THE ESSENCE OF WORSHIP - ELIEZER (BOWING TO GOD'S PROPEROUS WAYS)

In Genesis chapter 24 we read the story of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, who was given the responsibility to find a wife for His master's son, Issac. By this time, Abraham was about one hundred and forty years old. And though God had promised to make of his descendants a great nation, Abraham was becoming concerned. His son was now forty-two years old and had no wife or children. Abraham did indeed have faith in God's promise. But because he and Isaac lived among the Canaanites, Abraham was concerned that his son not take a wife from that pagan people. He realized that God's promised seed could not be pure if it came through a Canaanite woman, and so Abraham had to arrange for a wife to be brought from his own kindred back in Mesopotamia. (Genesis 24:2-4)

 1) GOD'S SERVANT FACED A CHALLENGE

Abraham was then living Canaan and to reach Mesopotamia involved crossing two rivers and a stretch of desert in between. The journey was nearly five hundred miles through solitary country with no roads or transportation services. It was a difficult task for Eliezer to travel to a distance strange land and to persuade a young woman to accept this offer of marriage.

But would Eliezer agree? As the chief servant in Abraham's household, Eliezer was next in line to be his master's heir if Isaac were to die without children. Even if Elizer did agree outwardly, it could have been easy for him to fail in his task intentionally. However, praise the Lord that he was a righteous man who had always obeyed his master's will. Still, in agreeing to the journey he needed Abraham to clarify his instructions. Eliezer expressed his concerns to Abraham:

"Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?" But Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there. The Lord God ...swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants I give this land,' He will send His angel before you ..." (Genesis 24:5-9)

The whole matter of Isaac's getting a bride and producing seed resolved around God's promise: He would give the land to Abraham's seed. The same truth applies today. All details of our lives as Christians must resolve around God's promises. We cannot leave the place where God wants us to be and still expect those promises to be fulfilled. These thing being true, as worshipers, we must make the daily decisions of our lives based on God's instructions and promised (OBEDIENCE).

2) GOD"S SERVANT PRAYED
But Eliezer was looking to God. He prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See I am standing beside this spring, and the daughter of the town people are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says,'Drink, and I will water your camels too' - let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master." (Genesis 24:12-14).
Notice also that in his prayer Eliezer considered God first, then his master Abraham whom he represented, and only then did he express his own petition.

3) GOD'S SERVANT WORSHIPED THE  PROSPEROUS WAYS OF GOD
Abraham's servant had not even finish praying when Rebekah arrived at the well, and in detail all his requests were transpired (imagine the time taken and amount of water needed to feed ten camels). But what if the girl was not of Abraham's family? So Eliezer asked about her connections. As soon as he was assured that Rebekah was a relative of Abraham, he "Bowed his head and worshiped the Lord." (Genesis 24:26)
Do you see the ways of God? if you request Him to do certain thing and begin to trust Him, and then things fall out as you asked, you will adore Him for His ways with you. What does it means to worship the ways of God? It is to render all glory to Him. When you are faced with some difficulty and He carried you through, do you just rejoice in the prosperity of your way? It was not with Eliezer, He did not even stop to talk to Rebekah, he straightaway worshiped. He did not feel embarrassed but instantly bowed his head and blessed the Lord.

There is a connection between glory and worship. To bring glory to the lord is to worship Him and it is our bowing before Him that is true worship. The proud in heart cannot worship Him because they will find it difficult to bow to Him. When their way is prosperous they attribute it to their own ability or to chance; they do not give glory to the Lord. To be a true worshiper is to offer without reservation all the thanksgiving, praise and worship to Him for everything we meet. At every turn Abraham's servant did so. When he went with Rebekah to her home and explained his mission and found Laban and Bethuel willing to let Rebekah go at once, again his instantaneous and spontaneous reaction was to adore the ways of God. "He bowed himself down to the ground before the Lord." (Genesis 24:52)

As worshipers, we must not only learn to recognise His works, but we must learn to acknowledge the way He works. Apart from from worshiping Him for Who He is, we must learn to worship the ways of His working in our lives. If our hearts are set to be worshipers of God, He will give us more and more opportunity to worship Him. God will orders all our affairs so that we may bring Him the worship that He desires. At times He will make our way so prosperous that we have to acknowledge it is He alone Who did it, and all the glory goes to Him.

The humility that Eliezer had demostrated in his prayers to God was manifested in his worship. And his response was simply to bow his head and prayerfully give God glory. And He did not rejoice first for his own sake; rather he rejoiced first in God's favor for Ahraham. These attitude are foundational to the ESSENCE OF TRUE WORSHIP.