[Abraham] said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had . . . “I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”—Genesis 24:2–4
“Have it your way.”
Remember that popular advertising slogan? Our culture demands choice—the freedom to choose precisely what we want, exactly how we want it. One national coffee chain reportedly can serve your morning cup in as many as nineteen thousand different ways. Some choices, such as tall, grande or venti mocha, are insignificant. Other choices can determine the course of a lifetime.
The story of Isaac and Rebekah is all about people making choices. Think about it. Wouldn’t it have been infinitely easier for Abraham to choose a wife for his son from among local families he already knew? Next, consider the servant. He’d been assigned to find a matrimonial needle in a haystack. His job was to choose the perfect wife for his master’s son. And then there was Rebekah. She was asked to choose to leave her home, family and everything familiar to travel to a distant country to marry a man she’d never met.
Choices. We all make them. Abraham chose to obey God’s directive that his family not intermarry with the Canaanites. The servant chose to accept a complicated challenge from his employer, trusting God to lead him to the right woman. And Rebekah—Rebekah had to make a decision that would affect the rest of her life. She ultimately chose to trust her life and future to the servant of a distant relative whose God was her God. The story of the divinely arranged marriage between Isaac and Rebekah reminds us that nothing is too difficult for God.
Trust and obey—these two words go together like coffee and cream. Yet every day we face difficult situations that seem to defy simple solutions. As women, myriad difficult choices face us—the right course of care for a sick child, moving from everything familiar for a new opportunity, following God’s leading even when the outcome is hazy, even when the right choice frightens us. You may toss and turn for nights without finding peace in your choice. The right choice is often the hard choice, but not always. How do we determine the right choice? Obey the guidance you find in God’s Word, earnestly pray and seek trusted counsel, then trust God with the outcome. Will you have it your way or God’s way? First trust God to have your best interest at heart, and then trust him to lead you to the right choice.
Reflection
- What hard choice is confronting you today?
- What factors make your decision difficult?
- How is God asking you to trust him in this situation? Will you obey him?
Related Readings
Joshua 24:15
1 Kings 8:57–58
Psalm 32:8–9
