Bible Chapter: Genesis 24

Because the Bible is practical, here are some statements to get you thinking.

1.  Write one or two key thoughts that come from today’s reading.
    We know that God has a plan.  The challenge is to believe it when we are living life.  Here we see God’s working out His plan, not only for Abraham but for the whole world.  After Abraham spent his life going where God sent him and doing what he was told, the time came when he knew he would die.  A critical part of God’s plan was that Isaac would have a wife from their home territory.  God was establishing a holy people and Isaac could not marry from the local women.  Abraham sent his servant to his homeland and God brought him to Rebekah.  He knew his prayers had been answered.
    God had blessed Abraham with great wealth.  We see an insight into the heart of Rebekah’s brother, Laban, when he got excited about Abraham’s servant coming to visit.  He wasn’t excited to hear about a relative, he was a greedy person.  Verse 30: “So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, ‘Thus the man spoke to me,’ that he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well.” (NKJV)  He quickly began to manipulate to figure out how he could get in on the wealth.  His selfish attitudes continued throughout his life.
    God’s plan was revealed and Rebekah went with the servant and married Isaac.  This is another major step in God’s plan for the whole world, to send Jesus as the Savior of the human race.

2.  What can I apply in my life from the reading?
    God’s plans don’t move at the speed I would like.  Abraham and Sarah waited twenty five years after God’s promise to have their son.  This seems like a cumbersome plan, to bring in a wife from a long distance.  It is easy to see from my perspective how things worked out for Abraham and Isaac and their descendants.  It was not easy for them to see it as they lived it.  That is true for me today. I can’t see the future and what will happen.  I have to continue to learn to trust God and His plan.

3.  How can I help someone?
    Helping people in the light of the theme of this chapter makes me think of a well known passage of the Bible:  Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.