Rebekah at the Well Bible story for kids

"Dear God... God of my master Abraham. Be kind to him today. And could you show me the right one — in a way I can't miss?"

A servant of Abraham once prayed something very like that, standing beside a dusty well in a faraway land. Let me tell you who he was — and what God did next.

It all started with a promise.

Old Abraham — the man who counted stars with God, remember? — well, Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac was grown now, but he was alone. And Abraham wanted something very important for him. He wanted Isaac to have a wife who loved the same God they loved.

So Abraham called his oldest, most trusted servant. And Abraham — very old now, and very sure of his God — said, "Go. Go back to the land where my family lives. Find a wife for my boy Isaac. God will send His angel ahead of you."

Now, that is a very big errand.

The servant packed up ten of Abraham's best camels. Ten! Big, shaggy, grumbling camels with long eyelashes and lumpy knees. He loaded them with gold bracelets, silver rings, fine cloth, and all sorts of beautiful gifts. And then he set off.

The journey was long. Days and days across the wide, golden desert. Hot sun. Cool nights. Sand in his sandals. Stars above his blanket. And the whole way, the servant kept thinking... how? How will I know the right one?

Finally, one evening, just as the sun was turning the sky pink and orange, he arrived at a town called Nahor. There was a well outside the town — a big stone well where the young women came each evening to fill their water jars.

He made the camels kneel down. All ten of them, groaning and huffing the way camels do. And the servant stood there by that well... and he prayed.

You heard the start of that prayer already. Now here is the rest of it. The servant didn't just say, "God, help me." He said something very, very specific.

"God, let me ask a young woman for a drink of water. And if she says, 'Yes — and I'll water your camels, too' — let her be the one. The one you've chosen for Isaac."

Now, here's the thing about camels. A thirsty camel can drink twenty-five or even thirty gallons of water. That's like filling up your whole bathtub. Now multiply that by ten camels. That's two hundred and fifty, maybe three hundred gallons. Bucket after bucket after bucket. It would take hours. It would make your arms ache and your back sore.

Nobody would offer to do that... unless they were truly, deeply kind.

So the servant waited. He watched the road.

And before the servant had even finished praying — before the last word had left his lips...