Abraham’s servant was certainly not a procrastinator when it came to the hard things that had to be done. So when all those wonderful dishes were placed before him, he did not dig right in even though he may have been hungry from his journey. Instead, he informed his hosts that he would not eat until he shared with them his mission. As humans, most of us find it so easy to procrastinate, to put off doing the difficult things we know we must do. It is much easier to get involved in things of lesser importance than what really matters. If we were honest with ourselves, we too would admit that we have some of those things we do not often rush to do. For me, these include writing an article or preparing a presentation I know is due soon. For some crazy reason, I usually wait until the last minute. Some people may treat exercising in the same way or worse, they may skip doing it altogether. Most business people find it very difficult to pass on unpleasant news to employees. Instead, we let it slide and ending up doing neither the employee nor the company any good. Others may find that prayer or personal devotions are difficult to get into. It always amazes me how when we go to pray in a group, prayer is often the last thing we do after spending most of the time just talking about what we will pray for. Small group Bible studies, unless well managed by the leader, spend very little time actually studying the Bible. We need to take a lesson from Abraham’s servant and deal with the important and difficult things we must do first.
So the servant explains to Rebekah’s family how it is that he came to accept this mission and how it is that he feels Rebekah is indeed the chosen one of God for Isaac. He repeats the whole story. He includes reference to Abraham’s wealth and blessing from God, with all the details about herds, money, and servants. There is also an appeal to Abraham’s desire to have his son, to whom all this inheritance belongs, marry someone from his own people and relatives rather than the Canaanites. Both of these statements and the facts they convey would also serve to endear Rebekah’s family to the success of his mission.
The servant shares Abraham’s faith as to what God wants to do with respect to his mission, as well as for Abraham, Isaac and the woman God has chosen. He then goes on to tell how he himself prayed to God to make him successful for the sake of his master, Abraham. He shares how he asked God to help him know who the right young woman would be and how Rebekah did indeed meet all the criteria. And finally, he explained how he worshipped and thanked God for guiding him to them as a family.
Imagine the situation that Rebekah and her family found themselves in. One moment they had a daughter in their midst and the next moment they were listening to a man explain how it was God’s will in every respect, as evidenced by the mission, the signs required, and the action of the young woman, that Rebekah should leave them and go to Isaac to get married. I am not sure how my wife and I would have responded in similar circumstances. Would we have accepted this from God or would we have wanted more evidence and certainly more time to investigate the whole thing? I wonder what was going through the head of Rebekah as she heard all of this?
And the servant, eager to finalize the deal, leaves Rebekah’s family and her very little time to think things over. He wants to make his goal perfectly clear and wants to leave no room for misunderstanding. He basically asked them outright, “Will you agree with my master’s wishes, yes or no? If not, I need to know so I can decide what I will need to do next -- whether to go back or to pursue the arrangements for what my master desires.” When one deals honestly and fairly with another, he or she has the right to expect that they will be treated honestly and fairly in return. This was the case with Abraham’s servant. He did not want any pretenses. He spoke his business clearly and appealed to them to respond in kind. If we handle our business and interactions in a similar manner, than we can expect that others treat us likewise.
Sometimes we wonder why things go wrong in our relationships and we only need to look as far as the way we treated others to find the answer. The ‘golden rule’ of doing to others what we would want done to us needs to be applied in all our relationships, including those involving business, either for ourselves or for our employers. Only then can we expect God’s blessing.
It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.
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