Mission Impossible

 If you like adventure, impossible tasks, mixed with romance, then Genesis 24 is your chapter. Abraham's servant is given a mission impossible assignment. To find a wife for Isaac back in the land where Abraham grew up. I understand the culture was different back then and women did not have the ultimate say in marriage. Still the odds of success for this servant seemed unlikely. 

Unlikely unless God is your partner. The servant prayed, "O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show me lovingkindness to my master Abraham." [Gen 24:12] He furthered prayed as he rested by a spring that the woman who offered to water his camels would be the chosen one. It is important to note the man had 10 camels with him. 

Enter Rebekah. The Bible describes her as very beautiful and a virgin who had never known a man. The servant saw his opportunity. He put feet to his faith. He ran up to Rebekah after she filled her jar with water and asked her for a drink. Remember his prayer for the woman who offered to water his camels would be the chosen girl for Isaac. Impossible. Not if God is your partner. 

Consider the fact that one camel can drink 30 gallons of water at one time. Multiply that by ten. This servant believed God would prompt some woman to haul 300 gallons of water for his camels. No small task. Not something that could be done in a short period.  The servant already carrying out mission impossible now prayed an impossible prayer. 

Not impossible if God is in it. Rebekah offered to water the camels. All ten of them. The Bible reports that she emptied her jar quickly and ran back for more water for all the camels. She must have been a remarkable woman. Resolute. Strong. Beautiful. Kindhearted. A little adventurous too. 

When she finished watering the camels, the servant gave Rebekah gifts and inquired about her family. He was given lodging for the night and then made his intentions known to the girl's father. Once again, mission impossible. Only impossible if God does not intervene. He explains the whole matter was from the LORD. Improbably Rebekah's father agrees to send his daughter away with a complete stranger to marry a man he nor his daughter had ever laid eyes on. The family wanted to delay the departure, but the servant wanted to stay on task. 

Once again, the LORD intervened. The father lets Rebekah decide for herself if she wanted to go. Remember I wrote earlier that she must have been a little adventurous. This is the reason I wrote it. She decides to go. Think about that for a moment. She decides to go on a long journey alone with a complete stranger. She decides to place herself in a very vulnerable situation as a virgin. No guarantees that he would or could be able to protect her from marauders. No guarantee that he would not make advances toward her himself. She still chooses to go. 

The climatic scene of this mission impossible is right out of a Hallmark movie. From a distance Rebekah sees a man working in a field when the servant takes her back to Isaac. She inquires who it is? He tells her that it is Isaac. For many miles she has dreamed about what this future husband looked like. She covered herself with her veil making Isaac have to wait a little longer to see what his future bride looked like. 

That same day Isaac married Rebekah. Mission impossible completed. One of the last phrases recorded in Genesis 24 is that Isaac loved Rebekah. He found comfort in her as she consoled him about his mother Sarah's death. 

I wonder how many of us would have accepted such an impossible mission from God. To travel to a foreign land to find a complete stranger to be the wife of the boss's son. To boldly ask the girl's father and family to give her up and entrust her well-being to you a total stranger. To take her back to meet and marry a man on the same day she had never known. Everything about this seems impossible. Not if God is in it. There are no impossible things when God is your partner. Not even a romantic adventure.