God Provides For His Promise
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Outline:
Outline:
Illustration: Blindfolded Candy Bar Directions
Introduction: Smart Phone Direction Apps
Google Maps, Apple Maps, Mapquest, Waze, CityMapper, etc.etc.etc.......
Turn by turn directions leads to confidence
Do you know what real maps are?
We wish life was like this don’t we?
Clear. Detailed. Directions
Some of you need this a whole lot more than others (yes, take the hotpocket out of the plastic first)
Give me some areas where you could use clear guidance?
God’s Always Ahead
- Sarah died
Abraham’s intention turned to finding Isaac a wife
One that wouldn’t lead him away from the Lord
So he enlisted his servant to go find Isaac a wife
Camel Order Bride
21,
Read verses 10-14 - Notice the servant’s Dependence on God
Abraham assigned him, swore oath to Abraham, but depended on God. God had to “make this happen”.....God’s always ahead.
The servant was demonstrating faith and trust in God
He understood that if this was going to happen, God had to make it happen.
Do you agree with that statement?
Read verses 15-21 - He hadn’t even finished praying
Have you ever had God answer a prayer of yours?
How does it shape you? Make you feel?
Rebekah shows up, draws him water, and then for his camels too
10 camels = 300 gallons of water = 2500 pounds of water for this stranger
The story continues: servant gave her a gold ring and some jewelry, asked who she was, daughter of Nahor, and invited the servant to stay at their house that evening
But before they went, he knelt and worshiped.
See this? God is always ahead
Called “Providence”....not coincidence
Coincidence causes us to think things happen by chance
Providence tells us that Someone is making everything happen
The servant obeyed, yes, but God brought everything together…the well, the camels, Rebekah coming out at that same time, etc......
God is always at work to bring about His purposes
And this story can remind us that God is at work in our lives too....that He’s still carrying out His promise to bless all nations
We’re part of a bigger picture
- READ IT
The story continues and Rebekah travels back to where Isaac lives and she marries Isaac
And what we see happening is God continuing to keep his Promise.
And everything seems perfect
They got married, they’d have kids, and their kids would have kids, and they’d be well on their way to fulfilling God’s promise
BUT, keep reading into chapter 25, we read that Rebekah was barren, meaning she couldn’t have kids
Don’t you hate when your plans go awry?
And it is believed that for 20 years this was the case
Now track with me
Meanwhile Ishmael is having a kid every time he turns around
Was this a mistake? Did God know what He was doing?
Remember....God’s methods and plans often times do not pass our “eye test”, do they?
God delights in choosing the unlikely and the unexpected to do great things so that He alone gets the glory
God was using imperfect people to carry out His perfect plan
Is it encouraging to know that God delights in using imperfect people to accomplish His perfect goal?
Again…this is all dependent on God being ahead of it all
Jesus
We’d be remiss to not talk about Jesus here....the ultimate climactic moment of God’s redemptive plan, when God would still work through a person, the person of Jesus Christ
Someone who was perfect, someone who would be able to do exactly what needed to be done.
The journey to arrive at Jesus will be a long one, a painful one for Israel…because of their imperfection....but God. Always. Had. A. Plan.
And we’re on that journey, but we don’t have to wait to see Jesus
Jesus died for your sins as the perfect sacrifice, do you believe in Him
And if you do, are you trusting God’s perfect plan, even when things look terrible, or things don’t go how you want them to, or when like throws you a massive curve ball.
What we see Isaac doing is trusting, praying to God for His plan to come to fruition.
As a believer, don’t trust in yourself, trust Him.