Abraham was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. One day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, “Take an oath by putting your hand under my thigh. Swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry one of these local Canaanite women. Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
Genesis 24:1-4

Marriage is something that should not be entered into lightly because it is a type or shadow of the relationship God wants with us. In the Old Testament, He often stated that He is the husband of Israel. Whenever His people strayed and worshiped another god, He likened it to adultery, but what is worshiping other gods? What is idolatry? When I asked the Lord about that many years ago, He said that anything that takes first place in our lives—including our “Christian service” can be idolatry.

It perplexed me but I discovered that we must place the Lord first and nothing else.

He explained that we can “worship” worship, the bible, our ministry, a minister, the church building and what is associated with it etcetera.

A classic biblical example is the brass snake that God commanded Moses to build during the Exodus. It was a tool that He used on that occasion only and was to be never used again but the people took it with them and started to worship it! They turned the tool God used once and once only into an idol. The man of God called it a Neshushtan in 2 Kings 18:4 and ground it to dust.

Our second order of priority is for our family. Our service and ministry is last and I shall elaborate more on that later.

When Abraham sent his servant out to find a wife for his son, he gave strict instructions that this women had to be what we may well call a “believer” today. He had to find “the one”—that special woman whom God had chosen.

This servant may be likened to the Holy Spirit. Jesus always mirrored the Father. He always pleased the Father, said only what the Father said and did what He saw the Father do. The Holy Spirit relates to Jesus that way.

Something interesting is seen when he departed.

And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand. Genesis 24:10

Once more, we see a divine pattern in that he took 10 camels. There were 10 bridesmaids in the parable of Jesus seen in Matthew 25 and I gave a partial list of the them in my presentation The Ten Virgins. This is very important—more important than we realize.

When the servant reached his destination, he had a problem. How was he going to find out the identity of “the one”? The answer is so simple, many people miss it. They do not ask God, but race into a relationship that He cannot really bless, because He did not choose that person.

The servant did not go to a dating site on the web, or go to a singles club, but stopped and asked God to reveal the woman He had chosen. He prayed first.

This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too!’—let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.” Genesis 24:14

His prayer was not selfish. His priority was about getting his master’s wishes done and going about that assignment and no other.

He had no sooner finished, when she arrived. Friends, many times we miss the day of opportunity because of impatience or because we do not stop... Wait and listen. Pray and wait... Ask God what He wants, not what “I want”.  We can think nothing is ever going to happen and that “the one” is either a figment of the imagination or we will never meet and then act prematurely.

When that happens, God’s plan can be thwarted and often times the relationship is problematic.

He had no sooner finished that simple prayer when she arrived.  In fact, she was already on the way as he was praying.

Isaiah 65:24 says that this can and does happen. This woman did what he had prayed about. At such a point in time, we can wreck things. We can leap to conclusions and start to do something else or say something prematurely. Often times, we can act as if we are always right and the other person is not. We can become self opinionated and dogmatic theologically and in other matters, including our personal relationships. Often times when a marriage is strained, one person thinks he or she is always right and the other wrong. One can be overbearing and the other feels put down. Someone can talk over the other and take control of conversations. Often times when that happens, the other person simply quits. It takes two people to have a conversation.

Each can criticize the other and resentment enters in and festers. Listen to each other. Help each other. Do not talk over the top of each other. Share the workload and keep giving each other compliments and assurances verbally—and practically. Words must line up with corresponding actions. If faith without works is dead, what is love without “works”?

Paul told us in Ephesians:

...out of your reverence for Christ be supportive of each other in love.
For wives, this means being supportive to your husbands like you are tenderly devoted to our Lord, for the husband provides leadership for the wife, just as Christ provides leadership for his church, as the Savior and Reviver of the body.
In the same way the church is devoted to Christ, let the wives be devoted to their husbands in everything.
And to the husbands, you are to demonstrate love for your wives with the same tender devotion that Christ demonstrated to us, his bride.
For he died for us, sacrificing himself to make us holy and pure, cleansing us through the showering of the pure water of the Word of God.
All that he does in us is designed to make us a mature church for his pleasure, until we become a source of praise to him—glorious and radiant, beautiful and holy, without fault or flaw.
Husbands have the obligation of loving and caring for their wives the same way they love and care for their own bodies, for to love your wife is to love your own self.
No one abuses his own body, but pampers it—serving and satisfying its needs.
That’s exactly what Christ does for his church!
He serves and satisfies us as members of his body.
For this reason a man is to leave his father and his mother and lovingly hold to his wife, since the two have become joined as one flesh.
Marriage is the beautiful design of the Almighty, a great and sacred mystery—meant to be a vivid example of Christ and his church. So every married man should be gracious to his wife just as he is gracious to himself.
And every wife should be tenderly devoted to her husband. Ephesians 5:21-33

What the servant did was a prophetic act and he did not know it. What we do or neglect to do, can have profound prophetic implications that may last beyond our natural lifetime. Who we marry and how we conduct ourselves in marriage can have an influence generations long after we have gone.

The servant then gave her bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold. Once more we see specific mention of ten. The mention of her hands speaks of what we do. What we do, how we do it and why we do it is very important.

Again, our choice of a marriage partner and how we treat each other in marriage is symbolic.

Marriage is much more than two people living together. It is a partnership where each person is equal and has a part to play.

Christians often say that we are the bride of Christ and we can read of His love for us in Ephesians and the book of Revelation.

Love means commitment. It means that in a marriage the man and the woman are to be as one. Scriptures command men to love their wives and for women to reverence their husbands. This does not mean that a man can treat his wife as a servant and do nothing around the house or for women to show disrespect for her husband.

In Old Testament days, she often called him “lord”, but not  “Lord” as in a master/servant/slave relationship.

James told us that faith without works is dead. Words of faith without corresponding follow up mean nothing.

Similarly, when a man tells his wife that he loves her, it has to be followed up by corresponding action. In practical terms this means that he should share the workload, help around the house, support his wife and believe in her. If there is a job that needs doing—do it, cook a meal, vacuum the carpet, show affection and converse with her—not speak at her.

It is reciprocal. One major lack in many marriages is the art of communication.  In our modern world, it is only too easy to pick up the smart phone. That is often a very serious distraction and can break down the relationship. I rarely use mine, because it can be habit forming and display rudeness when in the company of others. When we try to have a conversation and the other person picks up the phone it can indicate that they are not interested. I find it extremely rude.

Sit together. Talk together. Hold hands. Share good things with each other. If you say that you will do something then do it.

If that does not happen then words are cheap and a promise means nothing, leading to disrespect that leads to distrust, that leads to hostility and both the man and the woman may never see eye to eye and start drifting apart.

Paul told Timothy that if a man does not care for his own family, he is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith. Some people in a marriage want to serve God and get involved in church work first and foremost in their lives and spend more time there than at home. Family comes first before ministry, because the husband should be the priest in the home.

The family unit speaks of the Body of Christ and in this wonderful body every separate and individual part Has precise functions. If they are not working together the physical body becomes sick and if the individual parts in a marriage do not flow with each other, the relational body is out of order.

Our choice of a spouse and how we handle the marriage is thus a very serious matter.

Many people enter into a relationship without stopping to ask God if they are making the correct choice. I call such a person as “the one” because God is indeed the perfect matchmaker. Marrying the wrong person can be fraught with many problems and actually displeases the Lord. The bible tells us not to be unequally yoked, yet many “Christians” marry non believers. I have met people who think that they can “convert the other person”, but this is not so.  The non-believer usually adversely influences the believer.

Water finds its own level and this is why God frowns on such a relationship.

Abraham knew that God’s choice was the right one and instructed his servant to make sure he found “the one”. The servant found her and was invited to her parent’s home as a mark of courtesy and respect (often lacking today). What happened next is very interesting. When the woman extended her invitation to visit the home of her parents, the man bowed his head and worshiped God and  that should be the first response we have.

The man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord
And said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, Who has not left my master bereft and destitute of His loving-kindness and steadfastness. As for me, going on the way [of obedience and faith] the Lord led me to the house of my master’s kinsmen. Genesis 24:26-27

On their arrival, Rebekah told everyone what had happened. That’s testifying! Laban did not merely say something like, “That’s nice” but ran—to participate in something that God was doing. Verses 29-31 tell us that he ran out to the servant and cried out to him saying that he was blessed of the Lord. When we are doing what God wants, people can see it. Many people are turned off from “church” today, but recognize a real man or woman of God in the spirit realm. We have met people who have told us that they like being around us, because as people have said, “I can ”feel the anointing when I sit next to you”, or “you bring something into the room when you come in”.

We weren’t doing anything special and are no one special. All we were doing was sitting at a table in a restaurant having something to eat, being real and natural when someone said that.

Oral Roberts once said we can be supernaturally natural and naturally supernatural.

When a meal was set before him, the servant could have relaxed and enjoyed it, but he put his master’s wishes first as we should.

He spoke of Abraham and his mission, not about himself, but he had not yet totally fulfilled his assignment. Christians can go on an assignment and have a certain degree of success and think that they have “made it” but stop there, little realizing that there could be more to come. Nothing is over until the Lord says it is.

He and those with him were offered rest and food, but he declined, because he had to yet get an answer and so retold his story to the entire family. On hearing this they reached the conclusion that this was what God wanted and he then gave everyone gifts—and then ate a meal and went to sleep. The following morning, he asked them to allow him to leave and they asked if she could remain a little longer, mentioning ten days. They then called for her to ask if she was prepared to go with them. She agreed and Rebekah and her own servants went with them.
The account is lengthy, but I urge you to read it as there is amazing detail to be found.

Let us turn now to Isaac, who has not yet been seen in this part of the account. It reads:

And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country. Genesis 24:62

Beer Lahai Roi means “well that belongs to the Living One seeing me”. God see us. He watches us continually, not to judge us and condemn  us, but to look after us and He has made many covenant promises to that effect. The name of this well is associated with the well known as  beʾēr šebaʿ.  You may recognize it as Beersheba that we see in Genesis 21 when Abraham met  Abimelech and they entered into a covenant that still exists today. Beersheba means seventh well or well of a sevenfold oath.

On 31 October 1917, the Australians attacked and took that place in the well known charge of the light brigade.

Bible stories are not only bible stories, but part of human history.

Both Isaac and Rebekah saw each other from a distance. She asked the man who found her who this man was and when he told her, she covered her face with a veil and a mark of respect and of modesty as was their custom.

This is how they met and love blossomed. I shall bring this to a close with the text. I hope you have enjoyed this and learned something.

One evening as he was taking a walk out in the fields, meditating, he looked up and saw the camels coming.
Rebekah noticed him and quickly dismounted.
“Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?” she asked the servant.
And he replied, “It is my master’s son!”So she covered her face with her veil.
Then the servant told Isaac the whole story.
And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her very much, and she was a special comfort to him after the loss of his mother. Genesis 24:63-67

Thank you for reading this. I hope it meant somethingto you.

Robert