Find the Right One: Character, Service, and Christ

Sep 13, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Prayers Meet Providence at the Well

The servant’s desperate prayer for guidance collides with Rebecca’s arrival before he finishes speaking. This moment reveals God’s attentive care in our uncertainties, where divine timing interrupts human anxiety. The story invites trust in a God who orchestrates details beyond our control, weaving faithfulness into ordinary moments like drawing water. True guidance begins not with perfect plans but with surrendered requests. The camels kneel, the jug lowers, and heaven’s kindness spills into the dust. [54:14]

“Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder.” (Genesis 24:15, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you seen God’s timing interrupt your anxiety this week? How might praying with specific trust, like the servant, shift your perspective on waiting?

Day 2: The Weight of Water and the Measure of Character

Rebecca’s choice to water ten camels—25 gallons each—unmasks her true worth. Beauty fades, resumes crumble, but selfless endurance reveals a heart aligned with God’s values. The servant ignores cultural expectations, watching for costly generosity instead of pedigree or appearance. True partnership is found not in curated profiles but in the grit of serving strangers. [01:03:07]

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature… For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7, ESV)

Reflection: What “camels” has God placed in your life to reveal character—in others or yourself? When has a small act of service uncovered more about someone than their achievements?

Day 3: Becoming the Camel-Waterer in a Swipe-Right World

Rebecca’s jar isn’t a prop for romance but a tool for inconvenient love. While culture prioritizes chemistry checks, God highlights the muscle to draw 250 gallons for thirsty beasts. Modern relationships often collapse under the weight of self-interest, but covenant thrives where hands blister from lifting others. The right person isn’t found—they’re forged in daily surrender. [01:05:04]

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:14–15, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you tempted to prioritize being chosen over choosing to serve? What mundane act of love this week could mirror Rebecca’s camels or Jesus’ basin?

Day 4: The Thirst Beneath Every Relationship Longing

The Samaritan woman’s five marriages mirror our ache for something no human can hold. Rebecca’s story points beyond Isaac to the true Bridegroom who meets us at wells, offering living water. Every relational disappointment whispers of a deeper need—to be known by Christ before seeking to be chosen by others. [01:08:31]

“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13–14, ESV)

Reflection: What “well” have you returned to repeatedly for fulfillment? How might receiving Christ’s love first change how you approach other relationships?

Day 5: Anchored in Promise, Not Panic

Abraham’s refusal to let Isaac leave Canaan mirrors God’s call to stay planted in divine purpose. Chasing relationships often detours us from our calling, but faithfulness in the “land” of God’s promises positions us for provision. The right person joins your journey toward Christ’s mission—they aren’t a reason to abandon it. [50:33]

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you compromised your calling to pursue connection? How might trusting God’s presence in your current “land” ease your relationship anxieties?

Sermon Summary

Genesis 24 gives a real story, not a formula to copy step by step, but it gives clear insight into the kind of person worth building a life with. Abraham’s concern begins with shared faith, because Isaac cannot leave the promise of God or tie his future to a culture that does not know the Lord. Abraham’s instruction holds the line: God’s calling is not something to abandon just to find somebody.

God’s providence meets the servant as he prays for wisdom, favor, and covenant kindness. The servant does not treat marriage like something God is indifferent toward, nor does he assume every detail is mechanically predetermined. God cares deeply about relationships, and God’s people can ask for his direction while staying faithful to the purpose he has already given them.

Rebekah arrives before the servant finishes praying, and her character becomes clearer than her résumé. The text calls her beautiful, identifies her family, and notes her purity, but the servant watches what she does. Rebekah honors a stranger, gives him a drink, and then offers to water ten thirsty camels. Rebekah’s kindness is not a quick, easy gesture. Rebekah carries bucket after bucket, serving somebody who cannot give her anything in return.

Rebekah’s water jars show what real character looks like. A person seeking the right one must not only inspect another person’s character but become the kind of person who runs after Jesus and waters the camels. A servant’s heart, humility, hard work, and hospitality reveal far more than appearance, charm, or a carefully managed dating profile.

John 4 brings another woman to another well, but the Samaritan woman carries the ache of relationship after relationship that never gave her what she hoped for. Jesus names the deeper thirst beneath human longing and offers living water that rises into eternal life. Marriage can bring deep joy, but no spouse can carry the weight of being somebody’s ultimate source of identity, connection, or satisfaction.

Jesus becomes the starting place for both the lonely single person and the struggling married person. Jesus does not call people first to fix the other person, force a relationship, or settle out of fear. Jesus calls thirsty hearts to lay their hopes for love at his feet, receive his life, and let his love create the kind of people who can truly love others.

Key Takeaways

1. Stay faithful to God’s calling Abraham refuses to send Isaac back from the land of promise simply to secure a wife. God’s calling cannot become negotiable when loneliness gets loud or when a relationship seems immediately available. Faithfulness means staying planted in the purpose God has given and trusting him to provide companionship without requiring compromise. [50:33]
2. Ask God for covenant kindness The servant prays specifically, asking God to show faithful kindness as he seeks a wife for Isaac. God is not distant from the questions, fears, and desires wrapped up in marriage and relationships. Prayer does not manipulate God into producing a perfect outcome, but prayer places a person under God’s wise care and direction. [53:48]
3. Character matters more than appearance Rebekah is beautiful, but her beauty is not the thing that proves she is the right choice. Her character appears in the way she honors a stranger and takes costly initiative to serve him. Lasting relationships need more than attraction; they need the steady weight of humility, work, and kindness. [57:38]
4. Do not just look, become Rebekah’s willingness to water the camels reveals a servant’s heart, and that is the kind of heart worth looking for. A person cannot demand qualities from another person while refusing to cultivate those same qualities before God. The search for the right one becomes healthier when it is joined to the work of becoming someone who loves, serves, and follows Jesus. [63:07]
5. Jesus alone satisfies deepest thirst Human relationships are good gifts, but they cannot bear the full burden of satisfying the soul. Jesus offers living water to hearts exhausted by loneliness, conflict, disappointment, and the need to be completed by another person. A marriage begins to change when each person comes to Christ for what only Christ can give.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[35:09] - Church Family and Connection
[37:16] - Ring by Spring
[39:29] - Finding the Right Person
[40:29] - Reading Genesis 24
[42:48] - Description, Not a Formula
[43:47] - Abraham, Isaac, and God’s Promise
[45:13] - How Dating Has Changed
[48:52] - Shared Faith and God’s Calling
[53:30] - Pray for Guidance and Favor
[57:16] - Rebekah’s Character
[63:07] - Run After Jesus and Water Camels
[66:17] - The Woman at the Well
[68:15] - Jesus Satisfies the Thirst
[70:27] - Surrendering Love and Relationships
[73:21] - Trust Jesus With Your Heart

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 24:12-27
“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 the spring of water, 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, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.’” [40:29]

“Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.” [57:16]

“Then the servant ran to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.’ She said, ‘Drink, my lord.’ And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, ‘I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.’ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels.” [01:03:07]

“The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, and said, ‘Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?’ She said to him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.’ She added, ‘We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night.’ The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.’” [01:03:07]

John 4:13-14
“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” [01:08:31]

Genesis 24:1-9
“Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, ‘Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.’” [48:52]

“The servant said to him, ‘Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?’ Abraham said to him, ‘See to it that you do not take my son back there. The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, “To your offspring I will give this land,” he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.’ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.” [50:33]

Observation questions

What boundaries does Abraham give his servant about finding a wife for Isaac, and what boundary does he repeat most strongly? [50:33]
What does the servant ask God to show him at the well, and what does he ask God to show Abraham? [53:48]
What actions reveal Rebekah’s character after the servant asks for a drink? Notice both her words and the effort she gives. [01:03:07]
After Rebekah identifies her family and offers lodging, how does the servant respond to God’s guidance?

Interpretation questions

Abraham refuses to let Isaac leave the land of promise simply to secure a marriage. What does this show about the relationship between God’s calling and the desire for a spouse? [52:56]
The servant prays specifically for God’s steadfast love and guidance, then watches Rebekah’s actions carefully. How do prayer, wisdom, and attention to character work together in making relationship decisions? [53:30]
Rebekah’s beauty and family background are mentioned, but her costly hospitality becomes the clearest evidence of her character. Why might humble service be a stronger sign of readiness for a lasting relationship than attraction or an impressive résumé? [57:38]
Jesus says that ordinary water leaves people thirsty again, while his living water brings eternal life. What kinds of expectations can people wrongly place on a spouse, dating relationship, or marriage that only Jesus can fulfill? [01:10:27]

Application questions

Is there any relationship, dating hope, or fear of loneliness that is tempting you to compromise a conviction or step away from God’s calling? What would faithfulness look like in that situation? [50:33]
Whether single, dating, married, widowed, or divorced, what is one specific way you can pray for God’s guidance and covenant kindness in your relationships this week? [53:48]
Rebekah served a stranger in a way that cost her time and effort. Where is there an opportunity in your ordinary life to “water the camels”—to serve someone without expecting anything in return? [01:05:10]
It is easy to make a list of qualities desired in another person. Which quality—humility, hard work, hospitality, faithfulness, or a servant’s heart—does Jesus seem to be growing in you right now? What practical step could help you grow in it? [01:03:17]
If you are married, where might you be expecting your spouse to carry the weight of your identity, peace, or satisfaction? How could bringing that thirst to Jesus change the way you respond to your spouse this week? [01:11:34]
If you are single and desire marriage, how can you pursue that desire honestly before God without treating marriage as the thing that will finally complete you? [01:10:12]
Jesus invites thirsty hearts to receive living water from him. What longing, disappointment, conflict, or loneliness do you most need to place at Jesus’ feet today? [01:10:56]

Sermon Clips

45s

#SurrenderLoveToJesus

“And so what I want you to do today is consider laying all your hopes and dreams for love and relationship at the feet of Jesus. And just say, Jesus, it's yours. That's honestly where you start when it comes to this moving towards having the relationship that really satisfies. First say, I want to please Jesus with this. I'm gonna ask for his covenant kindness and his goodness to give me his presence as I seek human companionship.”

58s

#IdentityInChrist

“This this thing about like our heart and who we love is such an important one. So I'm gonna just invite you if you're feeling like strife in your marriage, you're like, man, I wish it could be everything it could be. Just say, Jesus, would you just start to work in that right now? Would you start fixing that, changing it? If you're single, like, god, show me how to walk this out until you bring the right person. But, ultimately, it all stems from your identity in Jesus Christ, knowing him, being filled by him, being satisfied by him. And it's there that everything else clicks into place.”

29s

#ServantHeartWins

“Listen, if you wanna know what it looks like to find the right person, you need to be the kind of person who runs after Jesus and waters the camels and then looks around and goes, who else is watering camels around me? That's what it looks like to find somebody with the kind of character that will really change your life and the life of the people around you. To be the kind of person who's got a servant's heart.”

44s

#ServeToBeFound

“of water. I'm trying to think about, what this would look like if you were, like, were, like, meeting somebody and you're like, hey. Let's go on a date and try to figure out, like, what kind of character you have. What would it look like for them to, like, put this kind of effort in? This is not something that takes her five minutes, ten minutes. This may have taken her close to thirty minutes or forty five minutes simply serving a stranger. Buckets and buckets of water. Listen, friends, if you wanna find the right person, find somebody who's willing to serve and has a servant's heart. And the best way to find that person is to be a person like that.”

25s

#OnlyJesusSatisfies

“The same is true if you're in a marriage and you're hoping that your spouse will satisfy all the longings of your heart, the connection, the sense of self, all those things. You married them and you're like, man, I'm just it's not it's not doing that for me. It's because you're really thirsty for something only Jesus can give you today.”

38s

#TrustJesusWithYourHeart

“So for anybody who wants to make that decision today, I'm just gonna invite you to pray. Say this, Jesus, I trust you with my heart. I trust you with my thirst. I'm asking for the living water, the the life that you have to give. I'm asking for that in my life. And I'm surrendering my life to you. I'm gonna follow you. Listen, that's the most important decision you can make. Is to trust Jesus with your life.”

46s

#PartnerInGodsPurpose

“You need to understand that God does care about marriage, and he does care deeply about all of our relationships, particularly this one. And so, God is saying through Abraham that there is there's preparation. God will go before you as you seek this out. But you need to make sure that you're faithful to the the plan and the purpose that God has for you and not leave it to go chase after someone else. One of the best ways to find the right person is to stay faithful to the plan and purpose that God has for your life and find somebody who's gonna join you in it.”

47s

#MarriageHasJoyAndSorrow

“But she's also somebody who gives us an experience of what it looks like to encounter Jesus because there was another woman in John chapter four that meets a man at a well. A Samaritan woman. Someone who also someone who wanted to have a relationship, but she actually couldn't find one. In fact, when Jesus meets her in John chapter four, you find that she's been married 10 times. Gone from relationship to relationship to relationship, but never really found what she was looking for. And here's the thing that's so interesting about marriage is that we can find deep joy in it, but we can also find deep pain and sorrow.”

42s

#StopChasingSatisfaction

“We can find ourselves feeling pretty broken in the middle of all of it and not really knowing where to go. And the reason for that is because all of us, deep down, are thirsty. We have people who are thirsting for connection, thirsting for for meaning, thirsty to be satisfied. And what happens for many of us is we can go from relationship to relationship, trying to find deep satisfaction in those relationships. But we don't ever really find it because relationships cannot carry our expectations.”

41s

#MakeGodTheCenter

“God, I pray that you would bless those who are here today, those who are tired, those who are sad, those who are grieving, those who are angry at their spouse, those who are longing for a spouse. God, I pray that you would give them the desire of their heart for a true thriving relationship. But God, ask more than that, that you would like be the one that is the centerpiece of our life and our story. That when we know you and the love that you have for us, that it would create change in us so that we could actually love others.”

36s

#PrayForGodsGuidance

“this man rolling up to this town. He makes this journey. He he travels there, and he doesn't really know what to do next. So he makes the best decision he possibly could, which is he asks the Lord for wisdom. So if you're seeking out a relationship and you wanna find the right person or you're counseling somebody in this, here's the best thing you can do. It's to pray for God's guidance and to ask for favor.”

39s

#SeekCovenantFaithfulness

“And he doesn't do it simply like, hey, just generally. He asked for God's covenant faithfulness. The word there he uses the word tesed, which means God's faithful covenant to his people. And he's asking that God would look and act so that he can find the right girl. Now he asks specifically about what he wants. He says, god, I I need to know the way that I want to know is that if you just have her be willing to give me and all of my camels a drink when I ask her for a drink, which is a big, big request. And we're gonna get to that in just a minute.”

52s

#MarrySomeoneWhoFearsGod

“He doesn't want him to marry a Canaanite. There are plenty of nice girls that live near Isaac, but none of them know the Lord. And Abraham's convinced that he wants Isaac to marry somebody that comes from a family that fears the Lord. And he's looking around. He's like, there ain't anybody around here that knows Jesus. Listen, if you wanna have a relationship that lasts and needs to have a common worldview, a common understanding of what it means to know God and follow him, and Abraham starts there with step one, takes an extraordinary step to send one of his servants back to where Abraham was from. Because Abraham's like, I know that there are good people back there that know God and follow God and honor God. So he sends one of his servants back to where Abraham's from to go find a girl.”

45s

#GodIsFaithfulInLove

“But what I want to talk about here for just a moment is that many of us, when we think about dating and relationships, we think about it in a continuum. Like, and it's just good for us to recognize this today. Some of us see it as it's the most important thing for God. That he's the only thing he cares about is that you find the right one. We become very, like, interested in predestination sovereignty when it comes to relationship. We're like, man, it's the only thing that God cares about is us all finding the one, or we can take the position where God doesn't care about it at all, and you can just marry whoever he wants. Like, just, free agency just in general. But I think it's important for us to realize is that God does really care, and he is very faithful.”

39s

#WaitingForGodsChoice

“And he is very faithful. And I don't know if there is the one for every single person. Most likely, there are many people that you could pick, but there is a plan that he does have for you, and he is very interested in it, and has a purpose for you getting married to the right person. I feel like I found the right one. I don't think there's anybody who could have been better for me than Tabitha. It's a great partner in ministry, great wife, great friend. I love her so very much. I'm so glad I waited for God to bring her to me and then just, like, marry somebody else.”

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