Ready To Rejoice

This is how I will know you have shown unfailing love to my master – Genesis 24:14 (NLT)

A friend called the other day to tell me his grandmother died. I didn’t know the grandmother very well, but I did know she was “comfortable” in a financial way. Although I was sad for my friend, it also occurred to me that he might see a significant inheritance, and I was surprised my reaction was, “Why him? Why can’t I get something from someone?” Yes, I was disappointed in myself, but being the self-professed good Christian man that I am, I put aside my bad feelings and convinced myself they weren’t there.

But God knew better.

Two days later, I’m reading in Genesis as part of a “Read the Bible Through in a Year” program we’re doing at the church where I’m the self-professed good Christian pastor. When I got to the above verse, my reaction to my friend’s potential blessing came flooding back. God wasn’t finished with me. (As a side note: have you ever noticed some of the programs we use to enhance our spirituality, like Bible reading programs, God uses to fix our spirituality?)

What bothered me about the story was the way Abraham’s servant (probably Eliezer from Genesis 15:2) wasn’t looking for God’s blessings in his own life, but in the life of his master. Abraham sent Eliezer on a difficult mission – to find a wife for Isaac among Abraham’s  family in the east. When Eliezer gets to Abraham’s homestead, he makes a convoluted prayer about camels and drinking water in order to find just the right wife for Isaac. And when it works, Eliezer rejoices that God has shown “unfailing love to my master.” At that point, the Holy Spirit slapped me in the head.

Continue Reading