Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110508.htm

BIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLE SAINTS
IV. Abraham's Servant: Finding The Right Spouse God's Way
B. Step Two: Finding The Right Person In The Search For A Spouse
(Genesis 24:10-53)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    When Britain's crown Prince William and Kate Middleton recently married to become the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, many onlookers identified with the event on a personal level, revealing the common desire to marry the right person and live happily ever after!

    The May 2, 2011 issue of USA TODAY, p. 6D ran a full-page description of the wedding reflecting this desire (as follows):

    It told how "(t)he gasps heard when the bride stepped out of her Rolls [Royce] at the abbey were also for Pippa [Philippa] Middleton, Kate's younger sister and maid of honor, who was as stunning as the bride in a slender ivory column dress . . ." (Ibid., brackets ours)

    It also relayed that after the wedding ceremony, the couple rode "the open State Landan carriage back to the palace . . . Dozens of mounted police and mounted soldiers of the Household Cavalry Regiment, in their elaborate ceremonial uniforms, distinctive helmets and shiny black boots, escorted the carriage, trotting line after line of four matched horses abreast down the wide Mall, around the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the palace, and through the wide black-and-gold palace gates, as the throngs cheered and waved their flags." (Ibid.)

    The paper explained that when the bride and groom made the traditional wedding kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace in front of 500,000 excited onlookers, they did not take just one, but a breathtaking two-peck kiss to the delirious joy of the throngs below! (Ibid.) No one puts on a show like the British!



    However, with the desire of many believers today to obtain the right spouse and get happily married ever after, one may ask, "If I heed the first message in this sermon series and align with God's will before I begin my search for a spouse, how do I actually go about finding the right person in the search itself?!"

    Need: "After I align with God's will, how do I find the right spouse?"

  1. AFTER Abraham's servant was ALIGNED to GOD'S WILL so he could BEGIN effectively searching for a wife (our last sermon), Genesis 24:10-53 describes HOW he MET the RIGHT GIRL.
  2. Namely, God led Abraham's servant to find her (Genesis 24:27) AS he took SENSIBLE STEPS that GOD USED to ASSIST him:
    1. The servant materially prepared to meet the right girl, Gen. 24:10a:
      1. He loaded ten camels with gifts for the bride and her family (Gen. 24:10a, 22, 53), the number even now held to be right for such a caravan, so the servant materially prepared to impress the bride and her family, H. C. Leupold, Expos. of Genesis, 1974, vol. II, p. 663.
      2. Also, Abraham's servant needed camels to bear Isaac's bride and her maids with speed directly across the desert and safely back to Canaan escorted by a fighting force of Abraham's men on some of the camels, Gen. 24:54a, 61; 14:14; Z. P. E. B., vol. One, p. 752.
    2. The servant positioned and timed himself to meet the right girl: in arriving at the town where he knew he would find her, he stopped his caravan at the city well at evening when maritally eligible young women customarily came out to draw water, Genesis 24:10b-11.
    3. The servant prayed for God's aid to find the right girl, Gen. 24:12.
    4. The servant watched for actions the right girl would initiate that would show she would excel as a homemaker, Genesis 24:13-14: his plan to see if she would offer to water 10 camels that had just trekked 500 miles and could thus drink up to 300 gallons of water, and for her to do so by walking down and then up the well's stairwell 75 times over several hours of time to fetch 4 gallons of water per trip would show she was a cheerful, hospitable, generous, motivated and healthy bride-to-be. (Ibid., p. 667; Ibid., Z. P. E. B., v. Five, p. 924; "How the Camel Conquers Thirst," Time, July 17, 1964; Ibid., Leupold, p. 665)
    5. Abraham's servant was awarded with the right girl who was also very beautiful (Genesis 24:15-16a), indicating that God Who was then answering his prayer expects a godly suitor to go ahead and look for a prospective spouse who is also very attractive!
    6. Abraham's servant was awarded a girl with "standing", what we term "class", the meaning of "virgin" in Genesis 24:16b; Ibid., Leupold, p. 667. God wants a believer to seek a respectable, cultured spouse, one who has developed himself as is often linked to being educated.
    7. Abraham's servant was awarded with the right girl who was moral, who had not had premarital sexual relations, Genesis 24:16c. God requires such moral purity in all believers today, Ephesians 5:3 NIV.
    8. Abraham's servant was rewarded with the highly motivated right girl who excelled in her actions, Genesis 24:20a, 23-25 with 13-14. God would thus want believers to look for well-motivated spousal partners.
    9. When Abraham's servant testified how God had led him to her, the right girl ran to tell her mother's household, indicating she had a healthy relationship with her family, Genesis 24:27-28. Thus, a key qualification to seek in a spouse is a healthy home background.
    10. The servant courted the right girl and her family, Genesis 24:29-48:
      1. He told them of Isaac's ability to support her, Genesis 24:29-36:
        1. After meeting the girl's family (Genesis 24:29-32), Abraham's servant told her and her family of God's great material blessings of his master, Abraham and of his household, Genesis 24:33-35.
        2. The servant then explained that his master's entire estate would go to Isaac, the one for whom he sought a wife, Genesis 24:36.
        3. Thus, God would want a suitor to testify to the potential bride and her family of his ability to support her. (1 Timothy 5:8)
      2. The servant also told the girl and her family of his spiritual walk:
        1. He relayed the high standards he was to follow in seeking a wife for Isaac, a testimony that is essential to wooing a godly, quality spouse and her original family members, Genesis 24:37-38.
        2. He told them of his fellowship with his master and with God in his search, a report that would reflect on the walk his master and his master's son themselves had with God, Genesis 24:39-48.
        3. Thus, God would want a believer to woo the right, godly partner by testifying of his own spiritual walk with the Lord.
    11. The servant successfully initiated a wedding proposal to the right girl and her family, Gen. 24:49-53: after courting, Abraham's servant initiated a customary marriage proposal to the girl and her family, and gaining a positive reply, he worshiped and thanked God and gave her and her family gifts in line with wedding engagement customs, Gen. 24:49, 50-52, 53. God wants suitors to show initiative and propose!
Application: To find the right spouse, may we (1) trust in Christ to become a child of God and (2) align with God's will BEFORE searching for that special person. (3) Then, may we apply the steps offered in the example of Abraham's servant in our search!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 The importance of heeding the steps taken by Abraham's servant in this message to find the right person as a spouse is evidenced in even secular reports (as follows):

(1) Thomas Sowell's article, "Is the family becoming extinct?" in the July 31, 2001 issue of the Republican-American reported the U. S. Census Bureau's statistics revealed that "(w)hile both unmarried partners' and married spouses' are spread up and down the income scale, the bracket with the largest number of men who are unmarried partners is the bracket between $30,000 and $40,000. The bracket with the largest number of husbands is between $50,000 and $75,000. Among married couple households, the bracket with the largest number of households is $75,000 and over. Among other family groups,' the bracket with the largest number of households is that under $10,000." Thus, even secular authorities reveal a correlation between healthy marriages and good incomes, showing the need to be able to support a wife as could Isaac before a man gets married!

(2) Sowell also told how the Census Bureau's statistics showed that "(w)omen who are shacking up are four times as likely as wives to become victims of violence, and their children are 40 times as likely to be abused by live-in boyfriends as by their own parents." (Ibid.) Thus, even secular authorities show the practical value of abstinence before marriage as in the case of Isaac's future bride in Genesis 24.

(3) Sebastian Moffett's article, "Technology Widens Gap Between Rich and Poor" in The Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2011, p. A12, shows the value of being educated or culturally trained before marriage : he reported a growing "income inequality" in industrialized countries as a result of globalization and technological progress. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based think tank, claims the " solution to the growing inequality was training and education for the low-skilled." (emphases ours)

In view of the value of education and training before marriage, this secular article verifies the value of God's providing Isaac a woman of station, one who was educated and culturally refined!



Thus, if even secular authorities show the necessity of at least some of the Genesis 24 guidelines in finding the right spouse, may we apply them and see God make our search a success!