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Hello <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>,
We are so excited to welcome Miguel Alexander Benitez to the world! Our very own Miguel and Daniella Benitez had their first son "Alex" on Tuesday the 14th! Please join us in celebrating this new addition to the Benitez family!
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When living in Mexico as a missionary, my “missionary mom” gave me some advice that changed my life, because it transformed my paradigm of marriage. While struggling to determine the Lord’s will for my life regarding a spouse, she told me this: “We are creatures who are made to love, and we can fall in love with many people. Therefore, our main purpose for picking a spouse should not be based on finding love. Instead, you should choose your spouse only when you have found a person with whom you can honor and serve God better together than you can individually.” What a truly God-centered, game-changing perspective for a 19-year-old college kid looking for love!
I believe that all the people involved in Genesis 24 have this same understanding of marriage. In the first part of the chapter (vs 1 – 14), we saw that Abraham sought to honor God in the marriage of his son by following God’s commands, even in some very inconvenient ways. Then we recognized how the servant’s focus was on following God’s plan to find a suitable wife for Isaac instead of finding someone solely based on her appearance. Then he prayed for God’s clarity and proceeded to worship the Lord for his providence (vs 15 – 28). In this section of the chapter, verses 29 – 54, the servant meets with Rebekah’s older brother, Laban, and mother, Bethuel, and we find out their perspectives on God’s plan for marriage, too.
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After the servant recounts in lengthy detail his entire mission, Laban responds, “The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master's son, as the Lord has spoken” (vs. 50-51, emphasis mine). A paraphrase of their ideas might go like this: “This is clearly God’s will, so it’s not up to me to agree or disagree. It’s totally up to God!” Clearly, they are more interested in honoring and serving God and his will rather than their own agendas. Their initial reaction is to attribute this union to God and glorify him. Clearly, everyone in the story so far is of one accord regarding how they should seek to find suitable spouses for their children.
Next week, we’ll be able to take a look at the reactions of the two most central figures: Rebekah and Isaac themselves! Will they, too, respond in a manner focused on honoring God, or will they have different motives in mind when it comes to their own marriage?
Even if you are not at a time in your life when you are searching for a spouse, we can learn a lot about all of our relationships from this chapter. How do you view the relationships – familial, friendly, and romantic – in your life? Are you concerned with honoring and serving God in those relationships, or are you primarily focused on other factors? And are you being a person who will attract other God-honoring people and who recognizes the hand of God in all circumstances? Do you seek his counsel through prayer and then give him praise and worship? But most importantly, no matter what it is that God is showing you in your life right now, I pray that your goal, above all else, would be to honor and serve him better.
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