The Prayers of the Righteous

 

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)

 

Session 2 –
A wife for Isaac – Praying for Guidance

Genesis 24

Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. ² He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh. ³ I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, ⁴ but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.’

⁵ The servant asked him, ‘What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?’

⁶ ‘Make sure that you do not take my son back there,’ Abraham said. ⁷ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, “To your offspring I will give this land”– he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.’ ⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰ Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was towards evening, the time the women go out to draw water.

¹² Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ May it be that when I say to a young woman, “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.’

¹⁵ Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. ¹⁶ The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

¹⁷ The servant hurried to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water from your jar.’

¹⁸ ‘Drink, my lord,’ she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

¹⁹ After she had given him a drink, she said, ‘I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.’ ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. ²¹ Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. ²³ Then he asked, ‘Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?’

²⁴ She answered him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.’ ²⁵ And she added, ‘We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.’

²⁶ Then the man bowed down and worshipped the Lord, ²⁷ saying, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.’

 

What a task!

Imagine you’re the servant. How could you possibly know if you’ve made the right choice? You’d need God’s help. What’s more Isaac is now over 40 years old and so the situation is getting desperate.

We all have situations from time to time when we need God’s guidance on something specific. His word, his people and his leaders can help with lots of godly wisdom. Sometimes, peace can also guide us. But in this story, the servant asks God for a sign. Is that OK?

Let’s look at what we can learn from this story about prayer and guidance.

 

1:  Base your prayers and decision-making on God’s promises

 

Back in chapter 17, Abraham had had an incredible encounter with God:

The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.’ (Genesis 17:8)

 

I believe that this influenced two elements to Abraham’s instructions:

Condition 1: Don’t let Isaac marry a Canaanite

I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living (verse 3)

Abraham knew the promise of God and made decisions in line with it:

‘The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, “To your offspring I will give this land” (verse 7)

It’s like Abraham was saying, ‘Yes, we are living here among the Canaanites, but we are not to absorb their culture. Yes, God has made me rich (verse 1) and so you could have had the pick of the Canaanite girls. And yes, God has promised us this land as an inheritance, so it might seem sensible to marry into it. But God has a better way.’

If Isaac were to marry a Canaanite woman he would easily have become like the Canaanites, taking on their customs, beliefs and practices. But Abraham knew that this was not the destiny of his family line. This principle is proven later when Isaac’s son Esau marries pagan women who are a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 26:34-35), and whenever one of Israel’s kings marries outside of God’s people (e.g. king Ahab and Jezebel in 1 Kings 18-19). We have to be in the world but not of the world.

If you are praying for guidance, beware of the temptation to absorb the less than godly culture that surrounds you. There are common sense values around us that may not be in line with God’s wisdom.

 

Condition 2: Don’t let Isaac leave the promised land (Canaan)

Make sure that you do not take my son back there… If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there. (verses 6,8)

Abraham knew he was called by God to live in this foreign land. He also knew that it was God’s plan for his children to one day inherit that land. For Isaac to go back would be a backwards step in pursuing God. It would have been a hard decision to trust God for a wife if Rebekah had refused to come away. Indeed, it was a hard decision for Rebekah to go to a land she had never seen, to marry a man she did not know. But God can be trusted.

When we are lost and desperate it’s sometimes tempting to revert to a past that God moved us on from. There is comfort in the familiar. Sometimes ‘better the devil you know’ is not God’s wisdom. When we are stressed or grieving, we sometimes want to go back to an old flame or an old addiction for comfort. But we know deep down that this is not God’s plan.

This is not an uncommon emotion. Remember how the Israelites would later want to go back to Egypt? Even though they were slaves? If that’s how they felt, they must have been pretty uncomfortable and unsettled in the desert to want to go back to slavery!

He removed you, even rescued you from where you came from. Don’t go back there for guidance. Don’t go back to your old unsaved friends for advice. Stay close to God, listen to your spiritual leaders, trust him for something better. Act and pray in line with his promises.

 

2: Believe God will guide you

 

See Abraham’s assurance that God would guide:

He will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there (verse 7)

And of Abraham’s servant:

Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. (verse 12)

This is in line with God’s character throughout scripture:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. (Psalm 32:8)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6)

We need to believe that he will guide us in order to receive and follow up on that guidance.

 

 

3: Ask him to guide you

 

Then he prayed, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. (verse 12)

 

It’s been said that there are three steps to asking God’s guidance. First, to ask for guidance, second to look for guidance, and third to act on it.‘The first condition of securing real guidance in our daily life is to ask for it, the next is to look for it, and the third is to be willing to accept it, whether the finger points down the broad road that we would like to go upon or through some tangled path that we would avoid.’

The servant certainly asked for guidance. But he perhaps went a bit further that some of us are comfortable with. He asked for a sign.

May it be that when I say to a young woman, “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. (verse 14)

 

Is this OK? Let’s be careful.

Reasons not to ask for a sign

We may know the story of Gideon who put out a fleece twice to ask God to confirm his will. But this was out of insecurity and lack of faith when God had already spoken clearly (Judges 6).

The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were condemned for asking for a sign (Matthew 12, Luke 11)

Paul did not show seeking for a sign in a positive light:

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:22-23)

 

Some positives

God told king Ahaz to ask for a sign (Isaiah 7)

God performed many signs in the Old Testament, e.g. turning Moses’ staff into a serpent

John refers to Jesus’ miracles as signs!

There are meant to be signs accompanying the preaching of the gospel. (Mark 16:20)

 

So, should I ask for a sign?

Short answer: it depends on your heart.

Notice that the negatives above are all based on the self. Gideon had already heard from God. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day had self-centred motives. And in all the positives listed above it is God who takes the initiative. It is God who tells Ahaz to ask for a sign. Jesus performed signs, and the apostles performed signs under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The argument is stronger that we are ourselves meant to be the sign rather than seeking signs!

But in the case of Abraham’s servant, his motives were pure and humble. He wanted the best for Abraham, and he gave God the glory.

If you are looking for a sign our of mere curiosity, or your seeking is rooted in the self rather than in glorifying God and doing his will, it’s flat out wrong. But it is good to ask God to confirm what you think he is saying, unless of course, like with Gideon, he’s already done that adequately!

By all means, ask God for a sign, look for a sign. But remember that it is he who is God and he who calls the shots.

 

4: Give glory to God

 

Then the man bowed down and worshipped the Lord, ²⁷ saying, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. (verses 26, 27)

 

The Lord will guide you. It may take longer, and it may be in a direction you did not want to go. But this is a reason to give him glory. He has led you in a way that is higher than your ways, by thoughts that are higher than your thoughts. You would never have gone that way without his guidance. And his ways are always the best for us because everything he does is from a heart of love for you. Don’t praise God just because things have turned out comfortably for you. Praise him for his stooping to interact with you and guide you in the minefield of the world.

In this case, the outcome was instantly joyous. So the servant could have said, ‘Well didn’t I do well there!’ Make sure you give God the glory whatever the outcome.

 

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Home Group Activities

1. Read the story from Genesis 24:1-27 together, asking the Lord to speak through his word
2. Abraham did not want a Canaanite wife for Isaac, and he did not want Isaac to leave Canaan. This was because of the promise Abraham had received that his future family would inhabit Canaan, but not live as the wicked Canaanites did. So Abraham’s request was based on promises already received.

What promises do we have, either personally, or in the word, that we should pray and act in line with?

3. How well did Abraham’s servant follow the following teaching (below)?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6)

How good are we at this? Is there anyone in the group who can share a way they are needing to trust in the Lord? We can pray about this at the end. Believe that he will guide you.

4. Have you ever asked God for a sign? How did that turn out?
5. In case it hasn’t already come out in discussion, ask the group for areas of guidance individuals are seeking that you can pray for together.
6. Try to remember things you were praying about last time you met. Have there been any answers, updates, issues? Keep praying persistently as Abraham did in our last story.

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