Finding “The Right One”

Isaac and Rebecca
Genesis 24

Isaac was the “apple of his father’s (and mother’s) eyes.” He was a “miracle baby,” and it was
time for him to find the wife of his dreams. In those times, the parents of a young man and
young woman made the match. So Abraham had sent his trusted servant to the city where an appropriate future bride could be found. Abraham’s servant saw her, and gave her a little “test.”

He asked “the young lady of interest” to give him a drink of water, testing her reaction. (Drawing water for one’s household from a spring outside of the city is no small task. She would have to carry the water into the city and to her home.) The detail of collecting the water from the spring and into a jar for a household adds an even more challenging reality.
Rebecca was quick to respond, not only giving the male servant a drink of water, but offering to water all of his camels as well.

This would have been a daunting task for the male owner of the camels, but for a single young woman, it’s an enormous amount of heavy work. She had come to the spring for the sake of her own family’s needs, most likely. We don’t know how much nor how taxing that effort would have been for a young girl. The water pots alone were heavy, but filled with water, it would not be an easy mission. A camel can consume 32 gallons of water in a short amount of time. Add the detail of this being a young girl offering to provide water for a stranger’s camels, and it becomes even more of an exceptional, strenuous task. After helping the stranger, she would still have to accomplish the task for which she had come. . . adding distance to her task from the well to her home inside the city walls.

Without being aware of this “test”, Rebecca passed it with flying colors.

The next day, she began her journey to a home, to a new family, and to a young man who was waiting for his hoped-for bride. God used the young girl and her servant’s heart, to be woven into a family and lineage that would become part of God’s Story for the world. She had not been looking for an “Isaac” to come into her life when she went to the well that day, met the stranger from a different land, and offered to meet his camels’ needs. But God knew her heart and chose to weave her into the Story and History of God’s Plan for mankind to know Him.

God’s heart for this world continues . . . and He still uses common people to touch the life of
another . . . even strangers . . . to continue to fulfill His Purposes and Plans in our world. Be
open each day to hear His quiet Whispers to do something kind for a stranger . . . to care . . . to set aside your agenda when He touches your heart to pause the task at hand and touch the life of a stranger. You can be sure that He is at work. . . always.

Order Janet’s book, Not Forgotten, Stories of a Refugee People on Amazon