Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and theLord had blessed Abraham in every way (Genesis 24:1).

This is a remarkable comment in the context of Genesis. Abraham lived to 175 years old:

Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people (Genesis 25:7-8).

As old as this seems to us, since no one in our day comes even close to this age, it seems young compared to Abraham's forefathers. For example, Noah lived to 950 years old (cf. Genesis 9:29). And before him, the oldest man recorded in Scripture lived to 969 years old (cf. Genesis 5:27). By the time of Moses, seventy and eighty years was the norm, though he himself lived to the unusually old age of 120 years old (cf. Deuteronmy 34:7). 

Perhaps God gave exceptionally long lives to people in the beginning of humanity (i.e. the time of Adam and Eve) and then after the Great Flood (i.e the time of Noah) to more quickly repopulate the earth. There may be a little hint in the time of the Flood that God planned for the reduction of the human lifespan:

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3).

Friends, today we speak of science extending human lifespans with every generation, but what science has accomplished with respect to human lifespan is but a modern phenomenon that pales in comparison to the lifespan of the ancients. Consequently, even a lifespan of a thousand years pales in comparison to the eternal lives that await us in heaven. 

So then, how should we live? Since everything in this life, whether we live seventy years or a thousand, is passing away, doesn't it make the most sense to live with eternity in view? I believe this is why Paul wrote this to the church in Colosae:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4).

Let us daily live for Him. Let us not be so moved by the temporal, earthly concerns of this life. Instead, let us remember that our eternal hope is unshakeable and our mission is unmistakeable. Let us proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and seek to please God in every facet of our lives. Let us delight in Him above all things and recognize His sovereign hand in perfecting His will in us and through us. 

Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder... Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not. (Genesis 24:15,21).

Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew, and I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ (Genesis 24:45).

Have you considered how remarkable this is? Abraham's servant is sent to find a wife for Isaac from among his relatives. This servant prays in his heart that God would send him the woman that God has chosen, that she would be of the right lineage, and that she would perform certain extraordinary acts of service as confirmation.

The Bible tells us that this prayer was made silently. But God heard his thoughts. The answer came even before the servant finished praying. So God knew his prayer even before he prayed it. The answer came precisely as the man wished. This suggests that God had already prepared the right woman to come just at the right time and led her to do precisely the right things.

Now, while it would be wrong for us to conclude that God so orders all of our lives with the same intricate detail, we can, nevertheless, appreciate the fact that there are occasions when He does this. We can also learn something of the nature of God, which is affirmed in other biblical texts:

1. God knows our thoughts even before we think them and our words before we speak them.

You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar...

Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord (Psalm 139:2, 4).

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him (Matthew 6:7-8).

2. God is in control of every outcome.

To man belong the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.

In his heart a man plans his course,
but the Lord determines his steps.

The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the LORD (Proverbs 16:1,9,33).

 3. God's ultimate purposes are always and perfectly accomplished.

The Lord works out everything for his own ends—
even the wicked for a day of disaster (Proverbs 16:4).

Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about;
what I have planned, that will I do (Isaiah 46:9-11).

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:11).

Friends, this is why we have such confidence in the Lord. He is omniscient and omnipotent. He both knows and has power over everything that happens, even things yet future. That is why Paul could confidently ask this series of rhetorical questions in Romans 8:31-36,

1. If God is for us, who can be against us?
2. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
3. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?
4. Who is he that condemns?
5. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Those that understand the sovereignty of God can easily answer all of these questions. Paul does not ask them because believers do not know the answers but because we do know the answers. The very questions, therefore, become a powerful affirmation of our confidence in God.  

The Lord's leading was on Abraham's senior servant, and he had "the Lord's angel going before him" (v. 7). The servant was supposed to find a wife, but if the wife wasn't willing to follow the servant back to Abraham, then the servant was released from his vow, and Isaac was to go nowhere no matter the outcome.

The servant got to a place where he was led, and he prayed "O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand by the well, and the daughters of this city are coming out to get water. Please let the woman to whom I say 'Please let down your pitcher and let me have a drink,' and she says, "Drink and I will water your camels, also, let her be the one you have chosen for Isaac."

Verse fifteen says, that before the servant got done speaking, that Rebekah was there coming to get water in her pitcher for her family. He didn't have to speak to anyone else. It's so amazing to watch the Lord move. The Lord chose Isaac's mate out of his family, not out of the pagan tribes that surrounded Abraham, just as Abraham's wife came from his family.

What a beautiful story Isaac and Rebekah's is. It must have been so scary, to leave her family to go marry a complete stranger, but we see that when Rebekah is asked if she will go in v. 58 she doesn't hesitate. She says I will go. Isaac was praying when she first saw him, and I think it may have been love at first sight for they laid eyes on each other at about the same time. When the servant explains who Rebekah is, the bible is clear that Isaac took Rebekah as his wife then and there, and he loved her.

Friends, after three browser reloads and a crash, I am beginning to think that God does not want me to share my comments on today's reading. But then again, it could be the enemy hindering me. Then again, it could be the technical glitches of an advanced product (iPad) that is still a work in progress. 

Even so, my fairly long comment is now abridged to just a few paragraphs.

Some people have expressed problems with Genesis 22:12, where God says to Abraham, "Now I know that you fear Me." The apparent problem is that God, who is omniscient (Psalm 44:21; 139), seems to be saying that he learned something new from Abraham's successfully passing the test of faith.

Must we admit to Scriptural contradictions or a limitation to God's omniscience or is there another explanation? I suggest that what we have here is an anthropomorphism, which is a form of personification, where human attributes are given to God. Anthropomorphisms can be found everywhere in literature, and particularly children's literature, where animals are given human qualities and capabilities (like talking, reasoning, walking on two legs, etc.), so that kids can learn something while being enamored by cute and fascinating animals. Just as these animals don't really have human qualities, so God, who is spirit (John 4), does not have human attributes, like eyes, hands, arms, etc. Anthropomorphisms are for our human benefit because considerations of God's infinite nature, His omniscience, are too high and difficult for us to wrap our finite minds around (Psalm 139:6; Romans 11:33).

In our text today, God says, "Now I know..." This is an anthropomorphism such that God, whose knowledge is infinite, is given the human attribute of limited awareness. This is done for our sake, so that we can identify with and celebrate Abraham's successful passing of God's test of faith. To say that God knew everything, including what Abraham would do before he did it, really does not produce the desired effect for the story. Therefore, when God says, "Now, I know..." we should not presume that He learned something new that He did not already know, but rather He speaks in this way for Abraham's sake and for ours, so that we might have a more poignant sense of God's pleasure when His children are trusting and obedient to Him.

In Deuteronomy 8:2 Moses would give the same kind of anthropomorphic expression to explain why God tested the Israelites during the forty years in the wilderness. In fact, he uses this kind of anthropomorphism all the way back in Genesis 3, when God confronts Adam and Eve with their sin. God asks, "Where are you?... Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?" All of these are anthropomorphic questions, but they dramatize the alienation that has taken place between God and the first man and woman because of their sin.  

What is more, there may be the sense of "know" that we see in numerous passages in the Old Testament, where intimate experience of something is in view (e.g. Genesis 4:1,17; 24:16). In the context of God's knowing Abraham's faith, it is not a knowing that moves someone unaware to become aware but rather a knowing that moves from awareness of Abraham's heart (i.e. that he feared God) to the actual action (i.e. that he raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac in obedience to God) to confirm it.

This is the same sense when God speaks of believers being foreknown by God. It is a foreknowledge that is not merely awareness but an actual act, whereby God chose certain individuals for salvation. Paul clearly explained the link here:

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son (Romans 8:29).

While on the face, questions like what God knows or doesn't know, because of some awkward wording in our English translations, may seem like biblical conundrums. Yet this is only because of our inexperienced eyes, still unacquainted with the language of the Bible. As we come to appreciate the rich diversity of expression in Scripture, I imagine many things will become much clearer for us.