Genesis 24:12-15 - "And he [Abraham's servant] said, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by [this well], and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, 'Please let down your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say [to me], 'Drink, and I will water your camels'—let her be the one whom you have appointed [to be the bride of] your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master." Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah ... came out with her water jar on her shoulder."

This devotion pairs with this weekend's Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

"You see kids ... the universe has a plan." It's a line from the TV sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, a story of how a guy named Ted meets the love of his life, the mother of his children—"the one." In the show, you learn that Ted and his friends have a deeply religious, yet sometimes conflicted faith in "the universe." In the nine seasons of the show, there are, by one count, over 60 references to the universe. There are prayers to the universe, laments over the universe, and supposed signs from the universe. And yet, at most, the universe is a minor character in the sitcom—something like a matchmaker in Ted's mythic quest for self-fulfillment, searching for his "soulmate."

At first glance, Genesis 24 depicts the God of Abraham like a matchmaker, with God leading the servant of Abraham to find a bride for Isaac, Abraham's son. And we might be tempted to filter this story through our culture's myth of the soulmate. The "soulmate myth" is the idea that there's this "one"—one romantic interest out there who will complete you. And to find her or him, you need to cycle through any number of others, using them in your quest for self-fulfillment. But, in the Bible, God is no minor character, and Genesis isn't a romcom about the universe's plan to help two soulmates complete each other. No, the Bible is the account of God working to complete us, because we've been trying to find fulfillment without Him. And it's killing us. At best, we're still trying to write our own stories with God as a minor character, or maybe we cut Him from the cast altogether.

But God is not a mere cosmic wedding planner but a loving Father and a wise Creator. He loves what He created. So, God sent His Son to be born into that family, the family of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah, to be the Promised One, not the universe's sign, but God's sign of His love for us. And when Jesus was crucified on the cross, He showed us where our myths of self-fulfillment will ultimately lead us—not just feeling incomplete, but cut off from God, separated from each other, and suffering in hell. But Jesus rose from the dead to save us from that fate, to write a new life for us. His story includes and redeems romance and the life-long union of a man and a woman and, along with marriage, children and family, home and country, because these also are God's gifts to us. But they can't complete us. Only Jesus can do that. Genesis and the rest of the Bible is the story of how—how the Messiah made His way to us through one human family. Today, ours is the story of how the Messiah makes His way to all families. And He invites us to be His matchmakers, to bring more people, body and soul, into the Messiah's family, so that they would know that God is the One—the only One.

WE PRAY: Dear Father, lead Your servants so that people would know Your steadfast love through us. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.

Reflection Questions:

1. Where have you heard versions of the "soulmate myth," or other stories of self-fulfillment?

2. Read Genesis 24. Where do you find yourself in this narrative?

3. Trusting in God to complete you, how does that help you more patiently await His gifts, and gratefully receive them?

Today's Bible Readings: 2 Chronicles 13-14    2 Corinthians 4

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