{"id":15962,"date":"2021-06-01T22:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_24_15-33-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-05-30T14:17:32","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T21:17:32","slug":"genesis_24_34-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_24_34-51\/","title":{"rendered":"Made to Love and Be Loved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 24:34-51\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"

Laban blessing Rebekah. Bible, Henry and Scott (c 1880).<\/p><\/div>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 24:34-51.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 24:34-48 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
\n38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’
\n39\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’
\n40\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“He replied, ‘The\u00a0LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family.
\n41\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to you–you will be released from my oath.’
\n42\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘O\u00a0LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
\n43\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,”
\n44\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has chosen for my master’s son.’
\n45\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
\n46\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.
\n47\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ “She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ “Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
\n48\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and I bowed down and worshiped the\u00a0LORD. I praised the\u00a0LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 34-48:\u00a0\u00a0Here Abraham\u2019s servant recounts to Laban the mission the wealthy Abraham gave him to find a wife for Isaac from Abraham\u2019s own clan and the remarkable way that God led him to Rebekah.<\/p>\n

The mission the wealthy Abraham gave his servant was to bring home a wife for Isaac.\u00a0\u00a0This reminds me of the mission God the Father gave His Son Jesus to bring home his bride, the church.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s interesting that when the Father was preparing a bride for His Son Jesus, He wasn\u2019t content to find some angel in heaven.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, both the Father and Jesus had their heart set on fallen, broken humanity.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that the Bible describes the relationship between Jesus and His church as that between a groom and bride speaks to the level of love, commitment, joy, intimacy and fruitfulness God intended for our relationship with Him to have.\u00a0\u00a0You were made to love God and be loved by God in a relationship characterized by love, commitment, joy, intimacy and fruitfulness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 24:49-51 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n49\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”
\n50\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the\u00a0LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.
\n51\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has directed.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 49-51: Based on the testimony of Abraham\u2019s servant, Rebekah\u2019s brother Laban and Rebekah\u2019s father Bethuel could tell that \u201cThis is from the Lord\u201d, and they approve Rebekah\u2019s marriage to Isaac.\u00a0\u00a0To think that it all happened so suddenly. In less than a day, the lives of Rebekah and her family were turned upside down.\u00a0\u00a0Yet rather than putting up a fight or objecting, they surrendered to what they believed was God\u2019s plan for Rebekah\u2019s life.\u00a0\u00a0Similarly,\u00a0may we live with an attitude of surrender toward God, such that rather than fighting or resisting His will, we will say to God, \u201cGod, have Your way with my life.\u00a0\u00a0Direct it in whatever way You wish.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank You Father for making me to love You and to be loved by You.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that Your plans for me are good, meant to prosper me and not to harm me, to give me hope and a future.\u00a0\u00a0Thus I surrender my life and the future into Your hands.\u00a0\u00a0Have Your way with my life.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 24:15-33.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 24:15-17 (NIV)
\n15\u00a0\u00a0Before 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.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0The 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.
\n17\u00a0\u00a0The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”<\/p>\n

On verses 15-17:\u00a0\u00a0Just as God brought Rebekah to Abraham\u2019s servant even before Abraham\u2019s servant finished praying,\u00a0God knows your need even before you express it.\u00a0\u00a0So why ask God if He already knows what we need?\u00a0\u00a0Even though He already knows what we need, we ask God because asking is part of growing in our relationship with God, learning to rely on Him and experiencing the power of faith.\u00a0\u00a0Faith is like a muscle that grows with use.\u00a0\u00a0So use your faith muscles and ask God for what you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15963,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15962\/revisions\/15963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}