To water camels is to live somewhat dangerously

Apparently, in certain circumstances, camels can go for as many as 50 days without water. However, once they sense their privation could be ended, they become rather hazardous. As soon as camels smell water, a free-for-all will ensue. The camels will fight and trample one another to get to the water first; sometimes drinking as quickly as 20 litres per minute.

To water camels is not and ideal job for a young woman. Yet, here we have Rebekah.

An encounter that will change Rebekah’s life, forever

One day, whilst going about her chores, Rebekah happens on a stranger, with thirsty camels, on a very specific mission. This was not just any stranger, this was a stranger who would change Rebekah’s life forever. Little did Rebekah know that this stranger had been given the task by Abraham of finding his son Isaac a wife.

Before their chance encounter the stranger had prayed a very specific prayer to God. He prayed that God would intervene in his mission to find Isaac a wife, and bring about a divine answer and encounter.

You know the type of prayer I’m talking about, don’t you?

Can you relate to the specific prayer request that the stranger prayed? The kind where you ask God to move in a particular way, that wouldn't happen in regular circumstances?

The stranger prayed that God would lead a woman to him who would offer to water his camels. Who would VOLUNTEER to water camels for a stranger? No one sane, right? Certainly not a young lady! Yet the prayer is said, and the Lord goes along with it.

Did Rebekah hear Destiny Knocking?

Now it gets exciting.

Rebekah no doubt had someone waiting for her to return from the back-breaking work of hauling water home from the well. Drumming their fingers impatiently so they could get on with life’s mundane chores. Yet now Rebekah was breaking her back for someone else, now she was giving precious time and resources to a stranger!

I wonder, did Rebekah hear Destiny's knock? Or did she have such a generous spirit that she didn't think twice about serving and caring whoever stepped into her path?

Rebekah’s greatness flows not just from her jar as she lets it down for the stranger to drink, it also flows from her heart. Rebekah gave faithfully in the drudgery of day-to-day life and it opened the way to her destiny. From her generosity an entire nation began, the nation that God ordained to carry His salvation into the world.

Rebekah’s Willingness was her Salvation

Her willingness to go to the well, to do the work required, and to draw forth its life to share with another, was her salvation. This inconsequential daughter in a man's world, met her divine destiny covered in sweat and dust. Here is a glorious metaphor, where our lives align in a beautiful picture of how God draws us to Himself.

In our willingness to do the difficult task of learning to draw out the Living Water for ourselves and share it with those around us, we can discover our own destiny of being called to birth something just as wonderful as the Nation of Israel. We can birth new life, hope, and peace in a world that has forgotten that we are called to return to the image of Christ. We can share the water that Jesus refers to in John 4:13-14: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,  but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” WE can discover our true selves and find our way to the One we have longed for but never seen. He will offer us precious gifts, as the servant went on to offer Rebekah, gifts that mark us as His and His alone. We will wear the marriage ring, displaying that we are headed toward a Heavenly wedding to the One and Only.

Great things still happen at the well. Let us draw close to the Word of life, the Well of the Word. As Jesus says in Matthew 11:29, let us “learn of Him” and walk in our destiny.