“And so it was set before him to eat, but he said, ‘I will not eat until I have spoken my words.’ And he said, ‘Speak.’”

(Genesis 24:33)

There is something to be said here about the directness of purpose that Eliezer brings with him. We are not told exactly what it is that Laban has set before Eliezer and his men to eat, in fact, the word “food” that is assumed by many of our English texts is absent from the Hebrew altogether. It is left to our imaginations as to the extent of the meal because it simply is not important to the big picture, but we might reasonably assume that the meal was rather extensive given Laban’s seeking to “court” an obviously wealthy individual. Yet Eliezer is more concerned with bringing his message to Rebekah’s household than he is to see his own needs met.

How often we lose sight of our own purpose and calling when we set out to do something. How often we allow the distractions of life to take us off task, particularly when it comes to doing the Lord’s work. When we interact with a friend or neighbor in the hopes of sharing the Gospel, how often we are more eager to speak about anything else but the Gospel. God has given us a task, to take the Gospel to all of the nations, making disciples of people from every land — may we be focused on engaging in that task without distractions, no matter how enticing those distractions may be at the time.