A PRELUDE TO MARY

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.

When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way to my master." But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."

But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."

Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?"

"I will go," she said.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies."

Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

Genesis 24:53-61

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Before Jesus was born into this world, He was supernaturally conceived within His mother Mary.

You remember how that happened, right?

In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, verses 26 through 38, we see where God sent His angel Gabriel to speak with Mary and deliver some remarkable news. At first, Mary was frightened when Gabriel told her that she would become pregnant and deliver a son who would be named Jesus but the angel told her to not be afraid. The scriptures tell us that Mary was puzzled and confused because she was a virgin and wondered how she could possibly have a child. And so Gabriel informs her that she would be overshadowed by the power of God through the Holy Spirit and then bear a son who would be called the Son of God.

After this, we find Gabriel adding this incredible assurance:

"For nothing is impossible with God."

After hearing this, Mary’s response is one of the most remarkable statements of faith found in all the Bible:

"I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."

Note here that Mary never questioned the Lord’s plan. She didn’t laugh at what Gabriel was proposing like Sarah did when God tried to tell her she would become pregnant at an old age.

No, she responded in obedience, fully submitting to the Lord as His servant.

Let’s rewind now to our scripture today from the 24th chapter of the Book of Genesis. There, we know that God has helped Abraham’s chief servant find a wife (Rebekah) for Isaac and the servant has dined and received support from Rebekah’s family (Betheul and Laban). As we turn to our passage for today, we find the chief servant trying to complete his mission by returning to Abraham from Nahor with Isaac’s future bride in tow only to face a hurdle that threatened to derail the plan. Look again at these verses:

Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.

When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way to my master." But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."

But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."

Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."

So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?"

"I will go," she said.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham's servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies."

Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Genesis 24:53-61

A quick question:

Have you ever had a plan laid out and everything seemed to be going just as expected until something happens that disrupts the plan?

Well, in our verses for today, we find Abraham’s chief servant facing such a dilemma. For as he prepared to leave Nahor with Rebekah the day after his dinner with her family, we find her family proposing a delay with Betheul and Laban asking:

"Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."

In defense of Rebekah’s family, it had to be incredibly hard for them to send her away. After all, she was a daughter and sister to them, someone they loved dearly, and now they were sending her off with a complete stranger to marry another complete stranger. I think anyone would agree that this would be difficult.

Well, faced with this request, we sense the chief servant is a bit annoyed at the suggestion for we find him pleading with the family:

"Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."

We sense the frustration in the chief servant’s words as he so desperately wanted to return home and fulfill the oath he had taken with his master Abraham. Everything that he had done to that point had been accomplished with the Lord’s help and so in the chief servant’s mind, it was time to get going and take Rebekah to meet Isaac and her future father in law, Abraham.

Basically, the matter had come to an impasse until we find Betheul and Laban proposing a way to break the standoff.

"Let's call the girl and ask her about it."

In other words, they both were conveying that they were willing to go along with what Rebekah wanted to do. And so they ask Rebekah, "Will you go with this man”...to which she responds, "I will go."

And that was that.

We read where Betheul and Laban sent Rebekah on her way, blessing her before she leaves them to go to meet and marry she didn’t know.

Here’s another question, one that forces you to put yourself in Rebekah’s place:

Could you exhibit the same faith as she did, one that would obey God’s call to go into an unknown situation and an entirely different life with one you weren’t familiar with?

We have seen examples of this kind of faithfulness before Rebekah in this book as Noah, Abraham, and Abraham’s chief servant come to mind. But this was the first time it involved a woman, a great woman of faith who never wavered in the midst of a mysterious, challenging time in her life.

Rebekah’s actions were a beautiful prelude to what would found sometime later to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Both women displayed a remarkable faithfulness and it is my prayer that we would follow their lead, willfully and submissively obeying God’s call while identifying as His servants, no matter how unknown the future circumstances might be.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.