Watching for Camels
In the story of Adam, we see that God doesn’t need our help when it comes to finding a marriage partner for us. Does this mean that we don’t have anything to do with the process? Should we just go to sleep, expecting that God will deliver without any of our involvement?
I don’t think so. I believe that God’s very relational nature means that He wants us to be conscious, under most circumstances.
Yes, God is responsible. He knows what we need much better than we do. It is also a fact, however, that even God’s gifts are an expression of Himself, and all our needs are met as we relate to him.
These thoughts come to me partly as the result of the following passage of scripture:
And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.Genesis 24:63 AKJV
The context here is this: Isaac’s servant was sent out with the task of finding a wife for him. The camels that Isaac saw were carrying the returning servant, and the wife that God had provided for him.
As I write this, I am putting myself back into the perspective of a young man seeking God’s will for marriage. I had learned through Adam’s story that God doesn’t really need my help.
As time went by in my 20s, and I remained single, I found myself tempted to focus on the gift I wanted, rather than the Giver of the gift. God began to teach me, though, that being married would hold no lasting joy if I was expecting my wife to be my source of joy. I began to see that my “singleness” was one of the ways that God was using to get my attention.
This is where my story connects with that of Isaac, who received his heart’s desire when he went out in the field to meditate. I truly believe that Isaac’s quiet time in the field was a prayer, or just quiet fellowship with God. I doubt that he was jumping up every few moments to gaze down the road: he just lifted up his eyes, when he saw the camels.
My response to this thought was to purpose in my heart to devote myself to communication and communion with God, believing that the time that I would “see the camels coming” would be a time when I was focused on Him.
In my next article on the topic of God the Matchmaker, I’ll take a look at the sons of Benjamin, whose story reminded me that God is amazingly creative.
