~ Being Real ~

Disciple: Day 24

Two things really stood out to me in the story of Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 24-27):

1. the faith of Abraham’s servant in believing that God would answer his prayer
2. the speed of Bethuel and Laban’s response in allowing Rebekah to leave with the servant, “as the Lord directed”

In church we talk a lot about the power of prayer, but I don’t think I really believe in it the way I should. (As Sharon commented in a recent message, if we truly believed in the power of prayer, we would all attend either the Wednesday night or Sunday morning prayer meetings—or both.) I pray, and I know that God hears my prayers, but I don’t think I truly expect a response, y’know?

And I don’t know how exactly I can work on correcting that? I mean, it’s not like I can just tell myself to believe—really believe—and it’ll happen.

Anyway, as for the second point (the speed of Bethuel and Laban’s response), I just think it’s so amazingly straightforward. God showed the servant that Rebekah was meant to be Isaac’s wife, and Laban and Bethuel gave her leave to go with the servant as soon as they heard the servant’s story. They didn’t ask a lot of questions and they didn’t waste a lot of time trying to figure out whether it was really God’s will or not; they just did what they had to do to be in-line with God’s plan.

I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience like that. Most of the time I hear what God’s telling me to do and then I sit around thinking up all the reasons and ways I can possibly come up with to get out of doing whatever I’ve been told to do. Or I convince myself that I misheard/misunderstood. Most of the time (I would like to think), I eventually give in and do what God asks, but it’s almost always after I’ve spent a lot of time trying to think of a way to get out of (doing) it first.