Genesis 24:12

Eliezer says, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham." He does not say "my God." God had made the promises to Abraham, and had revealed Himself as the God of Abraham. Here the servant shows himself in entire dependence. We find him in the path of promise. He does not exalt himself. He acts according to the counsels of God, in entire dependence. He does not pretend to have anything, except where God had placed the blessing; for God had made the promises to Abraham. For us this blessing is in Christ, and there is the answer to our requests. We do not want to get anything except where God has put His blessing — that is, in the path of obedience to the faith.

First, then, we learn from the prayer of the servant, the great purpose of his mission. He does not pray for the men of the city, or their daughters; he is engrossed with one object, to find the one appointed for Isaac. The Holy Spirit has come, not to convert the world, but to bring to light the elect of God — the bride appointed for Christ.

What sustains in prayer like singleness of eye? If it is our own will we are seeking, what confidence can we have? Here we find prayer that God answers to the letter. If Christ's interests are ours, how fully we may count on God glorifying His beloved Son! How blessed to work on toward an end God has already settled!

It is not too much to say that no other chapter in Genesis has so much about prayer in it. Why? Is it not because now, during the call of the bride, He who dwells and works in the Christian shows what walking by faith is? God certainly looks for no less dependence in those who bear the name of Christ.

He prays to the Lord God of Abraham, asking Him to show mercy to his master by sending a woman to the well who will show a character of unselfish kindness. Apparently he had no vessel of his own for drawing water. Or else he chose not to draw it himself, so that he might depend fully on God's guidance.

From these words it is clear that the servant was not sent to choose a bride for Isaac from the daughters of men. He was sent to find the bride already appointed (v. 14). And grace would be the mark that identified her.

He was not asking for a mere sign, as Gideon did in Judges 6 and 7. He was in search of the bride herself — not for himself, but for his master's son. Nor had he long to wait. "Before he had finished speaking," the young woman comes. He had asked freely; he had boldly dared to lay down the exact terms. But this counting on God Himself pleases Him greatly, even if unbelief dares to call it presumptuous. It was prayer of rare simplicity, of striking fitness, of full confidence.

First, his master commissions him; he does not run before he is sent. Next, only his master's instructions guide him; his own thoughts have no place or influence (vv. 2-9). Further, he is in entire dependence; he looks to the Lord to act for him (vv. 12-14). Further, he acknowledges the Lord's guidance and intervention at every step (vv. 21, 26, 27).