Does God Answer Extremely Specific Prayer? (Genesis 24)
Disciple-Making Strategies from Abraham’s Servant Searching for Rebekah
Making Disciples with God’s Help: The Servant’s Search for Rebekah
I heard a story a long time ago that changed my perspective and helped ease my fears when stepping out and looking for persons of peace or beginning the steps of disciple-making. The story comes from Genesis chapter 24. It is a love story with God’s divine fingerprints throughout. It is also a story of obedience, an example of how we can partner with what God is already doing.
The Story
It begins with Abraham as an old man who has been blessed in every way but is now concerned with his son. Like many fathers he is concerned about who his son is going to marry. So, he calls for his oldest servant, the one in charge of his household, and makes him swear an oath that he will find a suitable wife for his son. As was common in ancient cultures, Abraham wanted a woman from his family tribe.
However, the servant is concerned with potential failure and asks this question: “But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel the great distance back?” Abraham tells him first, that the Lord will send his angel ahead to make the mission successful, and second, that if she is not willing to come back with him, he is then absolved of this oath. The servant swears an oath and prepares for his journey.
He sets off taking ten camels loaded with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and travels to a distant land in search of a wife for his master’s son. He arrives in the evening at the well outside of the town, about the time the women would be coming out to draw water. It is in this moment that the servant stops and prays,
The Prayer
“O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show unfailing love to my master, Abraham. See, I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says, ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will water your camels, too,’ let her be the one you have selected as Isaac’s wife. This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.”
So, as it happens, before he even finishes praying, a young woman comes to draw water. He approaches the woman and asks her for a drink. She immediately responds with, “Yes, my lord, have a drink.” She lowers her jug for him, and after he drinks, she tells him that she will get water for his camels as well until they have had enough to drink! No easy feat considering that is 10 camels who have just traveled a far distance.
The story says the servant watches her in silence, wondering whether the Lord had yet given him success in his mission. When the camels had finished, he took out a gold ring for her nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists. He then asks who her father was and if her father would have room for him and his camels for the night. She tells him that essentially, she is part of Abraham’s extended family and that there is plenty of room for guests and straw for his camels.
The Worship Response
The servant then bows down and worshiped the Lord, “Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham. The Lord has shown unfailing love and faithfulness to my master, for he has led me straight to my master’s family.”
Back at her family’s home, the servant shares the whole story of what his master had asked him to do. He shared what his master had said that the Lord will send his angel with him to make the mission successful, but if the family refuses to let her go then he is free from his oath.
He shares what he had prayed, that the woman would offer to give him and his camels water, that it would be a sign that she was to be the one that the Lord had selected. He shared about how before he had even finished praying in his heart, he saw Rebekah, and what she did when he asked her for a drink.
The family heard this story and recognized that the Lord had obviously guided him there and gave their support, but also asked Rebekah if she was willing to go. She agreed, and so the next morning they began their journey back to Abraham.
The Servant’s Part
What I find so significant in this story is the role the servant had and how he went about the search. I believe it has some wonderful implications for us as disciple-makers today. While the servant is the main actor in the story, he had an exceedingly small part to play in the process, but it is his process that I want to elaborate upon.
When he was asked by his master, while he had some reservations, he was not hopeless about the process. Ultimately, he trusted his master and God to work on his master’s behalf. He was obedient even if he did not understand how everything was going to happen, how he could possibly find his master’s family or how he was going to convince her to leave her family and travel back with him.
The Waiting
When he arrived where his master had sent him, he paused. He arrived where he needed to be, but instead of launching out he stopped. It was not enough that he had made the journey, he still knew he needed help in accomplishing the mission, so before he did anything he stopped and prayed.
His prayer was not a general prayer. He prayed an extremely specific prayer. While he was asking for help, he did so by asking for a specific sign so he could discern who the Lord had chosen. This is the most amazing part to me. God answered the minute details of the servant’s prayer to help point the way to the specific person He had prepared. The servant’s prayer was a way for him to partner with God.
After he prayed though, he did not continue to wait. He engaged with the person who showed up and he did so with a very practical question, at least from her point of view. While there are social and cultural layers to the story, he stepped out trusting God with what came next. Interestingly, he was not totally convinced that this was the right person yet, as he also needed to figure out if she was from the right family. Even though his personal request had been answered, he needed to make sure his master’s request was honored.
Finally, he still had one last part to unearth: was she willing to go with him? So far God had answered his request and his master’s request, but would she be willing to leave everything behind and go with him? He tells her everything that had happened – unloads the whole story to her. She needed to know what God had been doing behind the scenes.
When he gets back to the family, even before the meal, he then tells them the whole story. Amazingly, everyone agrees, yet when they encourage him to spend the night and leave in the morning, he pleads with them not to hold him back from completing his master’s mission requesting instead that they leave that same night.
God’s Part
The story mentions truly little specifics about God’s role. However, I do not think it is an exaggeration or overstatement that while He seems very much behind the scenes, it is an amazing example of how He was at work orchestrating everything and connecting everyone perfectly. It was His responsibility to provide the person. While the servant went, God worked. While the servant prayed, God moved. Without God’s hand in every part of the process nothing would have happened.
We can often assume that because we have a heart and passion for disciple-making that when we go out, we are following God. Sometimes that is not true. When the servant arrived where he had been sent, he waited and prayed, because he knew he needed God’s help in identifying the right person.
This can often be the hardest part, waiting on God to highlight who He has been preparing. In the story, God brought the person to the servant immediately, but that may not always be the case. The truth is, we follow God and wait on His timing, and while He will aide us, He will guide us, He will answer specific prayers to help point the way, we still wait on Him first.
Our Part
Much like the servant in his quest, we are on a mission to bring people to the Son, that the Father may have an ever-increasing family and that the Son may have a bride, His church. We have a calling to make disciples of all nations, and we have all been sent to various locations whether God has specifically called us to different countries, or our circumstances have landed us where we are today. We can glean some nuggets of wisdom from the way the servant walked out his mission
We have a simple responsibility to be obedient. We are called to go. It is the Lord who sends his angels ahead of us to make our mission successful.
We have only to present the news, if the person is ultimately unwilling to go or to change, then our part of the mission is complete.
Do not be afraid to wait. Even if we have arrived at the place we are called, often we need to pause and wait before launching in. This is also the time to pray. These are the moments we need God to bring the right person at the right time, and waiting is often about making sure we are synchronized with God’s timing.
Specific Prayers
Do not be afraid to pray specific prayers – then you know when God has answered. General prayers and requests for help are not wrong, and there are plenty of those cries throughout the Old Testament, and some in the New Testament. However, in these instances it can be immensely helpful to pray in specific ways that may help guide us to the person that God has already been preparing.
Once you have waited and prayed, there will come a time or even a specific moment that will require you to step out and initiate. Often the hardest step, but with practice can become the easiest, especially once we realize that initiating a conversation can be as simple as asking for a drink of water.
God has already been working behind the scenes. The responsibility is not ours. The joy of partnering with God can be a source of great delight. We get to be simple vessels through which God expands His kingdom. We get to join with Him in what He has been orchestrating, and while it will likely be a very small part, He still chooses to use us to accomplish His purposes.
Finally, the individual will have a choice to make. They will eventually be faced with a decision to leave everything they know behind and head in a different direction (repentance). This is not an easy decision. While the story ends in an incredibly positive way, this may not always be the case. We must remember that, while we have done everything we have been asked, if the person refuses then we are also ‘absolved of our oath.’
These are some of the points that God spoke to me when I first heard this story. Consider the above highlighted points and see if there are any more points God may show you about your situation. Take some time to read over the story in Genesis 24 and see what God may be saying to you. If you have not already, pray specific prayers and watch how He answers them.
Only 1% of all funds raised for missions goes to the most unreached places on earth. THE MOST UNDERFUNDED POPULATION OF CHRISTIANS ON EARTH ARE THOSE THAT SACRIFICE EVERYTHING TO REACH THE UNREACHED.
