Are you a 10-Camel Servant?

“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.” ~ Genesis 24: 17-20

This passage comes from the Old Testament story of how Rebecca was picked to be Isaac’s wife. The chapter begins with Abraham getting advanced in his years while living in Canaan with his son Isaac. The time had come for Isaac to get married, so Abraham asked his head servant to go back to Abraham’s homeland to bring back a wife for Isaac as he did not want Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman.

The servant sets off and travels about 500 miles to the town of Nahor. The servant wanted to make sure he chose a good wife, so he invented the “camel test”. He would ask a young woman for a sip of water, and if she offered to give water to his camels as well, then she was the one.

The servant goes to the well and along comes Rebecca. He asks for a drink of water, she gives it to him, and then offers to water his camels.

When you first read this story, it is easy to gloss over this point and just think “oh that was a nice thing to do.” However, this action really demonstrates the servant heart that Rebecca had once you understand the facts.

A camel can drink about 20-30 gallons of water in one sitting, and the servant had ten camels. That means Rebecca had volunteered to draw about 250 gallons of water to take care of the camels of a complete stranger. She was willing to sacrifice several hours and work very hard to help someone she did not even know.

Nowadays, we are so caught up in what we have to do next and focused on ourselves that it is hard for us to be even a one camel servant, let alone a ten camel servant.

Being a ten camel servant requires three characteristics: Intentionality, Intensity, and Passion

Intentionality – proactively look for ways that you can serve. Rebecca was not asked to water the camels, but she saw a need and was willing to fill it.

Intensity – serving is not always going to be easy. Drawing 250 gallons of water is hard work. Be willing to put in the work.

Passion – with the right mindset acts of service can be very fulfilling even if you do not get anything in return. Find joy in helping others.

I challenge you to evaluate yourself. Are you a one camel servant or a ten camel servant?

Kate Balcom, Class of 2020 – Women’s Basketball, Londonderry, NH

Photo by Nizam Abdul Latheef from Pexels