City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

⁵ The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” ⁶ Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. ⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸ But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” ⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

Genesis 24:5-9

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1

³⁷ Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Matthew 5:37

Reflection

The burden of this passage is that Abraham is very intent on his son staying in Canaan and not going back to his homeland.  Why is Abraham so determined that his son stay?  I think the answer is simple.  He wants to be faithful to God’s promise. Abraham was convinced that God would give his descendants this land, and that they would be as many as the stars in the sky.  But to secure this promise, Abraham knew that he had to remain faithful, and for his descendants to inherit the land, he knew that his son would need a wife.  But this wife could not be from the people that were nearby.  Only someone from his homeland, from his relatives, would be suitable. 

The trip to his homeland was very far, and he was an old man, so he would have to send someone that he trusted.  And this was not just trusting a servant with his life, for he knew that he would die soon.  But he had to be able to trust him with is progeny, his legacy, and the promise made to him by God Himself.  So, he asked his chief administrator and made him promise to travel to his relatives and find a wife that God would choose.

One thing that makes me love this story is this administrator, this servant.  For years he has been faithful to Abraham, and he himself is old.  Now his boss is putting him in a very risky situation.  If he fails in this mission, the consequences are great, but there is no personal benefit for him beyond the fact that he would be faithful to his master.  There is no promise for him, no guarantee of reward, but he is intent on being faithful.  For this he only asks one question, and it has nothing to do with what he would get out of it.  Looking out for the benefit of the girl, and the success of the mission, he asks “what if she does not want to come?”  This is the question of a man focused on the success of the mission, and it shows us something beautiful in God’s purposes.

God’s blessings for us are abundant and pursue us every moment of our lives, but we are not forced to accept them.  In fact, it is only by God’s grace that we are able to open our hearts enough to receive them. Here is a map that shows the path that Abraham probably took from his homeland in Ur to the promised land.  This is also the path that his servant would have to take to go to Ur, find the girl, and return her to Abraham.  This is a journey that would take months.  The complexity of this undertaking also shows that the servant was counting the cost of making this promise.  It would not be an easy thing to do.  And as you read on, you will see that he had many worries the whole time and would not rest until the task was done.

Application

For the application I can not walk past this funny gesture that Abraham insists on from his servant, to ensure his faithfulness for this task.  He wants him to put his hand under his thigh and swear.  Very strange to our modern thinking, but it is considered an act of submission, that one will submit to the will of the person who is making the request.

How is your faithfulness?  If you promise something, are you doing so with an intention to keep your word no matter what?  Do you consider such things to be important?

I’m sorry for the hard questions, but there’s no other way to ask them, and they must be asked.  If they make you feel bad, great!  That means you actually understand them.  The next step is to take them to the Lord and ask Him to help you with your faithfulness, that you can become more like Christ.  This is not so that you can be better than your neighbor, but so that you can be better than yourself.

Prayer

Lord, please forgive me for the things that I have left undone.  Teach me to be faithful in all things, committing to only those things that I am able to remain faithful in, and having the strength to say no to the things that are beyond my capacity.  By Your lead may I always proceed.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.