Devotion on Genesis Genesis 24

For most Christians, marriage and family are in the picture they have of their future. What do you look for in a mate? I assume you want someone who shares your core values, with whom you are compatible, who has integrity, and who has physical appeal. In our modern and post-modern setting, we value making that choice for ourselves. Oh, we might have a blind date, but many of the stories arising out of such encounters are not so good. I am also confident that some parents think they could do a far better job than their children could do.

Genesis 24 is a continuation of the story of the family of Abraham, this time concerning the rather common, mundane problem of finding the proper wife for Isaac. This is an unhurried story of how Jacob finds and wins Rebekah. Abraham did not want his son married to a local inhabitant. Much later, we would find the story of Ruth as an example of an Israelite marrying a local resident and her becoming heir to King David. The characters of this story show themselves in their action. The suspense is in the unfolding of the test. The servant prays instead of acting and for a sign of God's will, not to strengthen his own faith. He places everything in the hand of the Lord. The trip would have taken a month. Rebekah and Isaac meet, they reside as husband and wife, and Isaac receives needed comfort after the death of his mother.

We find in this story that the field of activity for God is the internal realm of the human heart in which God works, visioning, guiding, and removing resistance. It represents a contrast with other parts of the Bible, in which the realm of divine activity is the miracle, or the people are great leaders with charisma, or the way the Lord may speak through the drama of worship in the Temple. Here, the realm of divine activity is personal and intimate, showing a soft touch, so to speak.

This area of our lives is more important than many of us realize. Too many of us have come to think that we can buy happiness. Yet, true happiness, I suspect, is far more about the relationships in our lives than the things we possess.