A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN AND A CHOICE MADE ON EARTH(PART 1)
Abraham: Why are you downcast Ben?
Ben: I am angry with God! I have been praying to Him for months now to show me my future partner yet I have not seen anyone yet.I have read the ways God led people in the Bible,does God still do that today?
Abraham: Yes, He still does.The means of communication may be different but the principles are the same.
Ben: Why is my case different ? I cant see anything ooo and I dont know how to deceive myself.
Abraham: Are you sure the problem is not from your end? Maybe God has been talking to you all these while but your spiritual antenna is not tuned to the right frequency to hear from Him!
Ben: Really?
Abraham: God is always willing to lead His children more than their desire to be led.
Ben: Please I am ready to listen.Can you teach me on how to hear God and specifically on how to know His will for my life maritally?
Abraham: Okay,the Holy Spirit will teach you.Let us start from the way God provided a wife for my son Isaac.
Ben: Oh! Isaac? The same one I read about in the Bible?
Abraham: Yes.
Ben: But that method of getting a wife is obsolete.No one does that again.How do I marry someone I have never dated?
Father Abraham,these days what is in vogue is dating or courtship before marriage.
Abraham: Alright lets start the teaching:
The above conversation underscores the fact that most christian singles that want to marry usually face this challenge at one point or the other.
“Am I sure this is God’s will for my life?’ ,they want to know!
GOD ARRANGES CIRCUMSTANCES AND USES THEM TO SPEAK TO US.
In our text,Gen 24, God led the chief servant of Abraham that was sent to scout for Isaac’s wife.How?
God used circumstances to order the steps of both the servant and Rebecca towards each other.
” Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder...”Gen 24:15
This could only be God’s hands behind the scene.
What if Rebecca decided not to go to fetch water that day?
What if the servant decided not to stop at that place?
When God is involved in your case,He goes ahead of you to order your step to be in right place at the right time.Hence the need to commit your ways to God.Never lean on your understanding.
Two issues need to be stressed at this point:
1)Most times we are not sensitive to the way of God because we think it is mere coincidence!
2)The circumstances may not be palatable at times.Hence we find it difficult to fathom God in them at all.We find it difficult to see God in it.
Joseph became prime minister in Egypt through difficult circumstance.Joseph later said,
” But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth…”-Gen 45:7
To decipher this means of God’s communication to us,we need to be sensitive in the Spirit.But most times, we either think the circumstances just happen by coincidence or the difficult situations make us back out!
Let me give a background story that could have made this encounter look ordinary to Rebecca:
1)The chief servant did not embark on this journey alone! He was with other men. If you are not a meticulous reader of the Bible you might miss this very important point!
Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there…Gen 24:54
So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.-Gen24:59
Now,Rebecca had a choice to either snub the chief servant when he requested for a little water from her jar or ask him or his men to go and fetch the water themselves.Afterall,they were men!
But Rebecca never saw this as a mere coincidence.
She even watered the camels.
2)The chief servant put up a very difficult condition:
“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.” –Gen 24:14
Why on earth will someone pray this kind of prayer?
The chief servant knew his master very well and most importantly he knew what Abraham’s family stood for: Selfless kindness to people even to strangers!
Do you know Abraham was sitting in front of his house one day,he saw three strangers and the next thing he and Sarah did was to throw a party for them ? He later got to know they were angels!
The chief servant came to the conclusion that whoever would be the daughter -in- law to his master Abraham and wife to Isaac must be someone that made friend easily with strangers and would be able to fill the vacuum left by Sarah that just died!
In the whole town of Nahor,Rebecca was the only one that met this requirement.
There were many beautiful ladies in the town.
There were many virgins in the town.
There were many singles in the town.
But it was only Rebecca that could meet this requirement and she did it without complaining.She was just herself.No pretense!
God still uses circumstances to speak to us today.
Many meet their husbands while serving in states they didnt even want to go ab initio.
Some meet their wives when they are suddenly transfered and they have to start attending a new church.
Some meet on campuses.
Meetings and circumstances may differ but God can use them to order our steps to meet the bone of our bone.The most important thing is our level of sensitivity.
How sensitive are you to the things of the Spirit?
What are the virtues you look out for in your spouse?
If everything you want is beauty,I can assure you there are many beautiful women and handsome men out there.
Most times we miss out on what God is saying to us via circumstances because of the requirements we have set in our mind.They are vain and temporal requirements most of the time.
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.-James 4:3
Singles planning to settle down like Bro Ben and Sis Joy, be sensitive to God’s leading today as you go out for that wedding reception,church meetings, markets,work places etc
May be you might meet him/her today!
God still works behind the scene to order our steps via circumstances.
Be sensitive and be yourself!
More to come…
Stay blessed and rapturable.