A Servant's Heart

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

A SERVANT’S HEART

Gen 24:10-27

10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too' — let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." 15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor. 16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. 17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." 18 "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful. 22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.   23 Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" 24 She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor." 25 And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night." 26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD, 27 saying, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."

NIV

How do we divide this narrative because it has no stopping point until this break between the conversation at the well, and what happens at the house. Because we know the whole story, we know Rebekah will be the true love of Isaac and she will become the mother of Jacob and Esau. However, the story here, the lesson for us is in the servant's attention to his master's happiness. He prayed for the success of his mission of finding a wife for his master, Abraham's son from his clan, and indeed Rebekah was a cousin of Isaac. Being so intent on being faithful to his master is where we take our cue, our lesson for life. We too are servants, although Jesus told us we are friends, rather than servants, but nevertheless, we still serve our God Most High. He is our Master, our King, our God. How can we not be diligent in pursuing his happiness? How can we not make every effort in our mission to find a bride for Christ? We are that bride, we are the one Jesus desires as a bride, and he wants us to be from his own clan, for we are descendants of Adam, the man he formed with his own hands. We are people of his own, and we are both servants, looking to the happiness of our Lord, and the person, willing to go and become his bride. Yet, it is this servant attitude we must take on in this sense, that the Lord is our master. Our purpose in life is to please him. Lord, let us have success in making you happy, and pleased with our mission. We are intent on your pleasure. We know you take pleasure when we pray, spending time in your presence. We know you are pleased when we worship you, both in our quiet place and when we gather together in the sanctuary. We know you take pleasure in our worship in music, no matter the style, as long as it is focused on you, Lord. Even if we are out of tune, as long as we are making a joyful noise onto you, Lord, you hear a perfect heart of praise. It does not matter if we meet in the thousands, hundreds, or less than fifty, forty, thirty, or ten, as long as we come together to worship and praise your Holy Name, to meet you, the Living God in the sanctuary of our hearts. The one mission of this servant of Abraham was to find a bride for Isaac, to be successful for his master. Our one mission is to be successful for our Master, the Lord. Successful in all we do for His purpose in our lives. Living for him, being that living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him. Let us serve, not out of a sense of duty, but with a heart of gladness. Let us worship with an open heart, full of love, full of gratitude, full of thanksgiving, and full of praise. Let our voices rise to your ears, with all that we have, all that we are, not just reciting words, but raising them up with the full volume of our hearts. Let us serve you will all we are, all we have, and all we do, we are here for your pleasure, Lord. As the Lord led the servant of Abraham to the right place, we pray, Lord as you have, always lead us to the right place. Let us always have this same servant's heart.