Day 29 – Isaac & Rebekah

Genesis 24 is quite long, but it’s not a difficult read.

• Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in Genesis and the longest story too. I hope you enjoyed reading it – even though it does repeat itself at times! Don’t forget as you’re reading that every word is given to us by God, which is helpful to bear in mind if you’re ever finding it hard going.
• Where are we up to? Well, Isaac is now old enough to be married, but he and his father Abraham are living in a land surrounded by Canaanites. Do you remember who these people were? Flick back to day 9 for a reminder. Why was Abraham so keen for his son to not marry a Canaanite woman?
• Abraham wants Isaac to marry someone from his previous home. In verses 5-9, we read that Abraham doesn’t want his son to actually return to find a wife for himself though. What was the reason? Who went instead?
• Did the servant make the job Abraham had given him a priority? It’s worth considering that the journey he made would have been around 500 miles – a good three weeks’ travel in those days.
• What did the servant pray to God for in verses 11-14? How did God answer?
• What do you think of Rebekah and the way she acted in this passage? Focus in on her actions, and that of her brother Laban, in verses 22-33. Can you see God at work? Despite that, do you think Rebekah would have been scared?
• After the servant recalls the story to them, what do Laban and his father say in verses 50-51? Can Rebekah go? What do you think persuaded them to allow her to leave in this sudden fashion? How much trust did you think they, and Rebekah of course, must have had in the servant and in God?

• Make a list of all the verbs in the Psalms and Proverbs passages that relate to trusting in God, just like Rebekah (and, indeed, the servant) did. The verses in Proverbs are ones that you might like to mark down in your list of favourites, as they are well known and encouraging.

If we were being cynical, we could look at the immediate and clear answer to prayer that we can read in Genesis 24:15 and scoff that our prayers don’t get answered so wonderfully and quickly. “Of course they trusted God when He worked so dramatically”, you might think.

But that would a simplistic understanding of the situation. As we read of Rebekah preparing to leave with the servant for the long and uncomfortable walk to Isaac, think what it must have been like. It wasn’t like the servant had a picture of Isaac on his phone to show her! Or some tangible proof that she was going to be safe, or that her life would be good. She had to have real trust in the unknown – her life was very quickly changing to something completely different to how she imagined it might have been before.

If our trust in God depends on seeing Him work miracles or answer a quota of prayer, our trust in Him will ebb away. Instead, resolve yourself to trust in Him whatever the situation, just like Rebekah had to do as she saddled up her camel. One thing we can be hold on to, in uncertain times like that, is the comforting message of Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. Sometimes we’ll see God at work clearly, and sometimes we won’t.

Rebekah was called according to God’s purpose, and He had many good things planned for her. Trusting in Him at this scary time was the best decision she could have ever made.