Session 2

A Request (Genesis 24:12-14)

how Abraham’s servant prayed.

12 “Lord, God of my master Abraham,”
he prayed, “make this happen for me today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
13 I am standing here at the spring
where the daughters of the men of the town are coming out to draw water.
14 Let the girl to whom I say,
‘Please lower your water jug so that I may drink,’
and who responds, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels also’ -
let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac.
By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”

Application Point:

Believers should approach God when seeking direction.

Mini Lecture:

briefly summarize Genesis 24:1-25:18.

Highlight that Abraham recognized that Isaac needed a wife.

Ask:

• What is prayer?

Abraham’s servant needed God’s guidance to find a wife for Isaac.
He apparently had learned from Abraham’s example that he could find that needed guidance through prayer.

Read

Luke 22:41-42 and 2 Corinthians 12:6-9.

Luke 22:41-42

41 And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,

42 saying,
"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me;
yet not My will, but Yours be done."

2 Corinthians 12:6-9.

6 For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth;
but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,
for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!
8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.

9 And He has said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness "
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Ask:

• What are some attitudes, characteristics, or behaviors that can hinder our prayers?

Read

James 4:2-3 and Matthew 5:23-24.

James 4:2-3

2 You lust and do not have;
so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain;
so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives,
so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Matthew 5:23-24.

23 "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar,
and there remember that your brother has something against you,

24 leave your offering there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Identify a situation in which you prayed for God’s guidance.

• How did God answer your prayers?
• Did you find it difficult to recognize the answer?
• How did you express praise for His response?

Ask:

• What do you think prompted Abraham’s servant to pray? (PSG, p. 22) Suggest that the servant probably knew Abraham’s commitment to prayer and could have been imitating what he had seen his master do. Direct attention to Pack Item 4 (Poster: Principles of Prayer). Compare the items on the poster to elements of the servant’s prayer. Emphasize the role of prayer in our lives.

Key Word

Appointed

The servant requested a sign by which he could clearly discern the woman the Lord had chosen to be Isaac’s wife.
The servant recognized that Isaac’s wife needed the willingness to demonstrate hospitality,
a quality regarded not only as good manners, but also as a sacred duty in the ancient world.
The practice of hospitality involved entertaining or receiving a stranger into one’s household,
treating the person as an honored guest, and providing food, shelter, and protection.

Further, the servant’s request related to the kind of personality that Isaac needed in a wife.
Isaac, who possessed a quiet, retiring nature, found in Rebekah a woman who willingly took the initiative to act.
In the end, God was behind the selection.
He had appointed Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife.