A summer sermon and reflection series from my church, based on the weekly Psalms and associated readings in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Read
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Reflect
On Sunday, our church hosted a guest speaker who shared how God led him and his wife to make a life-changing move. With each step of the process, God seemed to require them to show more faith and take bigger risks. In the same way, the Israelites were continually asked to demonstrate their trust in God in new ways as they traveled to the Promised Land. Our speaker reminded us of the best-known saying of the founder of our denomination: faith = risk. In other words, faith is lived out in actions that take us out of our comfort zones.
In Genesis 24, Abraham’s servant is on a journey of faith, sent by Abraham to find a wife for his son, Isaac, from among his extended family. Abraham doesn’t allow Isaac to take the trip with his servant, making the task even more difficult. However, Abraham has faith that God will send an angel ahead of the servant to help.
When the servant arrives at his destination, he is desperate for God’s guidance. He asks God for a very specific, detailed series of signs that will show him the woman God has chosen for Isaac. God does exactly as he asks, revealing Rebekah as Issac’s future wife. Rebekah and Isaac eventually become the parents of Jacob, the founder of the nation of Israel.
God’s plans for his chosen people required great faith and risk from everyone in this story. First from Abraham and his servant, and then from Rebekah, who agreed to leave her hometown and family behind to marry a man she had never meet.
What’s your story? How is God inviting you to step out in faith?
Respond
Spend 10 minutes each day this week listening to God, asking him if there is something he is leading you to do. Is there a decision you’ve been struggling with, or are you sensing God asking you to make a change somewhere in your life?
Ask the Holy Spirit to come and help you listen to God’s promptings. Ask Jesus to give you courage to risk everything to follow his will for your life.