The Bible tells us a story about Abraham, who was the father of the nation of Israel. His title is much like George Washington being called the father of our country. In this story, Abraham sent a trusted servant to his home country to find a wife for his son, Isaac. When the servant arrived in the land of Abraham’s tribe, he stopped near the community water-well where the village women came for water at the end of the day.
While the servant waited for the women to come for water, he talked to God. Because the servant had faith that nothing was too difficult for Abraham’s God; he asked: “O God of my master, Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.” Then he asked God to perform the impossible. He said, “the woman to whom I say ’Please let down your pitcher that I may drink’ and she says ‘Drink, and I also will give your camels a drink,’ let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac.”
What makes this an extremely hard request is that not only does the woman have to give a drink to a stranger; but she also must offer to water the camels. Each camel would drink 30 gallons if allowed to have their fill. Also, she had no social obligation to water the camels.
As soon as the servant finished his request, God answered. A beautiful woman named Rebekah came out the city gate and went to the well to fill her jug. After she had hoisted the heavy, filled jug to her shoulder and was on her way back to her home, the servant ran over to meet her. He asked, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.” Without hesitation, she took the heavy jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink. Then, Rebekah said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”
We’re not talking light-weight plastic jugs here, the jugs, back then, were heavy even without water in them. Yet, she offered to draw many gallons. That would be several trips down to the well and back to where the camels were waiting. Abraham’s servant sat watching her in amazement as she ran back to the well to refill her pitcher time after time. (In those days, women had their work – and men had theirs. They did not cross those boundaries; so it wasn’t unusual for the woman to get the water without a man’s assistance) Abraham’s servant finally asked Rebekah, “Whose daughter are you?” He wanted to be sure she met Abraham’s requirement that she had to be of Abraham’s tribe. She was the daughter of Abraham’s nephew, his brother’s son. Our God was making the servant’s job easy. The servant bowed down and worshiped God and thanked God for leading him to the house of his master’s brethren.
Why are stories like this meaningful to us? Who cares that such stories are written down so we can read them centuries later? Well, actually, they are meaningful because the stories show us a glimpse of the God of the impossible. Nothing is too difficult for our God. These stories give us the opportunity to see that we can trust God’s plans for our tomorrow. And, when we pray to God, we can trust that He hears us. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow; and He cares about our tomorrow just as He cared who Isaac’s wife was going to be.
(Genesis chapter 24)