Abraham is old, 1"well advanced in years," and he has one piece of business he will not leave to chance. Isaac needs a wife, and she will not be a daughter of the Canaanites. He binds his servant with an oath and sends him to Abraham's own kindred. The servant raises the obvious objection. 5"Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land." Abraham answers with a person. 7"he will send his angel before you." The servant goes on an errand he cannot control, on nothing but another man's confidence in God.
At the well outside the city the servant puts that confidence to work. He prays a prayer specific enough to fail. The woman he asks for will offer him a drink and then say she will water his camels too. Ten thirsty camels meant trip after trip to the spring, a kindness no traveler had a right to expect from a stranger. He asks God to 12"show steadfast love to my master Abraham." The Hebrew word is chesed, the covenant word for a bond of love, and he is asking the God who made covenant promises to Abraham to keep acting like it.
Before he has finished speaking, Rebekah comes out with her water jar on her shoulder. The text will not let the prayer finish before the answer walks into view. She gives the servant a drink, and then, on her own, 19"I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking." She runs, empties, fills, and runs again until every camel has had enough. Nobody told her the test.
The servant, watching her work, does one thing that shows he understands what is happening. He says nothing. He 21"gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not." He waits until he is sure before he claims the answer. He has staked everything on the character of the God who sent him, and now he watches that character prove itself, without forcing the moment or naming the answer for God before God has finished giving it.
When he is sure, he worships. He says the LORD is the one 27"who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master." The word he prayed with at the well, chesed, comes back paired with faithfulness. That pairing is how God will later describe his own name to Moses. Centuries after that, John reaches for the same pair to say what walked among us in flesh, the Word made flesh, "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). What the servant prayed for outside Nahor and watched God answer before he had finished asking is the same steadfast love and faithfulness that would one day have a face and a name.
We rarely pray as specifically as this servant did. We ask for things to work out and never name what we need or watch for the answer. His prayer teaches us to be more exact.
Name one thing you need this week, plainly, and then watch.
Prayer
Father, teach us to pray as specifically as your servant did at that well. Thank you that you have not forsaken your steadfast love and faithfulness, and that the love that met a servant at a well has a name and a face in your Son. Give us patience to wait in silence, and hearts as ready to be used as Rebekah's. In Jesus' name, amen.