READ: Genesis 24:45
CHALLENGE: Be Truly Spiritual
- PRAYING IN YOUR HEART
Vv45-46 – “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.
It’s so interesting to me that Abraham’s servant was praying in his heart. He did not physically speak the words. I love that you can talk to God in your heart and He can talk to you the same way. Remember what Scripture says? Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Your heart is the ear for God’s voice. We hear God there and we speak to God there.
God can read our hearts like we can read a newspaper article. So, the servant here prayed in his heart. No human heard him. Thus, no one could have known the mission. It was known to God alone and no one else needed to know the prayer because no one but God was answering the prayer anyway!
We learn that your heart is an avenue for communicating with God. And if God hears me in my heart, he knows everything that I’m thinking and a whole lot about me. I can guarantee you that I’ve thought some things I shouldn’t. He knows the good, the bad, and the ugly about Bill McMinn.
In the New Testament, Jesus knew what people had on their minds without them saying a word. He forgave a paralyzed man and they were so deeply offended by that choice of words – I forgive you. They thought, who gave Jesus that authority? He knew what they were thinking and answered the question they never verbalized. He said the reason was so that they would know that he had the authority to forgive sins. He was doing God stuff!
It encourages me because I’m not always praying aloud but God hears those prayers that never hit the ears of any other human. We can pray in our heart.
There was a story in the Bible about a woman who could not have children. Her name was Hannah and she was distraught. It weighed her down so much that she earnestly prayed at the place of worship. As she poured her heart out to God, the head priest, Eli, watched her.
1 Samuel 1:12-14 – As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
Eli thought that Hannah was drunk. It makes you wonder what the spiritual condition of the nation was. A woman is at the temple praying out of an anguished heart. The priest’s assumption isn’t that she was there praying, the assumption is that she had been drinking! I wonder how many times that had happened in order for you to assume it in this case? Worshippers getting drunk!? There must have been more drinking than praying in Eli’s day.
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Eli sees her lips moving. I’m deeply troubled, I have not been drinking wine or beer. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman. I’m not drinking because I have problems, I’m praying! If she had been substituting something for God, then that would have been wicked.
God heard her prayer and a great leader was born! I love how we can literally pour our heart out to God and our voices don’t need to be physically heard for God to pick up on it. You can pray in your heart and offer these silent but powerful prayers. And this helps us to realize – praying for show is pointless!
- BLESSING
V59 – So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”
They parted ways but they parted ways with words of blessing and that’s powerful. As far as I know, this will be the last time they ever speak to her and their last words are words of blessing. The idea behind blessing is to endue someone with power for success. You’re wishing them well. You’re wanting God to help them. These words of blessing will set the person up for success in the future. I’m empowering you to succeed with my words.
What do they want for their sister? They want her future to be stellar. They want her to be blessed with a great family. They want her family to be powerful. We want you to do well! There is so much love posited in these words.
The exact opposite of blessing is cursing. While blessing comes from a heart of love, cursing comes from a heart of hatred. When your words are intended to thwart the progress of others or to bring down calamity and wishes of ill – that’s not good. I don’t typically wish ill on anyone as we are to leave these things in God’s hand.
Jesus cursed the fig tree and it withered. And sometimes that’s what we humans want – wither them God. Wither their happiness and block their ways. Some want nothing more than for you to stumble and trip up, sometimes even fellow Christians. They are like that couple in the famous movie – “What About Bob”! The Guttmans who hate Dr Leo Marvin for buying their dream lake house! They swear at him and cheer when his house blows up. They are always cheering for his downfall.
I call these types of people the “boo birds”. They boo you every chance they get! They cheer any hardship and wish for you to face plant. I have found that energy invested into thwarting someone else is wasted energy. I need to focus on me moving forward rather than stopping the forward progress of others. Typically, if your focus is on the downfall of others, you’re going to fall yourself.
I remember years ago playing fantasy football. I had a guy who was such a rival that he would actually draft players to keep me from having players that I needed. He only hurt himself. Instead of focusing on building his own team, he was worried about what my team was doing. Don’t be worried about my team – worry about your team. Casting negative energy about is only coming back on you. As Jesus said, you’ll be judged in the way you judge so stop judging others. And this means, stop condemning.
You spend too much time consumed with wanting someone else to get theirs and you’re becoming unhealty. You’re not in a good place. You’re not moving on. You’re being consumed with the past rather than building a future. This isn’t out of a heart of love! It’s out of bitterness and hostility. There is such a thing as malice and it can lurk in your heart. But it’s one of the things that God wants you to get rid of. What’s your focus? Are you more focused on the success of those around you or the downfall of someone else.
Think to James 3: 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Hey, God, hear me praising You! But I was just doing everything I could to wreck and destroy one of your kids. It’s not the way for us to be. I love words of blessing.
Romans 12:14 – Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. You should even use words of blessing for those who persecute you. You want to fight the negativity in the world then speak words of blessing. Build up instead of tear down. God wants us to be different from the world so don’t be like everyone around you.
Jesus was interested in building into his disciples and teaching the Word of God. But Jesus was busy healing. Jesus fed the hungry and gave to the poor. He was busy doing God’s will.
The words from Rebekah’s family were words of love and a beautiful send off. They were words that set her up for success in the future. What kind of words would set people up to succeed? Words of love. Words of affirmation. Words of support and encouragement. The blessing thoughts and words are among the best words possible. Even praying for others to succeed is blessing them.
Isn’t it great that they want her to succeed rather than fail? That they’re not jealous?
Ephesians 4:29 – Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Don’t allow unwholesome talk to come out of your mouth. Only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs. Our words should benefit those who listen. Our words should edify. Even our gifts should be used to build up the body of Christ, not tear it down.
How is your spiritual health? Are you building up or just gossiping and tearing down? Do our words benefit those who listen? Are they setting you up for a positive future?
We should be able to say, “I’m proud of you” to our children. Say the words, “I love you” or “I appreciate you” or “I’m praying for you”. Your words can speak strength into the weary and help them to keep going when times are tough. They say of Job that his words strengthened those who were about to collapse in this weary world.
They didn’t just send her off – they sent her off the right way. With blessing!
Numbers 6:22-27 – The Lord said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
1 Peter 3:9 – Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
Make sure your words are the kind of words that set others up for success. It’s so powerful and so Christian.
- MEDITATION
Vv62-65 – Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
What does it mean to meditate? What is the purpose of it? Let’s start with this, Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi. Where did this place come into play? This was where Hagar had met the angel of the Lord. The place where she had said, “I have now seen the one who sees me”.
Genesis 16:13-14 – She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
He just came from a well that got it’s name as Hagar declares, I have now seen the one who sees me. And he’s meditating. Thinking. Pondering. Reflecting. Focusing. This is a quiet time. A still time. How often are we still? How often do we take time just to reflect on God? Or to think deeply about anything? It’s easy to skim the surface of life and blow by God’s movement and not take the time to be encouraged and amazed by it all.
It’s got to be good for our relationship with God when we take the time to spend with him. Meditation is time to pay attention to Him.
Are we like Martha? Remember that story where Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and Martha was busy getting things ready. Mary chose what was better. There’s always more to do. And if we’re not careful we press busyness to the edges of our day. We don’t stop. We don’t pay attention to these important things.
Isn’t busyness spiritually dangerous? There’s also a danger if spouses don’t pay attention to each other as that is not good for our relationship. How can we be close if we don’t make the time to connect? Time to sit together. To go somewhere. To walk and talk. That’s hugely important for our relationship. Time to pay attention to each other – to focus on one another.
The same is true with God. When I think of meditating on the Lord, I recognize that Isaac makes time for God. We may pursue some feeling or some activity or some movement and equate it with spirituality. What about stillness? There are times where I’ll sit at the firepit. You can look at the stars and consider the greatness and vastness of it all. Where is God and what is God up to?
So as we reflect and ponder God, we’ll come to understand more about him and about His ways. It’s a focus. It’s a quiet time undistracted. Focus off self and focus on God. I believe we are consumed by many thoughts and ideas. Do we meditate on Scripture?
Scripture is a great place for us to place our focus. What does the Bible say, what does God say?
Psalm 1:1-3 – Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
We meditate on the principles of God and feed our souls the knowledge of the Lord. Let’s make sure that we’re taking the time to care for our important relationships. Just being in the presence of God. When you meditate on the principles of God’s word, you become stronger.