Latest / Reformed Thinking / Providence, Prayer, and Covenant Fidelity (Genesis 24:45–49)

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Providence, Prayer, and Covenant Fidelity (Genesis 24:45–49) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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I am really glad you are here with us today.
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If you are a regular listener, you know the drill.
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We are two Protestant Christians who take the Bible seriously and
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we view the world through the lens of Reformed theology and
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the Westminster Confession, right?
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We're not here to give you a surface level pep talk.
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We want to open up the documents, look at the text, and
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really understand the architecture of God's plan.
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It is good to be here. And you are so right about the
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architecture. We aren't just looking for, you
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know, nice sentiments. We want to see how the
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sovereignty of God works in real time, in real history, OK.
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And today we are doing a deep dive into a story that I think
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everyone thinks they know. Oh.
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For sure. We are in Genesis chapter 24.
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Specifically, we are zooming in on verses 45 through 49.
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Now I have to admit, when I first looked at the reading list
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for this, I thought, OK, Isaac and Rebecca, I know this.
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It's the romance chapter. It is the romance chapter in a
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sense, yeah, but that's not the main point.
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But it feels very, I don't know, Hallmark, you know, ha.
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Yes, that's a good way to put it.
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You have the faithful servant, the camels, the sunset, the
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beautiful girl at the well, the gold bracelets.
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I mean if you look at it with modern eyes it looks like a
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script for some generic Christian romance movie.
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Love comes softly to the neck of.
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Totally, but that is the common misconception, isn't?
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It is, and unfortunately that is how it is often preached.
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It gets turned into a how to manual for dating.
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Oh, absolutely. Step one, pray.
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Step 2. Look for a sign.
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Step three, God drops your soulmate in your lap.
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But if we stop there, we are missing the point.
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I mean completely. The sources we have today argued
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that this isn't just a romance, it is a a theological
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battlefield. A battlefield.
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That is a strong word for a story about watering camels.
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It is the only word that fits when you understand what's
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really at stake here. We have to widen the lens.
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This isn't just about a boy meeting a girl.
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This is about the crisis of the seed.
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OK, let's unpack that crisis of the seed.
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That sounds like a sci-fi novel or something.
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Well, it sort of is the original cosmic battle.
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It goes all the way back to Genesis 3.15.
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This is the Protoevangelium, the first announcement of the Gospel
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first. Whisper of it, yeah.
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God tells the serpent that the seed of the woman is going to
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crush his head. That is the promise of the
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Messiah. From that moment on, all of
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history is a war. The Spirit is trying to stop
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that seed from arriving, and God is preserving that line against
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all odds. So every time we see a genealogy
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or a marriage in the Old Testament, it isn't just filler?
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No, it is a war report. It is tracking the supply line
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of the Messiah. Precisely so.
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Fast forward to Genesis 24. Abraham is old.
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He is well stricken in age. The text says Sarah is dead and
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Isaac. Isaac is the miracle child.
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He is the only link to the promise.
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If Isaac doesn't have a son, the promise fails.
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The whole thing grinds to a halt.
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The serpent wins. Game over.
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And they are living in Canaan, which, as our notes point out,
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is not a great place to find a wife if you were trying to
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maintain a holy Lyme. No, it's the worst place.
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The Canaanites are under the curse of Noah.
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They represent the city of man, they are idolatrous, and their
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entire culture is antithetical to the covenant.
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It's hostile territory. It is so if Isaac marries a
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local Canaanite girl. The Holy Lion is corrupted, the
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distinctiveness of the people of God is swallowed up.
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It gets diluted into nothing. So.
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Abraham isn't just being a snob here.
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He isn't saying, oh, those Canaanite girls aren't good
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enough for my son. Not at all.
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He is terrified that the covenant is going to be
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dissolved. That is it.
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It is the antithesis, the separation between the seed of
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the woman and the seed of the serpent.
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It's a non negotiable line. Abraham makes his servant swear
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a terrifying oath. Hand under the thigh.
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Which is a very serious, very physical kind of oath.
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Super serious, he swears that he will not take a wife from the
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daughters of the Canaanites. He has to go back to the old
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country, to the family line to find a bride who fits the
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promise. So when the servant sets out
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with those 10 camels, he isn't just playing matchmaker, No, he
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is on a mission to save the world, essentially.
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Humanly speaking, yes. If he fails, the line ends.
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So the tension in this chapter is incredibly high.
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It is not cute, it is desperate. That sets the stage perfectly.
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So the servant travels hundreds of miles.
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He arrives at the well outside the city of Nahor, and he prays.
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And this is where we get into our specific text for today,
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verse 45. Before I had finished speaking
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in my heart, behold, Rebecca came out.
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There is a massive amount of theology packed into that one
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sentence. It's just, it's incredible.
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Let's start with that first phrase speaking in my heart.
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The Hebrew is what is it Ani miraber E libi.
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That's it, and it's literally I was speaking to my heart.
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To my heart, which implies silence, he wasn't talking out
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loud. Right.
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And you have to understand, in the ancient world, prayer was
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almost always vocal. You stood up, you spoke, people
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heard you. But here the text specifically
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points out that this was an internal dialogue.
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Like his own thoughts. He was formulating the thought,
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but his lips weren't moving. This seems like a small detail,
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but the theologians in our stack of sources, they go crazy over
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this. They say it is a direct shot at
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some really bad theology. It is a polemic, a direct one.
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Think about the modern Word of Faith movement, or even just
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popular superstition. Oh yeah, there is this idea that
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spoken words have some kind of creative power that you have to
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release the prayer into the atmosphere for it to work.
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I have heard that I declare and decree.
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Or the idea that if you don't say it out loud, God can't hear
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it. Or maybe the angels can't act on
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it. Or.
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Something exactly. It turns prayer into a form of
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magic. It suggests that the mechanism
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of prayer is the sound wave or the vibration, not the
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disposition of the heart toward an all knowing God.
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Right, But Genesis 24 blows that up.
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The servant didn't make a sound. The synapses in his brain were
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firing, but the air wasn't moving.
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And yet the God of heaven was downloading the request in real
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time. It reminds me of Psalm 139 verse
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4, even before a word is on my tongue.
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Behold, O Lord, you know it all together.
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That's the perfect cross reference.
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God is omniscient. He doesn't need us to articulate
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our needs to inform Him of something He doesn't know.
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He knows the thought before we even think it.
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So the servant's prayer was hidden from everyone at the
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well. Totally hidden.
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But it was roaring in the ears of the Almighty.
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That's a great way to put it. That is incredibly comforting.
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It means I don't have to have the perfect words.
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I don't have to say the magic spell.
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No, I just have to look to God. It takes the pressure off
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prayers about dependence, not performance.
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And it gets even Wilder when we look at the timing.
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Oh yeah, the text says before I had finished speaking.
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Behold, Rebecca. This is what 1 commentator calls
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the collision of clauses. You have two timelines crashing
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into each other. OK, you have the timeline of the
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servant standing there closing his eyes, just starting to pray,
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and you have the timeline of God's answer.
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And the answer was already in motion.
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It was already on its way. The Hebrew word here is term.
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It means not yet. The servant hadn't even gotten
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to the AM men yet. He was maybe halfway through his
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sentence in his mind. Right, but think about the
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logistics. Rebecca came out of the city
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with her jar. She had to walk from her
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father's house, through the streets, out the gate and down
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to the well. That is a 10, maybe 15 minute
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walk. So she left her house before he
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started praying. Exactly, While the servant was
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parking the camels and stressing out, thinking oh Lord please
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help me, I don't know what to do, Rebecca was already putting
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her samples on. She was already walking toward
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him. The answer was dispatched before
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the request was fully formed. That creates a big problem for
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open theism, doesn't it? It destroys it.
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It completely dismantles it. Open theism is the idea that God
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is learning as he goes, that he looks at the future as a set of
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possibilities, but he doesn't know for sure what people will
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do. He's reacting to us.
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Right, so an open theist would have to say God looked down, saw
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the servant praying, and then panicked.
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He had to scramble to find a girl and whisper in her ear.
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Hey, go to the well right now. Like a cosmic fire drill.
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Exactly. But the text says the provision
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preceded the petition. God didn't scramble.
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He didn't react. He ordained Rebecca's arrival
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was a fixed point in the mind of God from before the foundation
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of the world. Wow.
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The servant walked onto a stage where the props were already set
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and the other actor was already walking out from the wings.
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So to the secular eye, or even just to the servant in that
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moment, it looks like a coincidence.
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Wow, what are the odds? I just started praying and here
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she is. It looks like luck, a happy
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accident. But the Bible tells us there is
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no such thing as luck. This is the doctrine of
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concurrence. We see this in the Westminster
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Confession, chapter 5 on Providence.
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It teaches that God is the first cause of all things, but He
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works through second causes. He doesn't just ZAP things into
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existence, He works through ordinary means.
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Ordinary means. So God moved the servant to pray
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at save 500 PM and God moves Rebecca to pick up her jar at
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4:50 PM Correct. And he timed their walking
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speeds and the traffic in the city so that they would
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intersect at the well at exactly the right second.
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It is mathematically precise Providence that is mind bending.
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It means God is governing the micro details.
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He is governing the thirst of the camels.
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He is governing the household chores of a young woman in
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Mesopotamia, all to keep his promise to Abraham.
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It should make us view our own lives differently.
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There are no accidents. The person you bump into, the
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delay in traffic, the phone call you receive, it is all part of
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the architecture. So the collision happens,
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Rebecca is there, but the servant doesn't just say, OK,
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you're a girl, get in the van. No, no, he has a test.
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And this is where we have to clarify something that is so
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often misunderstood. The servant had prayed for a
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specific sign. He said, Let the young woman to
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whom I shall say, please let down your jar that I may drink,
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and who shall say, drink, and I will water your camels.
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Let her be the one. Now people use this today to
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justify putting out a fleece. You know, Lord, if I should take
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this job, make the phone ring in the next 30 seconds.
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Right, if she is the one, let her be wearing a blue hat.
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Yes, exactly that. That is a form of mysticism.
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It is treating God like a magic 8 ball.
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It is usually a way to avoid making a hard decision based on
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wisdom and scripture. We want a shortcut.
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We want a sign so we don't have to think we've all been there.
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We want the writing in the sky. Oh, for sure.
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But look at the servants test. Was it arbitrary?
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Was it like flipping a coin? No, it was a moral audit.
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It was a character test. To explain that, how does
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watering camels tell you anything about a person's soul?
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He was looking for a specific quality.
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The Hebrew word is hezd. We translate it as kindness or
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mercy, but it's deeper. It's covenant kindness, loyal
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love. OK.
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He wanted to see if this woman possessed A generosity and a
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servant heart that went way, way beyond what was required by
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custom. And this brings us to the Camel
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math. I read the breakdown in the
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notes and honestly my back started hurting just thinking
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about. It it is so easy to skim past
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it. Drink and I will give the
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camels. Drink also.
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It sounds like a polite gesture. Here, have a glass of water for
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your pet. But let's look at the biology.
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These camels have crossed a desert.
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They are depleted. A thirsty camel can drink 20 to
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30 gallons of water in a single session.
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And he had 10 of them. 10 camels.
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So let's be conservative. Let's say they only drink 20
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gallons each. OK, that is 200 gallons of
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water. That is a massive amount of
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liquid and Rebecca is carrying a jar on her shoulder.
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How big is an ancient water jar? Maybe 3 gallons and that would
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be a heavy jar over 24 lbs of water plus the pottery.
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So do the math 200 gallons divided by 3 gallons.
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That is roughly 65 to 70 trips. 70.
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Trips. She has to go down the steps
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into the spring, fill the heavy jar, walk back up the steps and
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pour into the through, then go back down 60-70, maybe 80 times.
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This isn't 5 minutes of work. This is not a small favor, no.
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This is hours. This is back breaking sweaty
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aerobic labor. And remember, she volunteered
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for this. He didn't even ask her to.
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He didn't ask, he just asked for a drink for himself.
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She saw an old stranger and thought, I am going to spend my
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entire afternoon keeping his animals alive out of pure
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generosity. That is wild.
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Most people would have said here is a drink for you Sir, but your
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animals are your problem or they would have expected payment.
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Exactly. The servant wasn't looking for a
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sign in the mystical sense. He was filtering out the lazy.
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He was filtering out the entitled.
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He was filtering out the girls who were just there to socialize
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right. He needed a matriarch who had
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the physical and moral stamina to sustain a household in the
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rugged conditions of the Promised land.
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He needed someone who worked. It is the third use of the law
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in action. The law guides us in gratitude.
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She was showing her character through her sweat.
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Kindness through sweat. I like that it really challenges
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our view of spiritual people. We think spiritual people are
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the ones sitting around meditating or.
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Reading, I've been quiet times. Right.
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But here the woman chosen to be the mother of Israel is found
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doing chores, Hard physical chores.
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She was faithful in the mundane. She wasn't at a retreat.
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She was working and that is where Providence met her.
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There is a lesson there for everyone waiting on God for
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something. Don't just sit there, do the
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next right thing. Be faithful in your work,
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whatever it is. So she passes the character test
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with flying colors. I mean an A+.
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Absolutely. But that isn't enough.
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Yeah, the servant still needs to know one more thing.
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Right verse 47, he asks, whose daughter are you?
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This is the deal breaker. It has to be because even if she
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is the hardest worker in Mesopotamia, even if she is the
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kindest person on Earth, if she is a Canaanite, or if she is
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from a family that has completely abandoned Yahweh, she
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cannot be the bride. Because of the oath to Abraham.
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Yes, the bride must be in the world, but not of it.
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She has to come from the kin. She has to be someone who can be
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called out of the old country and brought into the Covenant
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family. This speaks to the doctrine of
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separation. I know that sounds negative to
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modern years. We like to be inclusive.
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We don't like drawing lines. We don't.
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But here exclusion is necessary for preservation.
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It is. The church is always called to
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be distinct. We are called out of the city of
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Man. If Rebecca stays in her father's
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house, she stays part of the old order to be the bride of Isaac.
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She has to leave. She has to separate.
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It's a fundamental move. So the servant asked the
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question, holding his breath, I imagine.
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And she answers. I am the daughter of Beth Yule,
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the son of Milka, whom she bore to Nehor.
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Boom, the lock clicks into place.
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Nehor is Abraham's brother. She is the grand niece.
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The lineage matches perfectly. So now the servant has
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confirmation on all fronts that the character matches, the
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lineage matches, the timing matches.
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What does he do? This is one of my favorite
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moments in the text. Verse 48.
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And then I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord.
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He doesn't high 5 himself. He doesn't say I'm the best
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servant ever. He doesn't run to tell the
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family immediately. Yeah, he drops to the ground.
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The Hebrew words here khodad and shaka are very physical.
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Khodad means to bow the head. Shaka means to prostate oneself
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to get down in the dust. It's a full body response.
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It is a. Total collapse of dignity in
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front of God. It is the reflex of the
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redeemed. When a believer sees God work,
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the automatic genuine response is not pride, it is worship.
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It is to go low. It reminds me of the Westminster
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Confession chapter 21 on religious worship.
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It says worship is a duty that we owe to God.
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It isn't just a feeling. It is a response to who he is
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and what he does. And.
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Look at what the servant says. Blessed be the Lord, the God of
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my master Abraham. He credits God entirely.
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He says the Lord has led me in the way of truth.
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And the Hebrew there is Derek Emmett.
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That phrase way of truth, What does that imply?
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It implies the right path, the sure path, the true way.
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The servant knows he didn't navigate this by his own GPS.
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He didn't figure this out. He knows that if he had stopped
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to tie his shoe, he would have missed her, right?
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If he had walked a little faster, he would have been too
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early. He realizes he was a passenger
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in a vehicle driven by God. This is a massive critique of
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our modern pragmatism. We love to take credit.
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I made this happen. I networked.
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I strategized. Pragmatism says it worked
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because I am smart. Faith says it happened because
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God is faithful. The servant had a plan, yes.
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He was wise, yes. But he knew that the success of
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the mission was 100% due to the said and he met of God.
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Has said and he meant. There are those words again,
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Mercy and truth. They are the twin pillars of
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God's character. They always show up together.
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His said is His covenant loyalty.
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He makes promises because He is kind and gracious.
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He met is His truthfulness, His reliability.
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He keeps promising because he is true.
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She doesn't lie. He cannot lie.
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So the servant is standing there looking at Rebecca and seeing
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the physical proof that God does not lie.
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He is seeing the promise to Abraham coming true in real
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time. Yes, He is interpreting his
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reality through the lens of Scripture, or in his case, the
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Word of God-given to Abraham. That is sola scriptura.
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In principle, we don't interpret God through our circumstances.
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We interpret our circumstances through God's Word.
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OK, I want to shift gears here. We have walked through the
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narrative, we have seen the prayer, the test, the worship,
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but the sources we were looking at say there's another layer
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here, a deeper layer. The typology.
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The gospel picture. Right.
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And I want to be careful here because sometimes people go
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overboard with allegory. They start finding hidden
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meanings and tent pegs and that kind of thing.
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But this seems structural. This seems intentional.
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It is absolutely intentional. This is redemptive historical
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interpretation. We are seeing that history isn't
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just one thing after another. It is a shadow of things to
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come. The characters in Genesis 24 are
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playing roles that foreshadow the gospel.
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OK, let's catch the movie. Who is Abraham?
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Abraham represents God the Father.
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He is the rich king who desires a bride for his son.
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He initiates the mission. He sends his servant.
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He stays behind, orchestrating the whole thing.
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And Isaac? Isaac is clearly the Son, a type
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of Christ. Remember what happened just two
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chapters earlier in Genesis 22? Abraham took Isaac up Mount
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Moriah and metaphorically sacrificed him.
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The Binding of Isaac. Yes, Isaac carried the wood on
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his back. He was the only begotten Son who
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was offered up and then in a figure received back from the
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dead. And where is Isaac in chapter
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24? He's pretty passive in this
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whole story. That is the key.
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He is absent from the action. He is not in the far country of
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Mesopotamia. He is waiting in the promised
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land for his bride to be brought to him.
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That fits perfectly. Christ has ascended.
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He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
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He's in physically walking the earth right now.
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He is waiting for the bride to be brought to Him.
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Exactly. He is the heir of all things.
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Abraham has given everything to Isaac, just as the Father has
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given all authority to the Son. So who brings the bride?
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Who is the servant? The Servant represents the Holy
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Spirit, and notice that in this entire long chapter, it's 67
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verses. The Servant is never named,
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that's true. We assume it is Eliezer of
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Damascus based on earlier chapters, but here he is just
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the Servant. He's anonymous.
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Just as the Holy Spirit is self effacing, Jesus says in John 16
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that the Spirit will not speak on His own authority.
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He will glorify me. The servant doesn't talk about
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himself. He doesn't say look how great of
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a camel driver I am. No, he says.
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My master is rich, his son is the heir.
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His entire job is to spotlight the sun and to adorn the bride.
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He gives Rebecca gold, jewelry, clothing.
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These are visible words. They're like the gifts of the
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spirit or the means of grace. He gives her a foretaste of the
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sun's wealth to lure her out of the old country.
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And that makes Rebecca. The church.
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She is the elect, she is living in a Pagan land, She is,
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spiritually speaking, dead in trespasses and sins, and the
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servant comes and calls her by name.
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And she has to make a choice. She has to leave her father's
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house. That is the call of
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discipleship. Forget your people and your
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father's house. Psalm 45 says she has to leave
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her old identity behind and here is the beautiful part.
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She agrees to marry a man she has never seen.
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First Peter 1.8 Though you have not seen him, you love him.
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That is the definition of the church we love, a groom we have
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not yet seen face to face. We follow the leading of the
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Spirit across the desert of this life, trusting that the groom is
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waiting for us at the end. That really changes how you read
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this. It moves the story from being a
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nice romance to being the story of my own salvation.
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I am Rebecca. We are all Rebecca, we have been
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found by the Spirit at the well of our own mundane lives and we
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are being invited to a wedding supper.
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This also guards US against moralism.
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If we just teach this as be nice like Rebecca, we are teaching
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law. Right.
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Try harder. But if we teach it as see how
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God seeks a bride, we are teaching gospel.
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Amen. It is not about our performance,
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it is about the Father's plan to honor the Son by giving him a
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people. So bringing it back to the text,
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the servant has laid all this out.
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He is sitting in Bethuel's living room.
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He has told the story of the prayer, the water, the lineage.
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And now, in verse 49, he drops the ultimatum.
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He demands A verdict. He says, Now then, if you are
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going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell
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me, and if not, tell me. Providence creates
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responsibility. You cannot remain neutral when
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you see God's hands so clearly. The servant has just presented
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irrefutable evidence that God is in this.
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Now the family has to decide are they going to align with God or
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block him? He uses those words again.
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Steadfast love and faithfulness. The said and he meant.
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He is asking for covenant loyalty.
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He is saying the train is leaving the station.
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Are you on it or not? This feels like a rebuke to our
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modern culture. We love to keep our options
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open. Oh, absolutely.
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We have FOMO, fear of missing out.
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We don't want to commit to a church or a spouse or a job
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because something better might come along tomorrow.
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We love ambiguity. We love to say I am processing
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or I am just waiting on the Lord.
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Often waiting on the Lord is code for.
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I don't want to do the hard thing that is clearly in front
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of me. And the servant doesn't give
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them time to process for six months.
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He says, tell me now so I can turn to the right or the left.
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He has to move. That shows his freedom.
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By the way. He isn't desperate.
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If they say no, he knows God will provide another way.
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He isn't begging, He is offering an opportunity.
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And this ultimatum applies to the Gospel too.
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This is the seeker sensitive critique.
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It is. We sometimes present the gospel
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as a suggestion. Try Jesus.
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He might help your marriage, or he can give you your best life
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now. But the biblical gospel is a
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command. It is an ultimatum.
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Repent and believe. You cannot linger at the well
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forever. You cannot just admire the
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jewelry. You have to leave the country.
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You have to get on the camel you have.
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To get on the camel. It also speaks to the idol of
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feelings and relationships. The sources point out that
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nowhere in this text does it ask if Rebecca felt a spark.
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Shivers in the liver. That is what 1 pastor calls it.
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I like that we are obsessed with chemistry.
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Do I have butterflies? Is there a vibe?
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But the servant didn't check for butterflies, he checked for
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character and covenant standing. Marriage isn't about the spark,
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it is about the suitability for the mission.
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It is about the mission. Can this person run the race
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with you? Can they labor with you?
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Rebecca proved she could labor. That is what mattered.
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So the family responds. They are basically cornered by
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God's Providence. Yeah, Laban and Beth Wool say
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the thing has come from the Lord.
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We cannot speak to you, bad or good.
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They recognize the sovereignty of God.
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They realize their opinion doesn't matter.
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God has spoken through events, they just have to sign the
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papers, so to speak. And that brings us to the
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application for the listener, because we aren't just watching
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a movie here, we are being confronted by this story.
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We are. This is the ultimatum of the
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gospel. Just like Rebecca, you are being
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presented with a choice. The Holy Spirit is testifying to
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you about the Son. He is showing you the riches of
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Christ in the Word. The question is, will you go?
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Will you leave your old country? Will you leave your autonomy?
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Will you leave your sin? Will you leave your insistence
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on controlling your own life to go to a groom you have not seen?
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True faith speaks truth. It says Tell me it answers yes.
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And it acts. Faith is an active thing.
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Rebecca had to pack her bags and get on the camel.
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It wasn't just a mental ascent. This has been such a full
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discussion. We started with the idea that
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this is a theological battlefield, not just a romance.
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We saw the silent prayer that proves God hears our thoughts
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before they're even words. We saw the collision of clauses,
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God answering before we ask, showing his perfect
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orchestration. We saw the camel math, the sheer
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physical labor that proved Rebecca's character.
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No shortcuts, no mystical fleeces.
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Just work. We saw the worship, the reflex
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of the redeemed to bow down and credit God for leading in the
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right way. And we unpack the typology, the
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Father of the Spirit, the Son and the Church.
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And finally, the ultimatum. The need to decide.
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It really is a comprehensive view of how God works.
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He governs the details from the synapses of a thought to the
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thirst of a camel to accomplish his eternal decree.
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So what is the take away for the person listening right now?
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Maybe they are struggling with a decision.
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Maybe they are waiting for a spouse.
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Maybe they are wondering if God hears them.
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The take away is that you can trust the architect.
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You don't need to manipulate the outcome.
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You don't need to look for strange signs or try to force
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things. You can pray with humble
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dependence, knowing God hears the silent cry.
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You could just rest in that. You can rest and you can walk in
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wisdom doing the next right thing, filtering life through
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God's Word, not your feelings. And when God makes the path
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plain like he did for the servant.
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Then you bow, you worship, and you go.
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You get on the camel. Don't be vague with God.
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If He's calling, get moving. Amen.
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Blessed be the Lord who leads us in the right way.
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I think that is the perfect place to land.
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It is not about luck, it is about the Lord.
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Grace and peace to you. Before we sign off completely, I
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want to circle back to one image that is going to stick with me,
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The image of the servant bowing in the dust.
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It is powerful, isn't it? In our world we are so busy, we
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are so pragmatic. We move from 1 task to the next,
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we get the yes and we immediately move to what's next
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on the To Do List. How often do we actually stop
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physically or mentally and just acknowledge this was God?
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It is a lost art. We treat God like a vending
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machine. We put in the prayer, get the
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snack, and we walk away. But the servant stopped.
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He broke the flow of the action to give glory that pause, that
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posture of humility. That is where theology becomes
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doxology. Theology becomes doxology.
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Knowledge becomes worship. That is the goal.
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We don't study the Bible just to get smarter or win arguments.
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We study to worship better. If your theology doesn't make
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you bow, it is just vanity. That is a challenge for all of
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us this week. Watch for the hand of God in the
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big things, in the small things, and when you see it, bow, even
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if it's just in your heart. Amen.
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Thank you for listening to Reformed Thinking.
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We hope this deep dive has given you a fresh set of eyes for
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Genesis 24. We will see you next time.