before he had finished speaking before, before he had finished his prayer, God is already answering it.
As Rebecca comes out of the city, he expresses to God. He acknowledges the provision of God with his gratitude. We see that in verses 26 and 27, he bows down and he worships the Lord for what God has done in answering his prayer.
So immediately and clearly, and this provision is acknowledged even by those who don't actually worship the same God. So we know from later on in the book of Genesis that Laban is not a worshiper of Yahweh. He recognizes Yahweh's power, but he's not a worshiper of the same God as Abraham.
And yet here in verses 50 and 51, Laban, the brother of Rebecca and Bethuel, her father, they say, this thing has come about from the Lord. We can't, you know, you're asking whether we're going to be willing to send Rebecca with you, our daughter, our sister. If God's orchestrating the events this carefully, we probably better not get in the way.
And again, as the story goes on, we're going to see that Laban is not exactly a guy of high character. He's just recognizing that God is at work and I better not try to mess it up. And so they acknowledge that God's hand is moving here.
And this is a lesson that we learn over and over in Abraham's life. And it's a lesson that we learn over and over in the scriptures. We must not grow tired of learning this lesson or we'll get really tired of the Bible.
The lesson is this, God himself will supply all your needs. We see that in the gospels, the teaching of Jesus that, you know, we read last week in our scripture reading, the end of Matthew chapter six. And Jesus says, consider the birds.
Who feeds them? Your father feeds them. Consider the lilies of the field, the wildflowers that pop up and then tomorrow they're cut down and they're thrown into the fire. And yet Solomon and all his glory was not a raid like one of these.
Why are you worrying about what you're going to eat, what you're going to wear, what you're going to do? These are the things that the Gentiles, that the pagans worry about. And your father knows that you need them, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added to you.
So it's not that those things don't matter, but they're not the things that are most important. Focus on God and he will provide. The apostle Paul says in Philippians four verse 19, my God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Not God will supply all your needs as much as you need and no more. Not God will supply all your needs according to his begrudging stinginess, but God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. So if you are looking to God to provide, you can count on the fact that he will follow through on his promises.
God never breaks a promise. He will provide everything that you need. But this reality, as we see here in Genesis 24, does not lift our responsibility to act with both obedience and wisdom.
We are responsible before God to act with obedience and wisdom, trusting that he is going to be faithful. And specifically in chapter 24 here, we have lessons that speak to the specific context of marriage. And so I'm going to spend a little bit of time here just trying to draw what are lessons that we learn from Genesis 24 when it comes to marriage.
We've got young people and we have parents of children who have to be thinking about these things in the years to come. Folks that have kids and grandkids that you speak into their lives regarding these things. So I think this is applicable.
The first principle we see regarding how should we act with wisdom and obedience in this world concerning the topic of marriage is the importance of parental involvement and investment. See that in verses two through nine, where Abraham is going to procure a wife for his son. Now we don't live in the land of Canaan 4,000 years ago.
Probably none of us have a servant that we're going to send out to say, hey, go fetch a spouse for my child, right? That's not how it's going to work. Nonetheless, what we see with Abraham is a deep care and investment in what kind of wife his son is going to have. It matters to him.
It is not a matter of indifference. It's not a matter of, I'm going to worry about it, but I'm going to leave him to figure it out for himself. He is involved in discerning what kind of wife does his son need? She can't be a Canaanite.
She cannot be a worshiper of the gods of the peoples. And at the same time, he can't go back to it. I think this is probably an instance of Abraham's discernment.
Laban, his nephew, is a man who is going, he likes to suck people in. We're going to see that with Jacob later on, where Jacob is, Laban gets his hooks into him and Jacob can't get away for a really long time. And so Abraham says, no, this is the land of promise.
This is where Isaac is supposed to be. He needs to stay here, but he needs a wife from there. Too often, I think parents take a completely passive role, as if their voice didn't matter or they didn't have more insight than their children do into the kind of person that they need to marry.
Obviously, I preached a series on marriage six, seven months ago now. But in that, one of the things we talked about was the importance in a biblical understanding of marriage of the centrality, not of emotions, but of roles in marriage. A healthy marriage is built on understanding the roles that God has given us.
And if that is true, which I think it is, that a healthy marriage is built on a proper biblical understanding of our roles in marriage, then as a parent, you have far more insight than your emotionally involved child does. Even if your child is in their late teens, early twenties, and they are a mature person, they still don't have the insight that you do into what kind of person would be healthy for them to be married to. So the first principle we see is that Abraham cares and he's involved.
That's not to say that it's like a dictatorial involvement. Even at the end of the chapter, when Laban and Bethuel are being asked by the servant, he says, hey, I don't want to wait the 10 days. I want to go now.
I need to get back to Abraham. They bring her out and ask her, well, will you go? There's still like a sense of, you need to want to be married to this other person. You need to want, again, this isn't, it's not a society where we have arranged marriages.
Even, I'm not going to run down that rabbit hole. Actually, a lot of societies where they do have arranged marriages, there's a lot more involvement than, involvement of what people actually want than is recognized by those of us who believe in, we just have to have total freedom all the time. And it's all about my own decisions.
We don't want input from the outside. The fact that in our society, we completely recoil against the idea of outside input, you know, the most outside of whether you follow Christ or not, who you marry is the most important decision you'll ever make. And if you are afraid of outside input, or if as a parent or a grandparent, you're afraid to give that input, that's not a sign of wisdom.
That's a sign of like, Proverbs says that in the abundance of counselors, there's safety. The abundance of counselors, there's wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
So when you're making the biggest decision of your life, you need to, even if your parents, as a, as a young person, even if your parents aren't giving the insight that you think you could use, you should actively seek it. Ask them for their input here. The second principle we see regards versus 10 to 28 and the person of Rebecca and her feminine appeal.
I think there are two principles, like three here, actually, but two, which are so pervasive in the entire Bible and across time and space that I don't feel like I'm on ice at all, let alone thin ice to point them out. But you might think I'm on thin ice to point them out. So the first is this verse 16 as, as a young woman seeking marriage, it matters how you look for 16 says the young woman was beautiful in appearance, very attractive in appearance.
Now, sometimes Christians take a verse like first Peter three, three out of context, like don't let your adorning be external or let it be the internal person of the heart. Don't focus on the braiding of hair, the putting on of jewelry, but what Peter's doing in first Peter three is not prohibiting the focus on any kind of external appearance. He's putting it in contrast.
He's saying, okay, there's these two things outward and inward and inward is far more important. It is a far more value. Now we all know people who look beautiful on the outside, but after you've talked to them for about five minutes, you're like, wow, I wouldn't want to share a car with them, let alone the rest of my life.
Right? So don't be that person is what Peter is saying in first Peter three. But if you want to get married as a young lady, you should care how you look like the first thing a guy's going to notice is what you look like. And that's not wrong.
That doesn't mean be provocative. Proverbs seven, Proverbs nine worn against the adulteress. And the fact that she draws men in and her bed is the way to death.
Like you don't want to advertise that that's not who you want to be, but there is nothing wrong with desiring to be attractive in your appearance and to present yourself in a way that says, I care what somebody thinks about me. The second principle we see here is like, if you take that in the wrong direction, you could go like, well, that's all about like pretty dresses and frilly this and that before you get Victorian tea party on me. The second principle we see here is it matters how you work.
Feminine appeal is what the second aspect we see here is. It matters how you work. When the servant is going to this foreign land, he doesn't know anybody here.
He very likely hasn't even been here before. He's wandering around, hoping to find Abraham's family. And he's praying, God, please give me some direction.
And he comes and he says, okay, God, here's what I'm going to ask you specifically for. I'm going to ask you specifically that when I ask for a drink, she'll give it to me, but she'll also offer to water my camels. Now he has 10 camels with him.
A camel after a journey like that is capable of drinking about 20 gallons of water. So he's asking, Lord, I would like to find a woman who is going to, of her own initiative, offer to draw 200 gallons of water from a well and carry it and dump it in the trough for the camels. He's looking for the kind of woman who has initiative and drive and will be fit to manage the large household that Isaac has.
He's not just looking for somebody who's pretty to look at and happens to be from the right family. He's looking for a woman of character and drive and initiative who can help take care of the blessings that God has provided to Abraham and to his family. If you think about this in the broader context of the Bible, you think about the Proverbs 31 woman, and she is like the household manager in whom the heart of her husband is safe to trust.
Like when you are thinking about, okay, what kind of young woman do I want to be? I feel like I'm kind of picking on just a few girls here, but you should want to be the kind of woman who is beautiful and who is utilizing the gifts and the talents that God has given you, that is not putting those things to waste, that isn't sitting on the talents that the Lord has entrusted to you, but is maximizing them and investing them, investing her life. That's what the servant is looking for. That's what the Lord provided.
The third thing, this is not universally applicable. I think any man, Christian or non-Christian would see a beautiful woman who is hardworking and be like, I'm attracted to that. The third thing important for a Christian man is Rebecca models for us immediate obedience to God.
And we see that at the end of the chapter when asked if she will go, she says, yes. And this is a pattern that we've seen throughout the Abraham story where when he is told to circumcise his household, he does so immediately. When he is told to send away Ishmael and Hagar, he does so the next morning.
When he is told to offer up Isaac, he does so the next morning, like immediate obedience. I've said it before. I'm going to say it so often your ears will probably get sick of it at some point, but delayed obedience is disobedience.
She does not delay. She goes where God calls her immediately. So that's an example for us, similar to like in the gospels when Jesus calls John and Peter and Andrew and James says, follow me.
They dropped their nets. They follow him right there. He calls Levi from the tax booth.
Levi stands up and he follows him. And that kind of immediate obedience to the Lord, like that is what should characterize anybody's life as a Christian. But as a young woman, think about that.
The third thing we see here. So the first principle regarding the provision of a spouse is the parental involvement, the importance of parental involvement. Second is the characteristics that are feminine appeal.
The third in terms of how to find a Christian spouse is sometimes you got to fish in the right water. Sometimes when you're looking for the right person, you're in Canaanite territory. There aren't a lot of people around who are of the right material.
And sometimes you have to load up the camels as it were, and find the right person, find the right place where this kind of person would be. Fourth principle we see here. And again, this is just based on the scale of this chapter is that God cares about marriage.
There are many online articles and sermons that you can find that will warn you about the danger of making marriage an idol. And I will admit that that is a hypothetical possibility, but God designed human beings to be married. It's not good for man to be alone.
And so it's not wrong to desire that. That's not an idol. That's just a natural desire that God gave you.
If you put it above worshiping him and are willing to disregard the kind of character things that we've just talked about, like if you're willing to disregard what God's word says, now that's an idol. But if you just want a godly spouse, that's exactly what you're supposed to want. That's exactly how God made you.
But if you just want a godly spouse, that's exactly what you're supposed to want.
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That's exactly how God made you.
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So this is, I mean, the first human relationship in the Bible is the marriage.
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Here, longest chapter in Genesis is about marriage.
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First miracle of Jesus at a wedding.
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And Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that the gospel itself is showing us what marriage
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is really about,
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the union of Christ and his church.
And the end of the Bible is a wedding feast.
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And chapter 19 of Revelation and chapter 21, the bride, New Jerusalem, comes to God.
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Like she comes adorned as a bride for her husband and is met there with God.
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So God cares about marriage.
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Commentators note this chapter has actually a lot of symbolic parallels with the
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story of the gospel.
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The father sends a faithful servant to procure a bride for the son who has gone through,
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in some sense,
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death and resurrection.
We see that in chapter 22 with Isaac's story.
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And whether you buy all the symbolic parallels there or not,
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the point of the passage is very clear.
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that God has an interest in preserving his promise to Abraham,
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and that that requires finding a spouse for Isaac,
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whom he provides,
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whom he generously provides.
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The Lord provides all of our needs,
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and we should model our lives based on the faithfulness of the servant and the
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obedience of Rebekah and their prayer
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of trust that God would provide exactly what they needed.
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Over and over,
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this servant is praying to the Lord and then thanking him along the way as he provides.
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And that's how we should model our lives as well.
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