Led by God

Led by God

by Wayne Dailey
Senior Pastor, Bethel Revival Center
43 Norwood St.
Everett, MA 02149

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God's Plan Revealed

Genesis 24:1
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

Sarah had died prior to this chapter, and now other things have to take place in Abraham's life. Isaac was about 40 years old and if the promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled, it was time that he got married. This was how the seed of Abraham that God promised would progress.

Genesis 24:2
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh

Now, Abraham is going to send his servant to search out a wife for Isaac. He didn't want just anybody for his son. It wasn't, "Go find somebody to marry my son." This had to be of God, done in God's way.

Genesis 24:3
And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell

This would be like our saying, "I don't want my daughter to marry some worldly man, some ungodly man." To marry one of these ungodly Canaanites certainly wouldn't be in the realm of blessing.

Isaac is an important elect figure with God. Therefore, it's important that he marry the right woman.

Genesis 24:4
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

How will the servant deal with this? The servant is being sent back to where Abraham came from, back to his own relatives. How will the servant deal with this?

When Abraham lived back there, he had a love for God, and God called him out to a place He would show him. Sarah came from there, too, and Abraham is saying that this is where Isaac's wife should come from.

Genesis 24:5
And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?

"If I find this woman and she doesn't want to come with me, should I get Isaac and bring him down there?"

Genesis 24:6,7
And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

If God sent His angel before him to prepare the way, then he's not going to fail; He's not going to find just any woman who would be willing to come back with him. He's going to get the right person and bring her back to Isaac.

Do you want God's plans in your life to be that detailed? Do you really want that?

I think a lot of us would do a lot better if we wanted the will of God that much for our lives. This would tend to suggest that there was only one woman in the world for Isaac. He's a special man, and God had a special wife for him — as clear as that!

The Bible would teach that we are free to marry whomsoever we will in the Lord. God only limits His people to marry someone in the Lord. But that's not the case here with Isaac: In God's plan and God's purpose for Isaac, He had a specific woman for him to marry.

Genesis 24:8
And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

He's concerned about doing the right thing here. But Abraham assured him that if the woman wasn't willing to come with him, then he would be clear of the oath; he would be free to return alone.

Genesis 24:9
And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

He's ready to depart on his mission. He knows where to go; he knows someone is there whom God has chosen for Isaac; he knows the angel of the Lord would go before him and that God's hand was on this.

Taking all that into consideration, he knew this was one of those situations in life that should really work out.

Genesis 24:10
And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.

He's on his way, ready to find Isaac a wife.

God's Timing

Genesis 24:11
And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.

I like to look at the details in God's Word. What about the timing here? Is timing important in searching out the perfect will of God? How is the servant going to find this woman? Where is he going to meet her?

Here we find him right where he was sent to go. He was on the outskirts of the city at the place where the women gathered to draw water — and right at the time they would be coming.

Now, God had prepared the way, and the right woman was about to come to that well. What are the odds of this happening?

The servant prayed for God to lead him:

Genesis 24:13,14
Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.

He's asking God to clearly show him who this woman is, asking for some specific signs that she was the right one.

Genesis 24:15,16
And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.

Only one woman is mentioned coming to the well at this time.

Genesis 24:17
And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

Here is one of his signs! If this is of God, what do you think will happen next? . . . She's going to give him some water to drink.

Genesis 24:18,19
And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.

Another sign, just as he had asked God! What's he to think here? In his heart he should be well satisfied: God had done just as he had asked. Or, was this just coincidence?

Is everything in life just coincidences, or are some things planned and purposed of God? I believe this is the case here at the well.

Genesis 24:20,21
And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.

So far, it looks pretty good in his eyes. He's gone miles and miles and miles to look for a particular woman, and here she is — the first person he come across! And she does just as he had asked God to do!

Well, he's yet pondering in his heart if this is really the woman he was sent for.

Genesis 24:22-29
And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.

And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren. And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.

Did you ever hear of Laban? Here he is, coming on the scene.

Genesis 24:30,31
And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.

Confirmation of God's Plan

These were Abraham's relatives, and the servant is welcomed into their home as though he were part of the family.

If God is planning something for someone, if He has a divine purpose for them, He's already been looking the situation over. He, no doubt, had His hand upon this woman for this specific purpose. It was His call upon her life: a special person called to a special purpose.

This would lead to many questions, and the servant was about to tell them about Abraham and his blessing.

Genesis 24:34-36
And he said, I am Abraham's servant. And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.

Whoever marries Isaac is going to be joint-heir of all that Abraham has been blessed with. Isaac is Abraham's heir. Oh, he had another son to Sarah's handmaid, but Ishmael was not to be heir. God let Abraham know that Isaac was to be sole heir of all that he had.

Genesis 24:37,38
And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son.

The servant was telling them all of this to assure them that it was of God for them to be willing to send Rebekah with him.

Once again, if God is in it, then all things will work out just as they should. All of this will come together if God is in it.

The servant had much more to say, trying to bring the conversation to a point. He tells all the details of how he was led to Rebekah at the well just as he had prayed, and how she had given him drink and the camels drink exactly as he had prayed. He wanted them to know and understand that this was God's plan.

Genesis 24:48,49
And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

They had asked him to come eat with them, but he wanted to tell them why he had come before doing anything. He wanted to deliver his soul about the mission before eating with them. I like this about this servant. He wanted to settle this before doing anything; he wanted to be assured that his mission was accomplished.

Now he asks them point blank, "Will you send her with me or not? If you're willing to participate in this mission, tell me. If not, tell me, so I can continue to look for the right person."

Yielding to God's Plan

Genesis 24:50,51
Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the LORD hath spoken.

Right away, they acknowledged that they believed this was of the Lord. This was working out fine. Don't you wish things in your life would all fit together like this? Don't you wish you could just get in the will of God like this? Don't you wish you could walk in the Spirit — being led of the Spirit — and find that everything is just like the Lord said it would be?

All we need is the Spirit of God to lead us. Here there's an angel leading the servant. We don't see him but he's out there. He went ahead to prepare the way, and he's here guiding. All things were prepared, which is why everything was working out so well.

Genesis 24:52
And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth.

He immediately got down and worshipped God. He'd just seen God at work to bring to pass His will. This is what you can expect from a man of God like Abraham was. He was a man whom you knew God was with.

It's wonderful to know in your own heart that God is with you. And, if God is with you, then that is what really matters in all the details of your life.

Abraham, for some reason, let this run its full course: waiting until Isaac was about forty before finding a wife for him. Forty in those days wouldn't have been very old at all.

Why do we tend to rush things? Did you ever bring home something that needed to be put together and in your haste to assemble it, you broke part of it? Haste made waste because you didn't stop to read the instructions.

What about mistakes? How many mistakes can one afford? Think about what a mistake could cost? Think about what a mistake in this story could cost? What if Abraham's servant had taken somebody for Isaac from among the Canaanites?

The perfect will of God would be exactly as Abraham had stated. There was just one woman for Isaac to marry, and here we find her brother and father being convinced this was of God, and they were willing to send her.

Genesis 24:52-54
And it came to pass, that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.

Notice the diligence in this servant's heart in all of this. He's persistent — but not overbearing. We see where he has accomplished his mission and is wanting to take Rebekah to his master.

He's Abraham's servant and wants to be like Abraham in this. I think we can learn lessons from this example. One thing we learn from Abraham is not to procrastinate when God has spoken.

Genesis 24:55
And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.

Ten days!

Genesis 24:56
And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.

He didn't want to linger any longer. He wanted to get going and take Rebekah back to marry Isaac. Had he not spoken up, he would have tarried those ten days — and, knowing what we know of Laban, he may have been there ten years or more!

Genesis 24:57
And they said, We will call the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.

"First of all, we'll ask Rebekah. After all, she's the one who is going." As parents, we might speak up for our children to warn them of something or to give them some wisdom, some advice.

Genesis 24:58
And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.

She's willing to go. I wonder what she thinks of all that gold and silver, and all the fineries that he brought to her.

Genesis 24:59,60
And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

Little did they know the truth of what they said in their blessing! Remember, God had told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, that his seed would be more than the stars; and He had told Sarah that she would be the mother of many nations, and that this would be fulfilled through Isaac and through his seed.

How did they know all of this? What caused them to say such a thing? It must have been the Spirit of the Lord revealing this through them: the mother of thousands of millions.

Genesis 24:61
And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

This servant must have been feeling blessed that he had found Rebekah and that she was willing to return with him. Little did he know that all of this was planned of God — every detail.

I would we all knew more about God's plan and purpose for our lives. When we talk about a plan for your life, we see an example right here. This plan for Rebekah's life wasn't hasty in coming, but when it did come, it all happened so easily. The servant came and presented God's will, and the family was willing to obey God.

But, once again, God had planned it and purposed it.

God's Plan Fulfilled

Genesis 24:63
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.

The camels were coming, but there was also something else that was coming! Yes, his bride was coming.

Genesis 24:64,65
And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a veil, and covered herself.

This wasn't someone who was proud and conceited: "Here I am! Look at me! I came all the way down here just for you. Come, get me!" No, Rebekah wasn't that type of a woman. She was a modest, humble young woman coming to meet her future husband. She came in a very humble fashion.

Genesis 24:66
And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.

The servant rehearsed how all this came about. Now, there's the other side of this issue: Is Isaac going to want this woman for his wife? What if he says, "Take her back. I don't want her? Go find someone else for me."

There was only one to find, and the servant brought her back with him. He had found the right one as soon as he had gotten to the well.

I thank God for his leadings.

Genesis 24:67
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Isaac fell in love with God's choice. The marriage was performed by taking her to Sarah's tent. Do you think this is better than falling in love on some street corner? better than some of the modern ways of finding someone — anyone — who was willing to marry you? Today, people put more trust in man's ways than they do in the will of God.

Here it all came together just as God had led. And now Isaac and Rebekah were man and wife. That which was God's plan and purpose is going to move on forward. It can't stop here. There are going to be children. They would have twins: Jacob and Esau. Had Rebekah not gone with the servant to marry Isaac, these two would never have been born.

Praying and Following

We see in this story how God works with and for His elect. If you want God to help you, if you want Him to lead you, don't you think it is important to come to Him in prayer? I've proven this out myself many times — that God can really lead someone.

He can put it all together so perfectly. I know He can lead, that He can get us right where He wants us, because I have watched Him do just that time after time.

It's as easy as this: A man traveled for miles and miles where he had never been in his life to meet people he had never met. God had sent him. God was with him and God made the way, leading him to the very person for Isaac.

This is a beautiful picture of the leading of God. It's more than a picture of somebody finding a good wife: It's the perfect will of God unfolding.

We should want this for ourselves. All of us have a will of God for our lives and that's what's important. And when we get in the will of God, everything He has for His will is going to fall in place at just the right point, at just the right time.

If we want to push it, we can get out of the will of God. Or if we drag our feet, we can get out of the will of God. We've got to stay in the will of God. It's important to be in the will of God every day.

What's God's will for today? If He should tarry, what's His will for tomorrow? We need to look very earnestly to the Lord to fulfill His purpose for us. We want to be in the place of following Him as He leads us. One thing is sure, if we follow where He leads, that's where the blessing is: being led of God.

The best thing you can ever learn to do is to seek God until you know what He wants you to do, where He wants you to go.

When Abraham's servant found that out, he obeyed and went. Abraham had a real good man in that servant, a real steward. In his way he loved the Lord and honored the Lord. He worked for faithful Abraham and he was a faithful steward.

We get impatient when things don't happen right away. We struggle, trying to make things happen. Oh, we can make things happen — believe me! We can make a big splash, but what would that accomplish?

What about your life? Are you minded of what God wants for your life? Be prepared to do all that He would want you to do.

By the virtue of patience, let's move on in God, patiently moving with Him — and, when necessary, waiting on Him.