It was toward evening. A traveler, covered with dust, stopped near the well outside the town. He was Abraham’s servant, who came a long way from Canaan to find the wife of Isaac, the only son of his master. This old servant had the camels kneel down near the well and gathered his both hands to pray:
“O LORD, God of my master Abraham, now is the time the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. When I ask a girl for some water to drink, let the girl give me water gladly and water my camels, too, before I ask her to. Then I will know that the kindhearted girl is the one You have chosen for my master’s son, Isaac.”
Before he had finished praying, a very beautiful girl came out with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again. When she came, the old servant called her. At his request for some water, the girl quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.
After she had given him a drink, she said, “You seem to have come a long way. I’ll draw water for your camels, too,” and ran back to the well to draw more water. She drew enough water for about ten camels and emptied her jar into the trough. The girl was pure and beautiful. Everything happened as the old servant had prayed.
The girl who treated the stranger hospitably was Rebekah. She was kind enough to be considerate of thirsty animals. Later, she received the blessing of becoming the wife of Isaac, the child of promise, and the mother of ten million Israelites.
What makes people shine is not their fancy clothes or ornaments, but their deeds. It is because their deeds are a mirror that reflects their characters as they are.
Good deeds come from compassion for others. Rebekah, who was a mere girl, repeatedly drew water to quench the thirst of ten camels, whose owner was a traveler unfamiliar to her.
What Rebekah did corresponded with what Abraham’s servant had prayed to God before he met the bride of Isaac. What if Rebekah had not done such a good deed even though God’s providence worked in all this matter? The blessing that God had preordained might have given to someone else.
Great kindness, which not everyone can do, comes when you always do good in small matters. Your good deeds and kindness become your second nature, and result in great blessings which will not be granted to everyone—even the blessing of becoming God’s chosen one.