I want to share from Genesis 24 this morning. I remember preaching from this passage a few months back.
• This morning I want to look through the eyes of the servant of Abraham and learn the principles of receiving guidance from God.
• The chief servant was given a very daunting task but he returned with success. He had a remarkable experience, nothing short of a miracle.
He was asked by his master to go back to his native land and find a wife for his son. He got what he was looking for because, according to his own words, God LED HIM.
• If God led him and he found success, we want to learn how we can receive such guidance from God.
Let’s read a short portion of this account in Genesis 24:1-9.
Principle 1: KEEP TO GOD’S WORD
You can also say keep to God’s will or God’s way. To be led we need to follow His way.
• This is plain common sense. God will not guide you into something that contravenes His will.
• It’s like slapping His own face if God leads us to something that transgresses His own will.
Abraham gave the servant specific instructions because he was determined to keep to God’s ways, what God has revealed to him.
• Isaac must not marry a Canaanite woman and he must not leave the Promised Land, the land God has given him.
• Go look for someone “among my own relatives” Abraham tells the servant. This is a tall order. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But Abraham was determined to stick to it and wanted his servant to promise him that he too will stick to it.
• It is clear that the question is not about whether the task is difficult. It is about God’s will.
• It is not about taking the easy way or taking the shortcut. We are to keep to God’s way no matter what the cost.
The servant left in obedience and kept to his master’s instruction. And he accomplished the ‘impossible’ task.
• He found the right place, the right family and the right woman.
• He found the “needle in the haystack” because HE WAS LED.
He said that a couple of times. He praised God in verse 27 and said the Lord “had led me on the journey”.
• When he shared with Rebekah’s parents, he said “the Lord led me on the right road…” (v.48) It was clear to him that God was leading him on this journey.
• If you are led, how can you not reach your goal? When you are led by God, how can you even go wrong? You won’t.
UNLESS we are not following, we are not listening. Not that God is not leading, we are not following.
• We have chosen to walk our way, consciously or unconsciously. If consciously, then we need to make a U-turn and repent. If unconsciously, then we need to take time to SEEK Him.
• God is gracious. Even if you have taken the wrong path, He can make it right. Even if you have taken a detour, He can bring you back to where He wants you to be.
Why am I so sure about that? I saw it in Israel’s history. God brings His people back to where He wants them to be, when they humble themselves and seek His face.
• God will guide us when we are determine to KEEP TO HIS WORD and follow His ways.
Principle 2: TAKE STEPS TO FULFIL GOD’S WILL
Don’t sit there and wait for things to happen. Abraham took steps to see that his son will get a wife from among his own people.
• He did not sit idling by and wait for God’s will to be done.
• It has never been that way in the Scriptures, to see God’s will being fulfilled simply by our waiting passively for it to happen.
• But somehow that how I used to think when I was young. That’s how many believers are still believing today.
• “Since it’s God’s will, He will surely do something. If He is sovereign and almighty, then everything will happen according to His plan. We’ll just need to wait for it to happen.”
If you do nothing, you will get nothing. Nothing is automatic. We need to put feet to our faith and start walking.
• Abraham understands this. He believes in God’s sovereignty, he believes in God’s plan, and yet he decides to come up with an action plan.
• And it was not an easy one. The servant has to keep to what he was told, and he did.
• We can tell from his actions that he too is a believer of God.
• 24:12 we see him praying to God for help: “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today….” And thanked Him and worshipped Him in verse 26.
The servant got what he needs because he trusted God. Trust is not a passive word. There’s a lot he needs to do.
• And he got what he asked for - success! God granted him success. And it was a miracle.
• When we take the appropriate actions to do God’s will, we can experience God’s help and His blessing.
• God is happy to help us fulfils His will. It just makes sense. He is most glad to see that His will be done and His plan accomplished.
Heed God’s Word and start DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY, and God will grant us success.
Principle 3: PRAY FOR GOD’S INTERVENTION
This is interesting. Look at how the servant prayed - Gen 24:12-14
12Then he prayed, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14May 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."
He just made an audacious prayer! He is setting up the scene for God to show up.
• “This is what I am going to do. Now, do your part, LORD!”
• It is very much like Gideon’s prayer, when he wanted to be sure of God’s will (cf. Judges 6:36-40).
Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised – 37look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." 38And that is what happened…
39Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." 40That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
They motivated by a common desire to do God’s will! If we are doing God’s work, we can be bold in asking God for His help.
• They prayed for what ONLY GOD can do. They prayed for divine intervention.
• Some people see things happen. Some make things happen. We ASK God to make things happen. We can be BOLD in asking God to intervene!
Principle 4: EXPECT GOD TO ACT
In faith, expect God’s best. The servant not only trusted God, he expected Him to show up.
• His prayer wasn’t one of scepticism or “let’s see what God will do” kind-of prayer. He EXPECTED God to come true.
• Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t expect to get it? That’s why you didn’t get it. God works according to faith.
James says if any of you lacks wisdom, ask God. James 1:6-8 “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
I sense that the servant’s faith was nurtured watching his master trusts God.
• He kept mentioning the phrase “the Lord, the God of my master Abraham.”
• Abraham set him a good example. His parting words to him was: “He will send His angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.” (24:7)
• “God will send His angel BEFORE you. You can do it. God will help you.”
Abraham expects God will show up. The servant expects God to show up. In faith, we expect God’s best when we pray.
• God tells us in Jer 33:3, "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." God will surprise you.
• Eph 3:20 says God is one “who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…”
Many today have gotten used to living life without any surprises from God.
• Even though they believe in God, they expect everything to go on as usual.
• Frankly, that cannot be the Christian life. Our life in Christ is an adventure. God is working out His plan through us. Every day is an adventure with Him.
Pray and ask God for great things. Ask for what God wants for you.
• In faith, expect God’s best!
Keep these in mind:
1. Keep to God’s Word
2. Take steps to do God’s will
3. Pray for His intervention, and
4. Expect great things from Him
