“O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success [cause to occur for me] today, and show lovingkindess to my master Abraham. …

Meanwhile the servant was gazing at her in silence to know whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not. …

[The servant:] “He [Abraham] said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful …’” Genesis 24:12, 21, 40

Success. A most loaded term.

Desirable? Disdained?

Admired? Empty?

Yes.

In our vernacular and culture, success reigns as the highest value, challenged only by pleasure and autonomy, which are thought be obtainable or obtained through success.

Failure, no one likes.

Success and failure inspire aspiration driven by the lure of success’ gilt and the fear of failure’s scorn.

No one is exempt. The only differences are those who answer success’ siren call and even devote the fullness of their lives and beings to it, and those who don’t, who have either given up because the gold ring seems forever out of reach and not worth the all-consuming cost, or those who have become suspicious of success’ claims or even reject them.

Money is just a way of keeping score, some have said. Perhaps true, depending on the game that is being played.

Yet to reject success as a measure or value may seem like apathy, lethargy, or laziness. That’s not so appealing, either.

What to do.

Abraham’s servant sought success. Prayed for it. Queried whether it might be obtained. Journeyed based on a promise of it. Watched for it.

“Qarah” is the Hebrew word used:

To encounter, to meet, to befall

To chance to be present

To cause to meet or be appointed

Sounds like fate. An accident. An incident. A happening. Some external circumstance.

“Will I fulfill my charge of finding the bride for my master Abraham’s son Isaac?” the servant wondered. Will it happen?

Will I be … successful? Will I be (dare I breathe it) a failure?

These are questions that naturally burn in every heart, rightly or wrongly.

The “successful” are not exempt. Will the success endure? Will the emptiness that outward success shrouds be revealed, and the failure I feel be exposed?

Will my value be judged and determined, rightly or wrongly, by others, or even myself, by whether something determined to be success has been achieved?

Abraham’s servant worried about that. “What if,” he asked his master, “I don’t succeed? What if I find her (I do my part) and she won’t come back with me?”

Indeed, what if? What if I fail?

Should I resort to plan B? The servant: “Should I bring Isaac to Mesopotamia? You’ve given me an objective. I get that. I am to find a wife from your people for your son Isaac. I’m focused on what you’ve asked me to do. I’ll do everything I can in my power, in my control. But I’m not a kidnapper. I’m not going to bring someone back here against her will. I can’t control that part. What if she won’t come? I know. I’ll do what I can control. I’ll take Isaac from Canaan to her in Mesopotamia. I will accomplish the objective. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that I do. Even if that means taking Isaac from here, from you …”

“Wait – stop!” commands the Master. “No! Whatever you do, don’t do that!”

Abraham had an objective, a wife from his own people for his son, and he charged his servant with that objective. But Abraham, unlike the servant, understood a bigger context. Abraham had been promised a particular piece of geography, and his seed, specifically through Isaac, to inherit it. Taking Isaac back to Mesopotamia, from which God had specifically called Abraham out, and out from his family, would be directly contrary to God’s clear direction and call that was revealed and confirmed over these many decades dating back to God’s call to Abraham’s father Terah.

No, the objective does not trump the call. The call comes first, not the other way around.

Abraham’s response to his servant’s pining: God. “The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you to make your journey successful.”

Success is not an entity unto itself. It is associated with a person. Who is it, exactly, that is successful, or more accurately, causes success?

Detached from God, and associated only with a human, success becomes a cruel task master, a demon. Response to it is carnality, selfish ambition, to be self absorbed. Obtaining it is a nearly unavoidable invitation to pride. Not obtaining it tempts one to shame and self-loathing.

Abraham did not see it that way. “The LORD.” That is always a safe starting place. The very best. “Before whom I have walked.” Abraham has history. It has taken quite a while and many missteps, but he has started to figure this thing out. The LORD will send His angel – His Messenger, His Helper – Jesus Himself. It is He who will make your journey successful.

Same objective. But in context of the call and God’s overarching purposes. And a totally, radically transformed understanding of success, of who is responsible for success.

Walk. Obey. Go. Seek the objective. And – change my thinking. Get my eyes off myself. Stop thinking I will get credit or blame or value or disparagement from the outcome. My role is to go and obey. That’s it.

Abraham told his servant that the LORD would send His angel to grant success. But even if He does not, if for some reason the objective is not achieved, then, servant, you are released from this charge.

Freedom. This makes all the difference. The pressure is off. Credit or blame is no longer in play. Just go do what you are told. This release actually grants great liberty, to pursue with more freedom and creativity, and to take more risk. There is more energy, more excitement.

There is only upside!

If there is “success,” well, God is due praise and glory because He has caused it. If there is not, I have obeyed, I have done my part. The outcome is for God to deal with.

Abraham had just lived through God’s instruction to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham reasoned that God would raise Isaac from the dead, Hebrews 11 tells us. So he was willing. Abraham had experienced the birth of Isaac in his and Sarah’s old age. Abraham was unalterably convinced that one way or another God would in fact fulfill his promise. Abraham had faith, reasonably so, based on a lifetime of experience. Abraham had confidence (lit. “with faith”) that God would accomplish this outcome, too.

Fast forward to the well. The servant has arrived at his destination. The moment of making the ask was arriving. His question was not whether he would be successful. His question was whether God would make his journey successful. Nuance, but a world of difference. It’s all about on who is the focus.

My actions, my efforts – the only question is whether I’m doing what I’m told to do. For that I am responsible.

The outcome, for that I can only pray, and entrust to the One who has that responsibility. It is not me.

Success? I obey to journey toward it. I work toward it. I watch for it. I pray for it.

The ultimate presence of absence of success does not determine my value. Success and failure are not identity cards. They are the subjects of prayer.

Success matters. But success and failure do not define me.

Obedience is my only metric. Did I obey? If not, then I am to ask for forgiveness, which is promised, and I get back on the horse. It’s never too late. Jonah, Peter, Abraham, David, a host of forerunners have paved that way for me.

And prayer. “Please grant me success, i.e., be the cause.” “For the sake of Your lovingkindess to the ones to whom you have made your promises … .” The outcome is Yours. Only the obedience is mine.

LORD, please grant me success, not that success is mine or for me, but as fulfillment of your lovingkindess toward those you have entrusted to me, and many others who will be affected by fulfillment of Your promises. My efforts are of no consequence by themselves. Unless You build the house or watch over the city, I engage in these tasks in vain. Please make your call to me plain, and may I obey it faithfully, by Your power. And then in Your time and in Your way, grant success.