Preaching Daily - December 5

Today's Reading...

"The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there." Genesis 24:7

Today's Devotional Insight...

Isaac and Rebekah: A True Love Story
Jonathan Spurlock

Introduction: Abraham’s wife Sarah had died but Isaac, their son, apparently still was grieving her death. Father Abraham decided that it was time for Isaac to seek a wife of his own. He sent a trusted servant to find a suitable bride for Isaac, but she had to be from Abraham’s original territory. God intervened, and this made biblical history!
This story comes from Genesis 24, a rather long chapter. So, we’ll look at pertinent sections and make an application at the end.

The Mission: Find a Bride for My Son! (vv. 1-9)
The first nine verses contain Abraham’s charge to his servant. Now, the custom of parents finding suitable mates for their children goes back a long way, certainly to Abraham’s time. We’re not told, though, about the arrangements for Abram and Sarai, years before they left Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 12), but their marriage worked well. Abraham must have known how important a good wife was, as well as what potentiall could happen in the case of a bad spouse.

Abraham gave the servant two specific conditions. First, he said, “Do not choose a wife for Isaac from the women where I’m living.” He was wise to do this. The Canaanites (v. 3) were never part of Abraham’s family, and they did not worship the God of Abraham. Abraham knew firsthand that a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever was not going to work. Many years later, Solomon encountered this very thing. King Solomon’s wives (foreign princesses and other concubines) “turned his heart away after other gods” (1 Kings 11:4). Solomon should have learned from Abraham not to marry any woman who didn’t believe in the God of Abraham!

There was another condition. The servant asked if he should take (escort?) Isaac back to the land where Abraham came from (v. 5) and Abraham promptly said no! In so many words, he said, “Don’t even think about it.”

I sometimes wonder why Abraham wanted to keep Isaac close in proximity.

(Read the full article here.)

Today’s Pastoral Resource...

Preaching Jobs

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