Genesis 22-24 is something of a travelogue. Life’s most defining moments often happen when we are on a journey. This journey may be literal like a trip in a plane, train, or automobile. This journey may be metaphorical like memories formed ago and re-examined often. Many fewer of life’s defining moments happen when we are sitting still. 

In these chapters, we have

1. A test (22:1-19)
2. A birth (22:20-24)
3. A burial (23:1-20)
4. A marriage (24:1-67)

The one man in the story who never left the country was the first child of the promise, Isaac. He whose birth led to so much laughter and joy never traveled very far. The promise of the land that God made to Abraham and his descendants included something of an expectation of staying in the land. 

We see Isaac in Genesis 24 after the laughter had faded to a pleasant memory. Verse 1 sets the stage.

Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything.

Abraham’s long, blessed life was ambling toward its end. There was unfinished business to take care of before he stepped off the stage. He made God-guided arrangements for his son’s wife. This is an amazing chapter. It declares loud and clear for all to hear: Where God guides, God provides.

Take and read.

Remember what happened in the previous chapter. Sarah, Isaac’s mom, had died. Verses 62 and 63 are easily overlooked. They are so well wrapped in what goes before and after that we are excused if we miss them.

Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region.
In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming.

Who gave the well the name Well of the Living One Who Sees Me? 

Hagar gave the well this name when she was running away from Sarah and the abuse she suffered at her hand. (See chapter 16, particularly verses 13 and 14.)

Sarah was dead. Abraham and Isaac were enduring a season of grief. Isaac took a walk to the place Hagar experienced God. Did he arrange a reunion of Abraham and Hagar? Chapter 25 begins with a story about Abraham and Keturah. Is this Hagar by another name? Maybe. 

We could possibly add a fifth entry to the list above: A reunion (24:62, 63).

A week into a new year, what perspective have you gained on last year?
What is clearer now that this journey of ours has entered new spaces on the calendar?
What questions about what’s next do you have?
What direction are you leaning into? 

Life is a journey. Life is a story. Life has a beginning, a purpose, and a destination. Life is lived in moments. Not days. Not years. Not decades. This moment now is as drenched with meaning as any you have ever lived. What you do with it shapes what you will do with every other moment. It will enrich your walk with God, or it will leave you hungry for more of him. You will satisfy yourself with the feast he provides, or you will settle for something that fills you and also drains away the good life he offers. 

Plan your year in light of all that has gone before. Live your year a moment at a time honoring God with your thoughts, your actions, and your steps toward forever. 

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I will live this moment in the full acknowledgment of the presence and purpose of God. 

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Our Father, teach me how to know and experience you in all things at all times. Amen.