Monday, February 29, 2016

Earthly Tasks…Heavenly Gain

Reflections from Genesis 24

     Abraham sent out his servant to do a specific task. He was to bring back a wife for his son Isaac from his homeland and his family. Sound simple? To go and find a women to be a companion to another for the rest of his life? To travel to a unfamiliar place and accomplish such a task? 
Yet servants are given tasks by which they must accomplish to please their masters, and so he went out faithfully to do the work.
     In the midst of the task, I observe a lesson that I am clinging to. This servant was fully devoted to his earthly master, Abraham, but within the daily tasks he was given to carry out, he looked UP not OUT. He looked unto His true Master for guidance and ability to complete those things that were asked of him.
If he would of looked out, upon the desert sand, upon the uncountable choices of women, upon the vague instructions given, he would of quickly become overwhelmed by the task. Instead, the moment he entered Abraham’s homeland, he sought the Lord for guidance and provision. 
This servant had the right perspective on tasks and serving. He understood his place under his master Abraham, but he better understood his place under the Lordship of God.
     He conversed with His Lord, and found response. He sought counsel from above and was given wisdom upon earth.
God answered in detail the prayer of this servant, and multiple times within the chapter we read that he, “Worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the earth”. 
He sought the heavenly in the earthly tasks of life. 
He leaned not on his own understanding, but in all his given tasks, acknowledged the Lord, and he returned straightway to Abraham with a wife for his son. He did not just accomplish the task, but accomplished it in a manner that brought glory to the Lord and in unison to God’s will.
     Most of us find ourselves in similar positions, under the leadership of others, given daily tasks to accomplish. Let us not be overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, but let us take from this lesson and apply--let us look up for the answers we need here below, that we may be found to bring honor and glory to our Lord in the face of earthly men. 

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16