Worship & Gratitude (Genesis 24:26)

The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord.
—Genesis 24:26

I love this verse, especially when you understand the context. This is Abraham’s servant, who has traveled in obedience to Abraham to find a wife for Abraham’s son, Isaac. He has prayed, he has traveled, and he comes to the point where he sees and meets Rebekah. It is clear that this is the one God has ordained and orchestrated to marry Isaac.

Genesis 24:26 challenges us to practice gratitude intentionally.

As soon as all of this starts to come together, the servant bows his head and worships. The next verse goes on to bless God for his steadfast love and his faithfulness. This makes me think about all the times when God has specifically answered a prayer in my life or provided in a particular way in my life. Yes, we can all think of times when God did not answer a prayer the way we were hoping, or when we wanted something, and God did not provide in the way we desired.

But pause and take notice of the times when God does answer our prayers, when God does provide in a way that only he can. I am thinking about something specific that happened just the other day, when I was literally praying for something and, two seconds later, I received a call showing that prayer had been answered. It was so clearly God, and I did exactly this—I bowed my head, prayed, blessed God, and thanked him, just like Genesis 24:26.

Genesis 24:26 challenges us to turn our gratitude into worship.

I want to encourage you to be intentional about pausing to worship and praise God when he provides in specific ways and answers specific prayers. If we are not careful, we will pray for things, and then when they happen, we will move on as if nothing significant occurred, instead of pausing to worship. Whether God provides in small ways or big ways, pause and worship.

O God, we have so much reason to bow our heads and worship you for the specific ways you provide in our lives and the specific ways you answer our prayers. We pray that you would give each of us spiritual sensitivity, that we would not move through our days almost atheistically—attributing everything to natural causes—instead of pausing to see your supernatural hand at work in our lives, around our lives, and in the world.

God, make us a people who, like Abraham’s servant here, bow our heads, worship, and bless your name for all the ways you provide for us. We realize that these are only the ways we see; there are so many ways you provide for us that we do not even recognize. Help us to be intentional about giving thanks and worshiping continually throughout the day, living in constant conversation with you as you provide for us.

A Prayer for the Japanese People

God, we also pray for your provision for people far from us. We intercede right now for over 117,000 Japanese men, women, and children—one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. Please cause the good news of your grace and love to spread, and open hearts to the gospel in Japan. Bless churches across Japan, and raise up multitudes more. Bring a harvest there, that your worship might be made known across Japan, just as Abraham’s servant worshiped you in Genesis 24:26.

We pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.