Today I was dwelling on the story of Rebekah in Genesis 24. (A lovely friend came to babysit last night and was telling me that she preached on this in the Prison on Sunday and 40 women responded!!!)

Anyway I read into this story once more to see what God was saying to me. It is interesting that the “camel test” was used to see what Rebekah’s character was like.

It is true that we reveal our true character in many ways – often without meaning to. We show people that we value them when we stop and say hello or ask them for a coffee. We show our children that they aren’t as important as other things if we repeatedly fob them off and say “Not now darling. Daddy is busy.” Rebekah revealed her true character in a very simple but profound way. She had no knowledge of the ‘test’ she was passing. All she was doing was showing kindness for the sake of showing kindness.

Here is a stranger with 10 laden camels at the well outside her town. It is the time when the women come out and draw water. She arrives with her jar and sees the stranger – who happens to be Eliezer, favourite and trusted servant of Abraham. Eliezer asks her for a drink from her ladel. She then also offers to water his entire camel train.

Did you know that a large and thirsty camel can consume as much as 200 litres a day? This is not a quick or easy job.

Rebekah does not flinch. There she is, a woman who may not accustomed to feeding camels, looking attentively for a way to bless a total stranger.

It was only after her job was completed, during which she had no expectations of him, that was he able to be absolutely convinced that she had truly “passed.” The “Camel Test” was a glimpse of Rebekah’s true character.

Later when Eliezer was invited back to her home he said:
“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.”
He was a prayerful man waiting for God to answer Him. God heard his prayer and answered BEFORE he had finished praying it!
How lovely is that?
There are those of us who make generous offers but give up half way through. There are others who may do a job, but resentment or compensation is somewhere in their thinking.

Am I like this? Are you? Do you look for ways to bless people? Or you do only do what you can when they ask and then mind very much when it is harder than you thought?
Perhaps God has a “camel test” for you right now. Are you up for it?