But I am an
introverted skeptical cynic.
Which is why
I have a blog. So I can write things like-
How can the answer to
prayer be found in a plain earthen vessel?
Ah, my
friends, let’s not forget that the King of the world was found in a dirty
wooden trough.
It’s time to
de-mystify and normalize the voice of God.
It’s time to recognize and trust the simplicity of
the abundant gift.
My friends,
when God extends to you an answer to prayer, do you stop and stare at it and
question it before trusting? Do you pause and wait to see if you might be let
down? Do you evaluate your level of emotional certainty and weigh all the other
options?
Yes. I do. I
am an introverted skeptical cynic.
But the
reality is that sometimes the answer is standing before us, hands extended, offering
us a drink of water to quench our parched throats after a long journey through
the hot desert.
The answer to
prayer is within the simplicity right in front of you.
Perhaps we
have been walking along with a great caravan of baggage that brings us comfort
and security, and so we are very weary. When finally we come to the well, we can set
it all down and take a break to pray.
This is when
we will encounter an answer before we can even finish asking.
And all we
can do is stare in wonder at the stranger who stands before us with the earthen
vessel. All we can do is repeat our questions.
Is this too good to be true? How do I
know if this is an answer to prayer?
We almost
miss the Blessing because we are searching for something more mysterious, more
profound. We don’t realize that the answer is simple, straight-forward, and
available here and now. A treasure found
in a jar made of clay, held in the arms of Someone we have never met before and
yet have known all our lives.
A drink for our thirsty soul.
This week I
made a specific and important ask before God. It is a new year and I knew there
were some things that I was ready to let go of- emotional baggage that no
longer served me, change I wanted to see happen in my personal life. It was all
wrapped up in one specific prayer request that ended with “God, please GIVE ME
A SIGN. Amen”.
I wrote it
down in a journal entry and said it out loud. And I don’t know what I really
expected to happen after that, except maybe nothing.
Or a miracle.
Would I hear
the audible voice of God speaking in reply? I thought if I did get something in
response, it would be mysterious feedback that I would need to decode. Or
perhaps there would be some strings attached in order to prove myself and earn
the prize.
Funny thing
is, unlike most prayer requests, this answer came within HOURS. Literally, just
a few hours. And it was straight-forward, clear as day, smiling into my dusty
eyes, extending a drink to me, saying “THIS IS YOUR BLESSING”.
And I
doubted.
"Where is the
mystery? This is too easy. What am I missing?"
I’m scared to believe, God.
I also came
to Genesis 24 on my slow journey through Scripture, and there I learned that
treasures are often found in earthen vessels, even here and now.
Simple
answers to prayer that don’t have any strings attached, but hands of kindness
extended out.
“Accept the gift,” I said to myself. “Blessing
is found within the clay pot. Take it, for
God’s sake, girl!”
“See
the sign and trust,” He said to me. “Receive
the abundance. For your sake, child!”
In order to
recognize the answers to prayer that stand before us, the Blessings that are
extending to us a cool drink of water for our thirsty souls, we need to do just
one thing:
De-mystify
and normalize the voice of God, because Abundance
is actually very simple.
Answers to
prayer are not relegated to churches or Sundays or pastors- in fact sometimes it
is the very religious things that will hinder or distract us from hearing directly
from Him.
Sometimes the long caravan of baggage we
carry is a
religion empty of Divinity.
So let’s walk
together through Genesis 24-
“Abraham
was now a very old man, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. One day
Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in charge of his household, ‘Go to
my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
v1-2,4
Okay. We are given
an assignment; a task to accomplish that involves specific instructions. Seems
straight-forward enough, what could go wrong? You say to yourself “you’ve got
this! Execute it with perfection!”
Mmmm, wait.
Perfection? Uh-oh. Fear creeps in, because striving for excellence brings
anxiety. This is a lifelong struggle for me. And when I become anxious, I start
asking worried questions-
The
servant asked, ‘But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel
so far from home?” v5
The worry is
that perhaps we are being asked to do something too hard, because naturally we
plan to achieve it in our own strength.
“But what if I can’t?”
The road to Blessing
now looks difficult. The journey appears to be really long with too much hard work;
the path is through a hot and dry desert.
So God
encourages us with His promises, and He gives us His Word.
Abraham
responded, “The Lord will send His angel ahead of you, and he will see to it
that you find a wife there for my son.” v6
We want to be
absolutely certain there is a drink of cool water on the other side.
With some
hesitation we say, “Okay, God, I will trust you on this one. I will take the
journey.”
“The
servant swore to follow Abraham’s instructions.” v9
But we
also take a whole caravan of backup plans and fear-based thoughts, just in case God doesn’t fulfill His
end of things. Best to be prepared to do this independently, right?
“Don’t worry,
God, I’ve got this. Let’s go…”
Then
he loaded ten of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his
master, and he traveled to a distant town.” v9-10
And so we go
where God instructed us, but the journey is even harder because we are carrying
everything we could possibly take with us for protection and security.
Because maybe
God will send an answer, but maybe, just in case, we should have something to
bargain with to make the Answer to our prayer even better.
So naturally,
by the time we get to the destination, we are desperately thirsty.
We must sit
down, release our burdens, rest and gather back our strength.
We look
around and wonder, “where is the Blessing? I’m so thirsty, God. It’s hot here,
and this baggage is a lot of work. Where are You? All I see here are strangers
in this place.”
“He made the camels kneel beside a well just
outside the town. It was evening, and the women were coming out to draw water.”
v11
He did not
ask us to grasp every single treasure we hold dear and caravan them all across
the desert.
He only asked us to show up
and arrive thirsty.
But maybe we
realize too late that the heavy load we shouldered through the entire
wilderness was not going to accomplish anything when we arrived, except to hinder our strength. So now we lay it all down and
realize nothing we brought is of any use in this moment.
All the protection and security we
planned for, it’s out of our control.
We are surrounded by strangers in a
foreign land.
Empty trust is required here.
Simple prayer is needed now, nothing
more.
So we simply
pray.
“Oh
Lord, God of my master, Abraham,” the servant prayed. “Please give me success
today and show unfailing love to my master Abraham.” v12
There is no certainty here, only need-
an awareness of lack.
We show up, dusty and tired, lay our
burdens down, and wait for help.
“God, give me a sign. What am I doing here?
Please help. This caravan is useless.”
“See,
I am standing here beside this spring, and the young women of the town are
coming out to draw water. This is my request. I will ask one of them, ‘Please
give me a drink from your jug.’ If she says ‘Yes, have a drink, and I will
water your camels, too!’ – let her be the one you have selected as Isaacs wife.
This is how I will know that you have shown unfailing love to my master.”
V13-14
We doubt that
help is coming, and so we make parameters because of the fear that it will be
easy to miss God’s answer. We think He may not clarify what the Blessing looks
like. We think His reply will be complicated, so we start establishing
guidelines.
We
are afraid to trust.
We start to
negotiate with the Creator of the universe.
But Blessing interrupts our frightened futility.
“Before
he had finished praying, he saw a young woman named Rebekah coming out with her
water jug on her shoulder. She was very beautiful and of age to be married, but
she was still a virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came
up again. Running over to her, the servant said, ‘Please give me a little drink
of water from your jug.’” V15-17
The answer to
prayer shows up in the middle of our bartering tactics, interrupting with a cool
drink of water. The Blessing is here after all. And she smiles and extends the earthen
vessel out towards us and asks us to trust the simple Abundance.
“‘Yes,
my lord,’ she answered, ‘have a drink.’ And she quickly lowered her jug from
her shoulder and gave him a drink.” v18
Now we are a
bit embarrassed by all the security measures we took to ensure an answer to
prayer. Perhaps we realize that our manipulation is showing. What can you say
when Blessing waters all your baggage, even if that burden looks like ten camels
loaded with stuff you thought could help ensure the outcome?
You say
nothing, because there are no words for this kind of Grace.
And the
Abundant blessing has only just begun…
“When she had given him a drink, she said,
‘I’ll draw water for your camels, too, until they have had enough to drink. So
she quickly emptied her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well
to draw water for all his camels.” V18-20
Abundance
looks like a lot of trips to down to the well and back. But Blessing covers all
of it without hesitation.
Every last camel in our caravan of wounds is
watered, and peace covers the multitude of
fear.
And still, we doubt.
Still, we remain speechless.
“The
servant watched her in silence, wondering whether or not the Lord had given him
success in his mission.” V21
All we can do
is stare at Blessing in action. Abundance
waters every dry place inside: qualifications, possessions, titles, achievements,
past
hurts, regrets, grievances, offenses, fears, unmet
needs and other impressive things we thought were
a treasure but are really the things
that makes us weary and worn.
Why do we
doubt the freedom of Abundance?
The voice of
God needs to be demystified- it’s not a church or a pastor or a Sunday. It’s
not complicated or hidden deep inside religion.
It’s a child of God holding out a drink of
water.
Someone who
will willingly bring enough refreshment to compensate for all the weight of
control that you were determined to drag with you in the heat of a dry desert
afternoon.
Blessing
quenches all of it.
Abundance
lays it all down to rest.
Peace
settles on the caravan of chaos.
All
is quiet and time stands still.
And as we
stare into the kind eyes before us, we realize that the things we believed
would serve us in this moment, most of them are totally unnecessary and only
weigh us down.
We discover that Abundance is found in
simplicity.
Only a few things are really necessary
now.
“Then
at last, when the camels had finished drinking, he took out a gold ring for her
nose and two large gold bracelets for her wrists.” v22
We realize
that of all the burdens that we loaded onto our ten camels, perhaps
only a handful of our treasures were really necessary after all. So we take them out and offer them
up and say a prayer for help.
‘Whose
daughter are you?’ He asked. And please tell me, would your father have any
room to put us up for the night?” v23
And we wait
for the voice of Blessing to give us permission. We are totally vulnerable now,
exposed, broken and waiting. There is anticipation in our soul.
We are broken.
“I
am Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel. Yes, we have plenty of straw and feed for
the camels, and we have room for guests.” V24-25
The wait is
over. The weight is over. Blessing is upon us, here and now.
And we didn’t
have to barter or beg, search or decode or strive.
We don’t need
an impressive caravan.
We only
needed to show up and be seen, ask and receive.
We have permission
to receive the Abundance.
“The
servant bowed low and worshiped the Lord. ‘Praise the Lord, the God of my
master Abraham.’ He said. ‘The Lord has shown unfailing love and faithfulness
to my master, for he has led me straight to my master’s relatives.” V26-28
Worship is the recognition that
blessing is found in earthen vessels.
That a King is found in human persons.
That a Kingdom is
established in broken hearts.
We lay it all
down and realize that God has been
waiting to bless us all along,
whether we showed up with just a handful of things or a full caravan of camels
.
The Blessing was not
contingent upon our ability to impress or manipulate- it was based on the fact
that we made the journey to show up and be seen.
The drink was
going to be offered regardless. We just need to admit we are thirsty.
God, our souls are thirsty, deep down
inside.
Dig a well, draw the water, and
deliver us.
And now Blessing
rushes back to the Father to call down a feast of Abundance upon us.
“The
young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened.” V28
She forgot her jug.
The servant forgot why he came.
This is the law of awe and wonder.
Religion is simply the catalyst for
spiritual connection.
Blessing has
been waiting for us longer than we have been waiting for it.
And so the Abundance
to come is even greater than our present need.
Our request was too small.
This is the law of lavish love.
This is Abundance in action.
“Rebekah’s brother rushed out to the spring,
where the servant was still standing beside his camels. The man named Laban
said to the servant, ‘Come and stay with us, you who are blessed by the Lord!
Why are you standing here outside the town when I have a room all ready for you
and a place prepared for the camels?’” v30-31
There is
still a place of doubt in our heart which has had a great deal of influence and
experience from our past. Our skepticism says we must earn the Blessing in
order to receive Abundance.
Even in the joy
of answered prayer, we still struggle for control.
I am an
introverted skeptical cynic.
Won’t you
join me, my friend?
“Then
food was served. But Abraham’s servant said, ‘I don’t want to eat until I have
told you why I have come.’” V32-33
As the
abundance of Blessing is presented, we step back and wonder what it’s going to
cost us.
We doubt. We
don’t fully trust.
And because Blessing makes room for doubt,
respecting our insecurities and honoring our fears, it
keeps the feast warm while waiting patiently for all our skeptical
questions to be answered.
“All
right,’ Laban said, ‘tell us.’ v33
And we begin
to state our case.
We tell God
all the reasons that we have earned this Blessing, reasons why we deserve it,
as if we need to convince Him of our worthiness.
We tell God
all the reasons that we didn’t earn this Blessing, reasons why don’t deserve
it, as if we need to convince Him of our unworthiness.
We parade
our caravan of treasures.
“I
am Abraham’s servant. And the Lord has greatly blessed my master; he has become
a wealthy man.” v34
We are afraid
to receive from Him. We are afraid He will see through us and revoke the Abundance.
And so we list our accolades, our achievements, our titles, our labels, our
acts of service and greatness.
We are afraid to be denied.
We are afraid
He will see through us and deny our desires and crush our hopes and dreams.
And so we
punish ourselves, take ourselves out of the game, revoke our own privileges as
children of the King.
We keep one
foot out the door, waiting to be kicked, planning an exit strategy.
But
eventually we come to the end of the list of reasons why.
And then we realize that
none of it is holding us back, because the
feast is already laid out and it’s meant just for us.
So we humbly
admit our lack, our need and dependence…
Today
when I came to the spring I prayed this prayer: ‘O Lord, God of my master,
Abraham, please give me success on my mission. See, I am standing here beside
this spring. This is my request.’” v42-43
We are
vulnerable, revealing our inability to manipulate the outcome.
Exposing our
need.
And expecting
to be turned away now, we give Blessing an exit because we doubt our
Divine inheritance.
“So
tell me, will you or won’t you show unfailing love and faithfulness to my
master? Please tell me yes or no, and then I’ll know what to do next.” v49
And Blessing
sees our fearful heart and smiles at our childlike honesty.
And the
answer to prayer comes quietly, honestly, straightforward.
“Then
Laban replied, ‘The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there is nothing we
can say. Here is Rebekah, take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your
master’s son, as the Lord has directed.’” V50-51
Dear God, you really do want to bless
me, don’t You? You love me so much.
Ah, the goodness is heartbreaking.
Tears flow. Abundant tears of gratitude.
Worship will be the natural response,
and then the feast can begin.
“When
Abraham’s servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshiped
the Lord. Then they ate their meal, and the servant and the men with him stayed
there overnight.’” V52-54
So we dine with Divinity and celebrate
the victory.
But receiving a Blessing is only the beginning.
Responding to it means returning to our
community and sharing it with others.
Being responsible for answered prayer means
living your whole life as if it’s true.
It means taking it home with you.
Shouldering the burden of Blessing
requires action.
Because what
happens at the feast must travel out with you onto the desert road and beyond.
“Early
the next morning, Abraham’s servant said, ‘Send me back to my master. Don’t
delay me. The Lord has made my mission successful; now send me back so I can
return to my master.’” v56
We could sit
and enjoy the feasting and celebration for many days to come, basking in the
goodness. But to truly receive the Blessing, we cannot be passive.
We must
actively respond and pay it forward- we must take the Abundance back home.
It’s
time to go home.
“Well,’
they said, ‘we’ll call Rebekah and ask her what she thinks. So they called
Rebekah. ‘Are you willing to go with this man?’” they asked her. And she
replied, ‘Yes, I will go.’” v57-58
So we leave
our heavy caravan of treasures behind. The journey home with be easier because
we travel lightly, carrying only Abundance now. There is certainty in the
simplicity.
Our thirst
has been quenched. Our prayer has been answered.
“Yes, I will go.”
It’s time to
act as if this is really true.
Which
sometimes means saying goodbye to the
treasures from your past which no longer serve you.
“So
they said good-bye to Rebekah and sent her away with Abraham’s servant and his
men. Then Rebekah and her servant girls mounted the camels and followed the
man. So Abraham’s servant took Rebekah and went on his way.’” v59, 61
The return
journey is still long, hot and dry- it is the same road as before.
But we
no longer carry the weight of our treasured past as we walk the road back home.
Now we carry an eternal soul and a
trust in the lavish abundance of our everlasting God.
And we will eagerly pass on the Blessing
to others because we realize we won’t lose a thing.
The caravan we travel with is eternal
and immeasurable, contained in human vessels.
“One
evening as Isaac was walking and meditating in the fields, he looked up and saw
the camels coming. When Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she quickly dismounted
from her camel. ‘Who is that man walking through the fields to meet us?’ she
asked the servant.” v63-65
We present
our gratitude to God with tears of joy, hands raised, fearless and free. This is the moment we could never earn, not
even with a thousand camels of weighted regrets.
This is when Abundance meets
community.
“And
the servant replied, ‘It is my master.’ So Rebekah covered her face with her
veil. Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.” v65
And the
Abundance of our answered prayer will echo for generations to come, because we
learned to release our burdens, trust the Blessing and share it with others.
There, in
community, Abundance can multiply.
“And Isaac brought Rebekah into his mother
Sarah’s tent, and she became his wife. He loved her deeply, and she was a
special comfort to him after the death of his mother.” v67
My friends,
we took the long hard journey through the dry and dusty desert, to show up and
let ourselves be seen, lay down our burdens and ask humbly for help.
Now all
creation celebrates with our victory,
and the story will go on forever.
Because we
trusted the simple Answer which is found in a dirty wooden trough, available to
every human person that has ever lived and loved and known what it means to be
thirsty.
We showed up
and allowed ourselves to be seen and stand in the uncertainty of not knowing.
We were willing to travel the long road back
home,
to share what we had learned with
others.
Blessings are
answers to prayer, simple and beautiful, a Stranger we have always known.
“God
has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are.”
― Dallas Willard
― Dallas Willard
On my own
journey through the desert, I had quite a caravan of camels with me.
And one day
in particular I will never forget: I was using my iPhone gps for directions to
someplace new.
I was looking for a well,
because I was thirsty.
“Take the
exit,” my iPhone gps stated very matter-of-factly.
This instruction
made me cry.
I burst into
tears when my iPhone told me to “take the exit”. I cried as I took
the freeway off-ramp. A well of tears came up.
Because I
realized I was not going to carry this caravan of useless treasures with me for
very much longer. I was about
to take an EXIT.
I was time to travel in a new
direction.
The Blessing was going to be found at a well in a foreign
land among strangers.
And Abundance was in the releasing of
treasure.
The journey
would lead me through a dry desert to a well, where only humility and honesty
would quench my thirst.
I would need
to have a great deal of courage to trust the answer and receive the Blessing.
Remember, dear reader, that Blessing is
found inside a clay pot within the hands of a stranger.
An Abundance
which will fill all the dry places and follow us home.
This week I
was blessed with an answer to prayer that simple and yet profound. A Blessing which
looked like a dry desert road that required courage, humility, bravery and
honesty.
But I am an
introverted skeptical cynic.
Which is why
I have a blog. So I can ask things like-
How can the answer to
prayer be found in a plain earthen vessel?
Ah, my
friends, let’s not forget that the King of the world was found in a dirty
wooden trough.
It’s time to
de-mystify and normalize the voice of God.
It’s time to recognize and trust the simplicity
of
the abundant gift.
My friends,
when God extends to you an answer to prayer, do you stop and stare at it and
question it before trusting? Do you pause and wait to see if you might be let
down? Do you evaluate your level of emotional certainty and weigh all the other
options?
Yes. I do. I
am an introverted skeptical cynic. Are you?
But the
reality is that sometimes the answer is standing before us, hands extended, offering
us a drink of water to quench our parched throats after a long journey through
the hot desert.
The answer to
prayer is within the simplicity right in front of you.
Perhaps we
have been walking along with a great caravan of baggage that brings us comfort
and security, and so we are weary. When finally we come to the well, we can set
it all down and take a break to pray.
This is when
we will encounter an answer before we can even finish asking.
And all we
can do is stare in wonder at the stranger who stands before us with the earthen
vessel. All we can do is repeat our questions.
Is this too good to be true? How do I
know if this is an answer to prayer?
We almost
miss the Blessing because we are searching for something more mysterious, more
complicated.
We don’t
realize that the answer is simple, straight-forward, and available here and
now. A treasure found in a jar made of
clay, held in the arms of Someone we have never met before and yet have known
all our lives.
A drink for our thirsty soul.
Don’t miss
the Blessings this week, my friends. When you pray for guidance, remember that Abundance
is simply waiting beside the well to give you a drink.
Bring only
what is absolutely necessary- humility and honesty contained in our earthen bodies.
Don’t drag
all your junk through the dry desert- it won’t help you anyway. Trust me, I
know.
Just show up,
ask for help and allow yourself to be seen.
And Abundance
will lay a feast in your honor and then follow you back home. And when we get to
our destination, we will pass the Blessing along to others, and the story will
go on for all eternity.
Receive the
earthen vessel. Drink deeply. Release your burdens.
And bring the
Abundance home.
~*~
With
deepest gratitude for all my readers-
Rebecca
To read
Pearls and Presence, click here.
