Effective Prayer is Praying From Your Heart
Effective Prayer: From Match Maker
For the past two days, I have been peering into the working of effective prayer by examining the prayer of righteous people. I have looked at Nehemiah’s effective prayer. Today, I want to look at another effective prayer from the Scriptures, Genesis 24:1 -67. This prayer is connected to Abraham. Abraham’s servant prayed this prayer, we don’t know his name. The Scripture only described his relationship to Abraham, “And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had,” Genesis 24:2. I shall call him the Match Maker. Let us view the circumstances leading up to the Match Maker’s effective prayer. What motivated the Match Maker’s prayer? Very similar to Nehemiah, a problem. He was commissioned by his master to find a wife for his son.
Abraham was very old and being a righteous man, he wanted to ensure he followed the Lord’s commandment concerning the marriage of his only son, Isaac. The Lord commanded the nation of Israel not to inter-marry with other nations. The Lord specifically told them inter marriages would lead to idolatry. Therefore, Abraham being very old, knew he could die anytime wanted to obey the Lord. He called the steward in charge of his house and made him took an oath to do according to his instructions concerning finding a wife for Isaac.
Effective Prayer: Match Maker Took an Oath
“And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac,” Genesis 24:3 – 4.
Before the Match Maker took his oath, he had one concern, Genesis 24:5. What should happen if the woman he chose to be Isaac’s wife did not want to return with him? Should he take Isaac to see her? Abraham explained to the Match Maker, that under no circumstances should he take Isaac there, Genesis 24: 5 – 7. He also told him he is free from the oath if the woman refuses to accompany him back to be Isaac’s wife, Genesis 24:8.
Many may say Abraham was unpatriotic because he did not want his son to return to his homeland. However, Abraham received a word from God, his obedience to God’s Word influenced that decision.
Then the Match Maker took the oath and travelled to “Mesopotamia” to “the city of Nahor”, Genesis 24:9 – 10. He arrived in Nahor in the evening and stopped by a well outside of the city to water his camels. We waited by the well because the women came to the well for water, Genesis 24:11.
Match Maker’s Prays an Effective Prayer
Let’s analyze the Match Maker’s prayer just as we did for Nehemiah’s. First, he identifies to whom he is praying. Nehemiah did that too. The Match Maker used the identical name as Nehemiah, “O LORD God”. We know by the name both men used they prayed to the same god.
The Match Maker has no relationship with the Lord. Therefore, he says “O LORD God of my master Abraham.” Nevertheless, he represents Abraham. Abraham sent him because he had no one else to go for him. Abraham was very old and the Lord forbids Isaac from visiting Mesopotamia. Therefore, in the Lord’s eyes the Match Maker represents Abraham. Anything anyone does to the Match Maker was done to Abraham.
The Match Maker realized this and prayed to the Lord as Abraham’s agent. Consequently, the Match Maker prays that God grant him a smooth execution of his duties that day and there would be no delays. He tells the Lord that by expediting his business, that day in Nahor, He would be showing kindness not to him but to Abraham, Genesis 24:12.
Again, if the Lord “tarries” tomorrow I shall rap, this up. However, let us recap what we have looked at so far. Effective prayer is effective even by proxy. The Match Maker was Abraham’s agent and the Lord accepted his words as if they came from Abraham. Consequently, on two occasions the Match Maker told the Lord that by assisting him He would be showing kindness not to him but to Abraham, “my master” Genesis 24:12. Effective prayer must make full use of the name of the Lord God.
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in Genesis 12, God spoke to an old man called Abraham, somewhere around 2000 BC he has no children, but God made him a promise, a promise He kept.
Thank you reader for your comment. God honours His Words.
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