Above And Beyond

Above and Beyond

Genesis 24:1-9 Matthew 5:38-48 Test Genesis 24:9-20

Sometimes in order to obtain things that are truly worth having, we have to go above and beyond the call of duty. We’re often touched when someone does something extra special for us or simply go out of their way on our behalf when there’s nothing in it for them. I can recall as a kid about 11 years old on a snowy evening heading toward Ga. for Christmas. I was asleep in the back of the station wagon and somebody crashed into the back of us. We were hundreds of miles from home, but there was a family who saw the accident. There were about 10 of us in the car. They took us to their home and put us up for the night until we got the car repaired. They fed us and sent us on our way. We never saw them again. That was almost thirty years ago, but I remember that act of kindness which was above and beyond the call of the moment.

Sometimes we miss out on great blessings that could have been ours simply because we didn’t take that extra moment to go above and beyond what was called for at the time.

Pastor Toby has shared her story, how she was about to have to leave college because she simply did not have the money to continue. Yet her last act at the school was to do something small, yet it was above and beyond what she had to do. She saw a man looking as though he was lost.

In her own friendly way she offered to help him, and to escort him to the place where he was going. She did not know that man from anyone else but she went above and beyond. That man was so touched by her willingness to go out of her way for him, that the moment he found out she was leaving school because of money, he offered to pay all of her expenses at this private college for the next two years. The interesting thing is that she was not out looking for help, she was simply being the witness that Jesus wanted her to be in going above and beyond what was required.

We find a woman in the Scriptures who was willing to go above and beyond what was required, and in doing so, found the greatest of blessings for her life. The story is found in Genesis 24. We saw in our Scripture reading that Abraham wanted to get a wife for his son. Abraham was the first Jew called out by God, and God had promised to make him a great nation. Abraham waited a long time to have a son. Back then, the parents were responsible for choosing a mate for their children.

Genesis 24:10 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. 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. Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.

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."

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. 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. The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar." "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." 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.

Let’s look again at verse 19, it says After she had given him a drink, she said, "I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking." The first thing I want you to notice about Rebekah is that she was willing to go above and beyond what was expected. You may say, big deal, I would have given the man a drink and gave his camels some water. But you see for you, it would be a matter of simply turning on a faucet. She had to get her water out of a well. Understand that a camel will drink between 20 and 30 gallons of water each. Eliezer had started out with 10 camels.