Leading and Serving

In reading the story of Abraham’s servant’s journey to find a wife for Jacob in Genesis 24 what can we learn about leadership and serving? The leader, Abraham, had confidence in what God had called him to do. This gave Abraham, the leader, confidence in what he asked the servant to do. The leader had someone he trusted to carry out a very important assignment that required faith. The servant, had confidence in the leader having witnessed God’s favor on the leader over a period of time. The servant was committed to doing the will of the leader, and to bringing about the success of the leader, and his goals and objectives. The servant had faith in the leader, and in the God of the leader. The leader assured the servant that his work would be successful and that the same God who guided and blessed the leader would also guide and bless the servant.

All of us are servants and leaders. Abraham, the leader, was following and serving God, and the servant in this story was leading others to fulfill Abraham’s mission in finding a wife for Jacob. Serving requires confidence in those we serve. It requires confidence in the leader and the leader of the leader. Serving also requires an intentional focus and effort to achieve the success of the one we serve, rather than drawing attention to yourself (see also Matthew 23:1-12). In this story, we don’t know the name of the servant, this servant was not out to make a name for himself, but to bring about the success of his leader. This servant’s attitude resulted in the leader trusting this one servant, above all other servants, with this very important assignment.

Why was this servant successful? Because he believed Abraham, his leader, and he believed in the God of Abraham, and his mission was to fulfill the goals of his leader. Our end goal in life is to glorify God, our ultimate leader. Does your leadership and service reflect a confidence and willingness to serve and attain the success of your leader, and ultimately of God our Father. Remember it is God who guides and directs us to lead and serve where we are. It is ultimately, as it was in this story, God who receives all the glory, and that is good because the chief aim of mankind is to glorify God.