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9:00 so it’s time to start our Sunday school of this morning so today we have lesson seven the title of the lesson is a bride for Isaac and um this is included in Genesis 24 that’s the the main chapter for our lesson today this is a beautiful story it’s a story about romance um but uh not only that there is also a lot of points for applications in our lives and this is a story that also show us the character of God the outline for the lesson today we will have an introduction and a timeline of of the events that will be a fun activity uh then we have uh the reading in Genesis 24 we will be reading the passages we will be doing basically three readings and uh then we will be doing our observation and interpretation then H we will go to a special section the interpretation of the main characters of of this uh of this passage and then we will finish with the application points so let me pray in order to start Heavenly Father we thank you for this morning we thank you for this time that we can spend studying your word and uh thank you for this Sunday school um I pray that you put uh your words in me and that we can be blessed by by Your Word this morning in Jesus name amen all right so as the title says we are making now a transition from Abraham to Isaac from the beginning of this series we have been following Abraham and then and also Sarah in this journey from their Homeland into the promised land and um but time has been going by there’s been some years and now time for Abraham and Sarah is H is getting close is getting close for them to go into the presence of the Lord in uh fact in Genesis 23 the previous chapter to Genesis 24 we see that s dies and we will see that in Genesis 25 the next chapter Abraham will die we are not going chapter by chapter in this series we are just going through selected topics so you you want to get the full context of the of the series I suggest that you read all the the passages so get the the the full context and a idea now um the introduction to this to this chapter 24 um it will be useful for us to read the end of chapter 22nd because in chapter chapter 22nd chapter 22 we see an important detail that serves as an introduction for us in to chapter 24 so in um chapter 22 from verses 20 20 to 23 we see um it says now it came about after these things that it was told Abraham saying behold Mila has also has also born children to your brother nahor W his first born and B his brother and Cel the father of Aram and shiid and hasso and filad and Jihad and beel bewell became the father of Rebecca this a Mila were Tor Abraham’s brother so probably my pronunciation was not the correct one with all these names but uh we see here an important detail in verse um 23 in verse 23 it me Rebecca is mentioned thew became the father of Rebecca so Rebecca eventually is going to be the bride for Isaac oh the title is Bride for Isaac so Rebecca is going to be this bride and we see that there is a family connection between Isaac and Rebecca so on the next chart we can see this family connection this is a a family tree um on top we see the name of Tera he was uh the father of Abraham and uh Abraham had also two brothers Haron and nahor we know that Aban married Sarah and um together they had Isaac now Sarah was also um her father was also Tera but he had a she had a different mother Abraham also took Hagar the Egyptian slave and together they they had Ishmael and after Sarah died Abraham took Cura that’s on chapter 25 and they had six more children now heran the other brother of Abraham he had lot and we know lot went together with Abraham to the promised land and we saw that they separated later on and the third brother Nur he married Mila and together they they had betel with several other children and from betel came Rebecca and Lavan Lavan is important because he will appear later on in the story of Genesis so this is the relationship between Isaac and Rebecca um there were and I think the correct term is cing to be removed I think that’s the correct um name for this relationship now you may be wondering why they married if they were relatives well that was a local um custom at that time in that culture and um if we go back to the beginning of the of the Bible in Genesis that’s the way that um um the world was populated there was only one couple in the beginning Adam and Eve and then after the flood there were only four couples remaining and they they were relatives so that’s how the the world became populated again after the flood later on um we see when God gives the law to to Moses there are some limitations that God establishes for these family relationships and that’s pretty much what we used today in our daily lives so this is the context of the of the story and the the relationship now um the Bible and particularly the Book of Genesis tell us this fantastic stories but also tell us a lot of data there’s a lot of data there’s a lot of information that we can retrieve from The Book of Genesis and with that information we can trace some timelines some dates of the important events and that is uh useful because that’s a way that um tell us that these stories were real the the stories in Genesis were real with real people with real events that really took place so let’s do a this uh fun exercise where we are going to use information provided in the Book of Genesis to answer these questions so the first question how old was Isaac when his mother died there are two things that you can use to answer these questions this this question um two passages first one is Genesis 1 in Genesis 231 we see that Sarah live how many years 127 and in Genesis 1717 we see that um this is Abraham when he’s talking to the Lord Abraham says uh he fell on his face and love and said in his heart will a child be born to a man 100 years old and will Sarah who is 90 years old were a child and this is when he is receiving the confirmation from God that they are going to have a child and they have the child just immediately after that so Sarah was about 90 years old depending on the months probably a year or older but we can use 90 as as the date so if he was 90 years old when he uh had um um Isaac and he died at the age of 27 how old was Isaac when his mother died 37 right now the next question how old was Isaac when he married Rebecca that’s um pretty straightforward answer because the Bible tell us exactly in Genesis 25:20 40 years old right and the next question how old was Isaac when his children were born there is also a direct answer in Genesis 2526 60 years old right now the last question did Abraham live to see his grandsons later in the story we see that uh Isaac and Rebecca they have children so the question is did Abraham live to see these children do you say yes yes anybody says no yes yeah the answer is yes um we can see that um in Genesis 2520 um I’m sorry Genesis 25 uh 26 we see that Abraham um 257 yeah I’m looking for the the time when Abraham um died yeah 257 thank you um so Abraham live 175 years right and how old was Abraham when Isaac was born 100 years so yeah and then um Isaac has uh um the children when he was 60 so that means that Abraham was 160 years old when the children were born so he had a chance to see the the the the grandchildren born and he live uh until the the children were actually teenagers until they were about 15 years old so what a blessing for Abraham to see their grandchild and to see them growing until they were teenagers right okay now let’s um go into the Ring of the passage we’ll go to uh Genesis 24 which is the the passage that uh we’re going to analyze this morning so turn your bies on Genesis 24 Genesis 24 is a very long chapter we’re not going to read all the chapter are going to uh read three sections of the chapter and then we’ll go to the observation and Analysis and observation and interpretation questions so in order to do the reading I have asked my daughter Anna to do the reading so and if you could please read Genesis 24 from 1 to 9 okay now Abraham is Old Well advanced in years and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things and Abraham said to his servant the oldest of his household who had charge of all that he had put your hand under my thigh that I may make you swear by the Lord the god of heaven and God of the earth that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among among whom I dwell but will go to my country and to my Kindred and take a wife for my son Isaac the servant said to him perhaps a woman may not be willing to follow me to this land must I then take your son back to the land from which you came and Abraham said to him see to it that you do not take my son back there the Lord the god of Heaven who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my Kindred and who spoke to me and swore to me to your off spring I will give this land he will send his Angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there but if the woman is not willing to follow you then you will be free from this oath of mine only you must not take my son back there so the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter thank you okay now let’s um have some questions and um do this process of uh um observing and uh interpreting some of the key points in this passage so the first question we have is who is the servant the Bible doesn’t say the name here in this passage but if we go to Genesis 15:2 Genesis 15:2 we see this is where um Abraham is talking to the Lord and the Lord is telling him Lord you’re going to have a a child but Abraham replies to the Lord Abraham Abraham said oh Lord what will you give me since I am childless and the hair of my house is a laser of Damascus so this servant eler of Damascus he was going to be the hair because he was the most important servant he was the top servant so now that we see this passes here where um Abraham is talking to his servant and uh putting in charge of this important task then most likely it was eliser from from Damascus the the servant that is going to do this task next question why did what did Abraham ask his servants to promise him in verse three so we go to verse three and we see that he asked his servant to promise that he will not take a wife for his son for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites now here the question that we may ask ourselves is why why did Abraham ask this to his servant why not taking women from the Canaanites any thoughts on this yes little yeah because the Canaanites were of the IES and they were dwelling in the land that God is going to throw the IES out mhm so he didn’t want his son to be wife take a wife from the Canaanites when eventually in the end the Canaanites the malachit and all the ice would go so he didn’t want him to have a wife from the canit yeah I think that that’s a that’s a um a good a good answer um as cenda was commenting God had promised to give that land to Abraham and their and his descendants but not to the Canaanites the Canaanites eventually were going to be expelled from that from that area Al although if we see the history later on we see that it was not completely that way but the land was promised to Abraham and his descendant so if uh Isaac married a Canaanite there would be a conflict because of the land because the their descendants would be like half Hebrews half Canaanites and that would create a conflict so uh in order to avoid this situation um Abraham is is saying to his servant you will not take a woman for Isaac from this land right yeah there there’s one more way you can look at this is that when God made the promise that Abraham regarding his seed um and that Sarah would be the mother when God originally made that promise what did Abraham and Sarah do Sarah gave Abraham her handmaiden mhm so they were basically trying to accomplish or or trying to bring about God’s promise through another means If Abraham hadn’t repented this is to me this is a sign of repentance because on the other hand if God had promised Abraham the land of the Canaanites why not marry in there and bring it about that way so yeah to me that would be a sign of repentance that he wouldn’t do that yeah I thank you that’s also a good comment at that time they tried to help God U by having that child with um AAR but that was not the child of the promise and we can we we already went through through that um so the next question who was the servant to Seri and what what was the sign of the of the OES um so in um in verse three we can see that that uh Abraham asked the servant to swear by whom by by God by the Lord the god of Heaven and the god of the earth and then he asks to confirm that that oath on um verse um n um we see the servant place his hand under the tithe of Abraham his master and swore to him according to this matter so that seems to be a weird way to make a not placing your hand on the the other person’s side it’s a very intimate part and uh seems qu to us but that was a custom that uh people did at that time and we can see that also in uh chapter 47: 29 of Genesis 4729 here we have Israel uh talking to to Joseph his son and he says when the time for Israel to die Drew near he called his son Joseph and said to him please if I have found found favor in your sight place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness please do not worry me in Egypt so he’s asking Jacob is asking Joseph not to bury him in evil and he’s asking to do this ritual of placing his hand under his his tith so it’s a it’s a custom that was on at that time when these matters were highly important and they require something special to to make sure that the person was going to fulfill that promise last question what was the objection in verse five and how did Abraham respond in verse five we see the servant telling uh Abraham suppose the woman is not willing to follow me should I take your son back to the land and we see that uh Abraham response is an emphatic no no you are not going to do that and here we have another question why why Abraham rejects that uh uh request in that emphatic way why he doesn’t want Isaac to go to to his land any thoughts on this I think verse seven uh says it clearly to your seed I will give this land so he said this is the land you’re gonna right right then that would you like to PL I was saying that because um God brought him out right so he didn’t want his son to go back in that was not problem come out so my son is not going to go exactly if um Abraham allow his son to go back then he would be acting against the promise of God because the promise the request from God was for them to leave their land and go to the the promised land now you may say well but uh they would be just going for a few days to take the bride and go back yeah but if they go back if Abram went if Isaac went to to the land there may be a Temptation for him to remain there after all he was going to meet all the relatives the the family and U it may um it may create a problem in fact we see exactly that the same situation later on with Jacob Isaac son he actually goes to back to to their um fathers their grandfathers land and um things um are kind of a mix there is a blessing but there is also some sort of course and then he goes back to the promised land so by doing this emphatic no Abraham is saying no we are not going uh against what God has asked us okay let’s now do the next reading the next reading is going to be in Genesis 24 in the same chapter vers 10- 26 so Anna could you please then the servant took 10 of his master’s camels and departed taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of nahor and he made the camels kneel down outside the city by The Well of water at the time of evening the time when women go out to draw water and he said oh Lord God of my master Abraham please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham behold I am standing by the spring of water and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water let the young woman to whom I shall say please let down your jar that I may drink and who shall say drink and I will water your camels let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac by this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master before he had finished speaking behold Rebecca who was born to bethu the son of milka the wife of nahor Abraham’s brother came out with her water jar on her shoulder the young woman was very attractive in appearance a maiden whom no man had known she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up then the servant ran to meet her and said please give me a little water to drink from your jar she said drink my Lord and she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink when she had finished giving him a drink she said I will draw water from your camels also until they have finished drinking so she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water and she Drew from all his camels the man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not when the camels had finished drinking the man took a gold ring weighing a half a shekele and two bracelets for her arms weighing 10 gold shekel and said please tell me whose daughter you are is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night she said to him I am the daughter of Bethal the son of milka whom she bore to nahor thank you okay let’s uh see now this um three questions what signal did the servant ask God in verse 14 so the servant arrives to the land of Mesopotamia and um he asked a signal to to the Lord he asked to uh meet a girl who um offers him to drink and also offers to drink uh the camels to to water the camels right so you may think okay well um why did he ask God for for this signal to have a woman that gave him to drink and also the camels and I think uh we can we can explain that uh in this way if um the servant asked uh just for a woman who gave gave him to drink I think um basically any woman would be willing to do that right it wouldn’t be that difficult hey can I have something to drink yeah sure uh does not represent an extra effort but if the woman also offers to we the camels then that means an extra effort means an extra job an extra task extra time and at that time not every woman would be willing to do that so he’s asking God to uh have a a woman that is willing to do this this extra task and the next question how did God respond to that request we see that God responds in an amazing way providing just even before the servant finished the prayer Rebecca appears and she does exactly what uh the Sant had requested God she offers him to drink and she offers also to water the camels and uh she was not carrying just two or three camels you remember how many camels he was he was taking there were 10 camels so whether in 10 camels I understand this was not an easy task because camels can drink a lot of water so you can imagine Rebecca going for water and water and water until the camels finish drinking that’s a that’s an amazing response from from Gods to this uh prayer request now next question what did the servant ask Rebecca on verse 23 and why was this important so the servant met Rebecca and he’s Amazed by how Rebecca performs that task of watering the camels but there is also another important in question question that uh has to be answered and in this um in verse 23 um we says that um the Ser we see that the servant ask whose daughter are you please tell me is there room for us to lunch in your father’s house this question was important because Abraham has told the servant to look for a woman from his relative right so he had to know if Rebecca was from Abraham’s family and then we see again the amazing reply from God to this to this uh to this question uh Rebecca says yes I am a child of um um Bedwell the son of milka whom she B to nak so at that time the servant understood oh she is from uh my my Lord’s uh family so yeah she she fulfills that request and not only that also Rebecca offers him to go to her house and to offer food and to offer room for him so we see an an amazing uh reply here from from Rebecca and uh which is in the end a reply from God to to this um request from from from the servant so from um verses 27 to to 52 we will not read those on on those verses we see that the servant goes to Rebecca’s house he’s introduced to Rebecca’s family uh he meets um his um her her father and her brother and basically the servant tells all the story to to the family he tells basically who he is what is his mission and um after all this story he asks a the father and and the brother in this case we see the brother is taking also a leadership position in the family like uh which is basically the one as we would say the one calling the shots in the family and uh after all the the story then um we see that the conclusion of um the brother and the father is in verse 5050 we see verse 50 we see here it says then lean and beel replied the matter came from the Lord so we cannot speak to you b or good and verse 51 here is Rebecca before you take her and go and let her be the wife of your master son as the Lord has spoken so we see here another amazing answer from the Lord because beel and La they after hearing all all this story from the servant they say okay this is coming from the Lord so here is Rebecca he can she can be a um your master’s son wife and God is answering again is I would like to go back to what is what signal did the servant ask God for if what I see the prayer of ela Abraham’s servant it was a direct prayer he said because women come to the the you know to water the Camas all the time he prayed I want this woman who is going to come this is what I am looking for and he said he said um let me see he he as specific prayer that the the woman that is going to water my the one is going to give me a drink the one is going to water the camel so it was a specific prayer that he prayed to God and it wasn’t it it was God’s Providence that Rebecca came at that time so he had Rebecca in mind God had Rebecca in mind not eleasa Ela was only praying to God look I want this to be a sign and the person that’s going to come May that person be and that was Rebecca so sometimes we pray and if we pray outside God’s Will and we don’t get answer we upset but when we con see that eleasa prayed directly in God’s will that this young Maiden would be the one for the my master servant my master son and that was that’s what I look at when we pray in his will he answer and elasa prayed in God’s Will and the right person came to give him a drink yeah right right um yeah we can pray uh we can we have the the the freedom to direct our prayers in different directions we can just pray in general terms but it’s also valid to pray in a specific terms and see how God replies in those circumstances uh and yes the the reply Rebecca was coming it she was not coming uh just randomly it was the Providence of God that put Rebecca just right uh at the right time in in that moment um yes Jacob also said in verse S when he saying you the microphone Jacob also said in verse 7 when he was saying the god of heaven and of Earth will um he who swore to me about this land he also said he will send his Angel before you and you take so he already put his faith into he’s putting his faith yeah Isaac is putting his faith in in in in God for this yeah good point so let’s do the last reading of this passage and that uh is in Genesis 24 53 to 67 now we see how this story ends so Anna could you please 53 to 67 and the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold and garments and gave them to Rebecca he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments and he and the men who were with him ate and drank and they spent the night there when they arose in the morning he said send me away to my master her brother and her mother said let the young woman remain with us a while at least 10 days after that she may go but he said to them do not delay me since the Lord has prospered my way send me away that I may go to my master they said let us call the young woman and ask her and they called Rebecca and he said to her will you go with this man she said I will go and they sent away Rebecca their sister and her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men and they blessed Rebecca and said to her our sister may you become thousands of 10 thousands and may your Offspring possess the Gate of those who hate him then Rebecca and her young woman arose and rode on the camels and followed the man thus the servant took Rebecca and went his way now Isaac had returned from be heroy and was dwelling in aob and Isaac went out to meditate in the field towards evening and he lifted up his eyes and saw and behold there were camels coming continue and Rebecca lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel and said to the servant who is that man walking in the field to meet us the servant said it is my master so she took her veil and covered herself and a servant told Isaac all the things that he had done then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her so Isaac was comforted from his mother’s death thank you so we see here the conclusion of the story um and uh let’s um answer a few questions here when the servant requested to leave the next morning how did the family respond well we see the family hesitated at that moment and and they said okay well why don’t you stay a a few more days uh let’s say 10 more days and um so we can say goodbye to Rebecca and and the servant replied no ER this is a mission that I have to accomplish this is coming from God so there is no point in in delaying this so the family then went to Rebecca and asked okay well Rebecca would you like to go and now we see here another amazing response from Rebecca that is being directed by the Lord and and Rebecca says yes I will go probably Rebecca was listening to the story of the servant when the servant went to their house and uh the servant told all the story to the father and and the brother maybe Rebecca was listening there too and she was amazed by that story as well and she understood that this was not just a a wedding this was a call from God and she responded and she said yes I will go next question how did Rebecca’s family sent her off we see that um on versus um 59 through through 60 um she was sent up with her nurse in verse 59 and then also with her maid in verse 61 but she was also sent with a prayer prayer in a beautiful prayer in In verse 60 it’s a prayer that has some similarities with the blessing that uh with a promise that God had uh given to to Abraham right that Abraham was going to be the father of multitudes and in this prayer they are say they are praying to Rebecca uh for Rebecca to become um the that they descendants become 10,000 so there is this similarity with the the promise from God to to Abraham and and his descendants so there she goes there she goes Rebecca and the next question in the next questions we see finally Isaac appearing in in this story and what was Isaac doing before he sees the camels approaching his home well we see that he had gone to meditate right and some commentators said this meditate maybe equal to to prayer uh so this tell us about the spiritual life of Isaac he was dedicating some time to spend alone with the Lord and just right uh after that time he sees the camels approaching his home and final question how did Isaac receive Rebecca well he took her for a wife and he loved her but before that he heard the report of the servant right he heard from the servant everything that had happened and then at that time uh Isaac understood okay this is the the bride that the Lord has provided me I’m going to take her and I am going to love her so this is the the end of this beautiful passage in Genesis 24 let’s now analyze it from the perspective of the characters of his story first of all we have Abraham a wise father the passage the chapter 24 starts with Abraham he is the one who puts in motion this plan who request the the servant to to do the task and in verse one of um chapter 24 we see that the Bible describes Abraham as all advancing age but also blessed the Lord has blessed Abraham in every way so Abraham was getting old but uh for people who are getting old and for people who have a had a chance to spend many years in the in the knowledge of the Lord the time doesn’t mean that they are just getting older time doesn’t mean that only that our bodies are aging time means that also they are getting more wise they are getting more faithful they are progressing in the knowledge of the Lord so it’s not just getting older but it’s getting older in the Lord and this is what we see in in Abraham uh here because um as um Leila was commenting when he puts this plan he is not trusting in himself he’s not trusting in his plan he puts a good plan and it’s according to the Lord’s will but it’s not uh putting his trust in him and it’s not putting his trust in the servant he choose the right person for this task but in in the end he’s not putting this uh uh um confidence in neither in himself nor in the servant and we can see that expressed um in um verse um the end of verse seven and and this is what Lea was commenting that he says to the servant he will send his Angel before you and will um take a wife for my son from there so the trust is in in in God and he is using all this experience all these years that he has working that he has been working in the Lord to um bless his family and Bless the people around him now um let’s go to the next character a laser the faithful servant so what a level of responsibility and commitment and Zeal for the mission we see in the servant right he OB immediately he prepares 10 camels and uh once he gets to Mesopotamia he asks for God’s guidance he asks for God’s signals God responds in a in an overwhelming way and what does he do in response to to to to what he praises the Lord twice in verse 26 we see the servant bow bowow on Worship the Lord then again in in verse 52 the servants heard the words he bow himself to the ground before the Lord then when he arrived to Rebecca’s house there is also another detail he ER was invited to to eat but he said I will not eat until I tell you what I am here for so he didn’t even want to eat until he explain his mission and when the the family requested him to stay for a little bit longer he said no my mission is more important than my comfort so I need to go back now to my master and there he went um this servant uh remind us of uh Ephesians 6 five and um five and six where Paul is talking about the servant so it says slaves be obedient to those who are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in sincerity of your heart as to Christ not by the ways of I service and Men Pleasers but at the SL of Christ doing the will of God from the heart the servant was putting these principles in application in doing this task now next character Rebecca what a nice young lady Rebecca is portray here right she Waters the camels she do us does that quickly she goes back and forth she uh offers the this man who was a strange man for her I mean she didn’t even know know know him and um when the man ask uh about um his family she invites a man to to her house so um Rebecca is uh showing signs of being a hardworking generous compassionate hospitable and on top of that she’s beautiful very beautiful so what a bride Isaac is is is going to take Rebecca remind us of proverbs 31 right when we see the The Virtuous Woman definitely rebea had these characteristics then the next character I Isaac the Beloved son Isaac uh was praying was meditating before meeting ER Rebecca and he had gone to a special place he had gone um we can see that um in verse um six two yeah Isaac had come from going to bir halai Roy this is the place that um was named that way because that the place where the Lord appeared to haar when haar was running away from Sara yeah so that that was a special place where the Lord appeared and he has been going right to that place to meditate uh in in the word of of God and um as commented when he sees Rebecca he takes Rebecca he understand that understands that Rebecca is the woman that the Lord is giving him and he takes Rebecca as as as a wife if you like to draw parallels between Isaac and Christ we can take chapter 22 and chapter 24 and and run a a beautiful parallel because in chapter 22 we see Isaac is going on his way to sacrifice as Christ did and in chapter 24 we see Isaac standing there ready to receive his his bride as CH is Christ is uh ready to to receive the the bride the chores that are us at at the end of time so that’s a a a beautiful parallel and taking these points this these four characters we can summarize the story and I heard this from a commentator this a beautiful way to summarize this story we see a wise father sending a faithful servant looking for a virtuous Pride for his beloved Son and I think that’s a a beautiful summary to to this U story um and now here we will be thinking okay and then they live happily ever after well the answer unfortunately is not totally that we will see the next uh the next lesson um because we live in a sinful and and broken World um their family is going to go through this Brokenness and there will be a big family drama with them and with their children that will be part of the next of the next lesson so um having read this this this beautiful lesson have here some points for for application and first point since this is a passage that U tell us about romance and marriage first point that I would like to share with you are looking for are you looking for a spouse well if you are looking for a spouse that’s a good desire we can see in Proverbs 18:22 Proverbs 18:22 it says he who finds a wife finds a good things a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord so it’s a good desire to look for a spouse now let’s say that um you are praying because first of all you have to start praying we can see the prayer in this story is fundamental it starts with Abraham then goes with a servant and then ends with Isaac and we see this cycle of continuous praying and relationship with the Lord so that’s how you should start but let’s say that you find a person that is generous hospitable kind um like uh the servant on Rebecca initially is that uh is that enough well we see in the story that that was not enough in the story of Rebecca there was another question that had to be answered the second question was who is your father and here we’re not talking about the the the Earthly family but we are talking about the Heavenly family so you meet a nice person but who is his father who is her father are they are child of God or not because if the answer is not then that’s not coming from God now let’s say that you find this person and this person is is a child of God you find a beautiful uh generous hospitable and godly lady let’s say that you find a handsome attractive hardworking and godly man is that the final point and the answer is not not yet there was another question that had to be asked another question that was asked to Rebecca will you go with this man it’s not until that point where you can be sure that that person is for you because if that person uh if that uh lovely young lady says no then she’s not for you or if that um attractive uh strong uh and godly man does not paying any attention to you well the answer is no it now you may say okay well but the negative answer can change yeah it may happen it may change that negative could eventually become a positive but the bottom line is unless you get a positive reply to that answer then that person is not for you okay so yeah I’m sorry I okay I I should have said this before I was holding back because I I just wanted to hear what you said so um but I I got a back step so that what I say will make sense when you ask the question why did Abraham not want his son to marry a Canaanite I think it’s the the answer that we didn’t give and I think that’s also a problem when you’re choosing uh when a single person male or female is choosing their mate is that we have to remember and this ties into the the other part you were talking oh boy I’m I’m sorry I’m gonna destroy you with all my connections but but um when you asked about Abraham his wisdom the wisdom of older people Abraham was aware of the fact that the Canaanites were Wicked people they were idolatrous um they practice um abominal practices um as far as uh concerning sexual practices they were an abominal people and so Abraham was aware of that he did not want his son to um to he did not want to mix his line with with that kind of people but then the other issue is which ties into something you were talking about and um I think uh Pastor Dave brought this up timing you know we talk about God’s will um we understand that Abraham was faithful to God if you’re faithful to God um you are in God’s plan you are in God’s Will and so timing the timing was perfect for Isaac and Rebecca and it the scripture reveals that she was at the well he was meditating this is showing us timing when we’re talking about single people they may use puberty as their sign for now it’s time to get married no puberty is a time to get control of of a gift that God will allow you to use at a later time but the only other thing that I that I wanted to say about it is that um that that’s the problem with our culture today is because we don’t recognize you know um the importance of letting God prepare a spouse a wife or a husband we don’t we don’t see the fact that God will prepare us for that and then one final point I want to make that brings us all the way back to the beginning um when when uh Adam names his wife um uh when he he calls her woman why um the the wife of man uh because she was taken out of man again God prepared the idea the idea of wife that God is in that process of preparing someone for us so timing is very important yeah right you mentioned a lot of um interesting points yeah on the first point about the the the Canaanite woman yeah that that was um yeah another another reason why Abraham didn’t want Isaac to marry them they they they they were a wicked wicked Nation um however the Abraham’s family back in Mesopotamia they also worship idols so um there is um that that point which I think it’s a valid point but um his family back in Mesopotamia they they also had idolatry so that’s why I didn’t mention that I think the point of of the land is offer us a um a more clear perspective on why Abraham didn’t want uh Isaac to marry marry Isaac and and to marry a canite woman and um and yeah to point about the timing yeah I mean it’s it’s part of the the pray and our preparation how to how to to um um prepare us for for this and uh how to discern the perfect time that the Lord wants for us in the case that uh we are willing to to to get married to have a spouse um okay next uh next Point looking for signals and that’s a an interesting point as well because we see that in the servant the servant goes and he ask for a specific signal something like a very very specific right so how do we interpret that how do we apply that to our lives in in in our time uh do we have to to pray for specific things to to happen in order to make a decisions and in reality we don’t do that nowadays no it’s it’s um not a thing that that we do and it’s not a the a way that God uses to communicate with us nowadays he communicated with people directly in the Old Testament but now he communicates to us through his word to the Bible right um it’s um very unlikely and highly contestable that uh that we can say oh God spoke me and and told me this and that I I will be very hesitant to to think that that is direct communication from God or that God gave me this signal or or that other because everything that God want want to tell us is in the Bible it’s in his word now you may say okay but the Bible would not tell me if I have to take this job or this other job or if I should move to this city or that other city or if I have to study this maor or this other maor or buy this car or buy this other car no that’s right the Bible will not tell you the specifics but the Bible will provide you uh the general frame toward you can check and see if your decisions are aligned and if you feel that um you need more wisdom you can ask for more wisdom and the in fact the Bible encourages to to take um to look for most more more wisdom in uh in James we see that James is encouraging us um in James 1 15 it says but if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all generously and without reproach and it will be given to to him so ask for Wisdom ask for discernment and um also some commentators say okay as as a guidance um check if your thoughts if your ideas are first align with the scripture exlore yourself and see if your desires are being moved by the spirit if what you want is is really coming from the spirit and as a third um step you can check the circumstances around yourself what is going on what is happening is is God opening the the door or not other commentators said okay and you can also add um counseling if you are still not sure you can talk to a a brother or a sister it at Le someone who is more mature more experienced in in the Lord and ask for for guidance if you are still not sure what to do in a given circumstance and finally this beautiful story that we have heard um it’s uh delightful for us to to read it but uh it’s part of a bigger story it’s part of a a bigger picture what is happening here is God fulfilling his promise the promise that he made to Abraham that he was going to be a father of a big nation now Abraham only had Isaac as a child of Promise so Isaac needs a to continue the promise and we see here God working towards that promise working to accomplish the purpose by providing a a right to to Isaac so that same God that uh fulfill the promises in Abraham and Isaac is the same God that is now working to fulfill his promises to fulfill his will in you and me so the same God 2,000 for 3,000 years ago is the same God nowadays and you can trust him because if he deliver for Abraham and Isaac he is going to deliver also for you and for me because we are also children of God so wanted to to finish with this passage of Romans 8:28 and we know that for those who love God and all all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose so that’s the lesson for today um sorry we don’t have time for for more questions um but if you have any other question or comment you can see me afterwards let me finish with a word of prayer God thank you for this time that we could uh spend um studying your word thank you for for this for this lesson for this beautiful story and for reminding us that um no matter what no matter when or no matter where you are in control you were in control in the past you are in control in the present and you are in control in the future help us to trust in your word help us to trust in your promises in Jesus name amen thank you