It was uncommon faith that our forefather, Abraham had, that allowed him to dare to put the faith of the next generation of his family and more importantly the fate of the promise God had made to him which was the purpose of his existence, into the hands of the senior servant in his household, with only an oath, made in the name of God from the servant as a guarantee.
In the days of our forefather Abraham, the practice of intending couples courting themselves for a while to get to know themselves better, in order to find out whether they were compatible with each other or not, was almost nonexistent in the Jewish culture.
Parents almost exclusively had the sole right to choose the spouses for their sons and daughters and even those who were allowed to make their choice had to get the approval of their parents for a marriage to take place.
So I believe that any one who is conversant with the Jewish tradition that existed those days can understand the gravity of the risk Abraham took in charging his servant with the life-changing task of finding a suitable wife for not only his beloved and only son, Isaac but for the only child of the promise God made to him to make him the father of all nations.
When I first came across the account of what Abraham did in entrusting the task that could alter the future of his lineage, and indeed the nation of faith all over the earth that he was supposed to be the patriarch of, for good or for bad, and was able to grasp the magnitude of faith Abraham must have had in his servant, who was not of his blood line and was not said to have been recommended by God to Abraham, I still did not in anyway agree with what he did, talk less believe that I or any other parent in their right senses could ever fathom attempting such a mind-boggling, dangerous and potentially life-altering feat.
However, as years passed and I came to the understanding of the enormity of the love God had for mankind and how God found Abraham worthy, out of all the men of his time to be bestowed with the privilege to be blessed and named the father of all nations because God saw his heart and his propensity to be faithful and Abraham in turn, dared to have complete confidence in God's call upon his life, to leave all he ever knew for the unknown, my shock and disbelief soon turned to admiration and total respect.
Even though Abraham made his own mistakes along the way, one of which was so monumental and world-changing, that it brought enmity between mankind that exists till this day, it takes a man who has walked with God as faithfully as Abraham had done, to have the magnitude of faith in the Almighty to trust God to use someone not of his lineage to accomplish God's eternal purposes for his family and indeed all mankind.
Apart from the questions the servant asked Abraham with regards to issues that may arise while trying to accomplish the strange task, I believe that the faith Abraham had in his servant was partly due to the fact that Abraham had constantly taught the servants in his household the way of his God, effectively to the point that their actions showed that they had the same love for him and the God in whom he served, and as a result Abraham in turn had complete confidence in God to grant his servant the wisdom to carry out the daunting task of finding a suitable wife for his heir.
In fact, Abrahams faith in his servant can be likened unto the opportunity God granted Gentiles like you and I to be grafted into the family of faith, which was at one point in time a privilege that was exclusively for the Jewish nation.
This uncommon type of faith is the complete confidence God expects us all to have, with regards to what God can accomplish through our fellow men, if we would but only dare to teach them about the loving ways of our God, that they too may have the privilege we too were afforded by those who introduced and taught us the Faith.
Receive grace for uncommon faith due to the truths of God's Word that you now know as a result of this message, in Jesus name.
Amen!
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