Originally posted: 01/23/2019
Does it seem an impossibility…Abraham’s instructions to his servant? Go get a wife for my son and bring her back here. Did his servant have doubts? Perhaps, but Abraham didn’t. Abraham was relying on what the LORD had said, on His faithfulness and sovereignty, on His Leading.
Abraham was convinced that the LORD had led him this far, He surely would not fail him now. If there were to be descendants as numerous as the stars through his promised son, Isaac (Genesis 15), then Isaac needed a wife, and Isaac needed to stay put, in the land of promise.
Let’s Consider His Leading
His Leading strengthened Abraham’s faith. Abraham was assured the LORD, God of Heaven, would do what He had promised, and thereby lead his servant. Abraham was firm; he would not doubt the LORD’s word “who took me… who spoke to me… who swore to me…He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there,” (24:7). The LORD had faithfully led Abraham up to this point. All of Abraham’s encounters with the LORD left no room for unbelief.
His Leading guided Abraham’s servant in his prayer. This prayer may seem to us as a bit presumptuous, but the servant asked in humility, desperate for His Leading and persuaded of His ability. As the servant who “had charge of all that Abraham owned” (24:2), it is safe to assume this servant had seen Abraham’s God at work numerous times, and was convinced the LORD could answer such a prayer. And the Scriptures confirm that this prayer was undeniably His Leading; He answered! “Before he had finished speaking, behold…” (24:15).
His Leading moved Rebekah to follow without delay, despite her family’s desires and urgings. “But her brother and her mother said, ‘Let the girl stay with us a few days, say ten; afterward she may go.’ 56 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 And they said, ‘We will call the girl and consult her wishes.’ 58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ And she said, ‘I will go,’” (24:55-58).
His Leading brought comfort and hope for the future. “Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and he took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; thus Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death,” (24:67).
How shall we respond to His Leading?
- Let us come to His Word in faith, expecting to experience His presence, promises and leading. What He has spoken in His Word, He will do! Let’s choose to believe, even in spite of what may seem to our own understanding as insurmountable odds. He is the same God who led Abraham’s servant according to His will; we can be fully persuaded He will also lead us.
- Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:16).
- Let us make ourselves available to Him in prayer, and trust Him to lead us, even when we don’t know exactly what or how to pray.
- In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, (Romans 8:26-27).
- Let us commit to obey the LORD, even when facing resistance from others.
- The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted, (Proverbs 29:25).
- Let us also resolve to obey without delay.
- I hastened and did not delay to keep Your commandments, (Psalm 119:60).
- Let us fully expect His Leading to prove comforting; His plans for us shall always be accomplished and will bring hope.
- “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope,” (Jeremiah 29:11).