Genesis 24:48-54: a reflection

48I bowed my head, and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son. 49Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.” 50Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from the LORD. We can’t speak to you bad or good. 51Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as the LORD has spoken.” 52When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to the LORD. 53The servant brought out jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. 54They ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night. They rose up in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

Abraham's servant, sent to find a wife for Isaac, has prayed for God's clear guidance and watched it unfold before his eyes as Rebekah appeared and answered exactly as he had asked. And his response, when the family agrees, is worship: he bowed his head and worshiped the LORD, and again bowed down to the earth before the LORD. Twice in this passage he stops to worship, recognizing that the whole thing has come from God's hand: The LORD has led me, he says; the thing comes from the LORD.

Notice two things about the servant. First, he recognized God's guidance. He did not chalk the successful mission up to luck or his own skill; he saw God's hand leading him in the right way, and named it: the LORD led me. He was attentive to God's providence, quick to see it at work. And second, when he saw it, he worshiped. His recognition of God's leading did not stay in his head; it bowed him to the ground in gratitude and praise. Seeing God's hand, he worshiped.

Both are worth cultivating. It is easy to move through our days without recognizing God's guidance, attributing the ways things work out to chance or our own doing, and easy, even when we do recognize his hand, to feel a mild gratitude and move on. The servant models a better way: to be attentive to God's leading in our lives, to see his hand at work, and, seeing it, to stop and worship. When God guides you, when things come together in a way that bears his fingerprints, do not just move on. Recognize his hand, and, like the servant, bow and worship.

Lord, when your servant saw that you had led him, he stopped and worshiped, recognizing that the whole thing came from your hand. Make me attentive like that to your guidance, quick to see your hand at work rather than crediting chance or my own skill. And when I see your leading, do not let me merely feel a mild gratitude and move on; help me stop and worship. When you guide me, let my recognition of your hand bow me in praise.