Astonishing Generosity

Welcome to this week’s study on Astonishing Generosity! So often, when we think about what it means for us to be generous, our first thought goes to our bank account. Over the next five days, we are going to expand our focus beyond our wallets and explore the picture painted in Scripture of a more holistic understanding of what it means to live a lifestyle of astonishing generosity. As we journey this week together, let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to bring to mind how Jesus would have you take a step of astonishing generosity with your time, your giftings, your relationships, your season of life, and yes, your resources. 

Dear Jesus, let us be tender-hearted to what step of faith you would have us take so that our lives would reflect Your heart for astonishing generosity. Everything we have is from You, and we confess that we often clench tightly to those gifts in our lives. As you transform our lives to become more like you, we ask that in your kindness and grace, you pry open our fingers and help us to be open-handed to what You would invite us into. Cultivate in us a heart of astonishing generosity. 

Abraham was one of God’s chosen people, and God had made a covenant promise with him in Genesis 12 and 15, promising him land and promising to make him into a great nation. In a sense, it was the promise of “crops and kids.” Although Abraham was 99 years old and he and his wife Sarah had been unable to have children, Abraham believed God’s promise. God never fails to keep his promises, and he fulfilled his promise to Abraham and Sarah by giving them a son, Issac. 

Young Isaac grew up, and in keeping with the traditions of those days, Abraham asked his chief servant to find a wife for Isaac amongst his people. So the servant went to Abraham’s homeland, bringing with him 10 camels. Upon arriving, he stopped at a well and prayed something very specific—that God’s chosen wife for Isaac would be the woman to not only offer the servant water but also offer to draw water for all of his camels. 

Scripture says that before the servant was even finished praying, Rebekah appeared at the well. When the servant asked her for water, she quickly lowered her jar and gave him a drink. Genesis 24:20 says she then quickly poured her water into the camel’s trough and ran back to the well to draw more and more water until the camels were finished drinking. It is estimated that Rebekah may have carried between 200 and 500 gallons of water from the well to the camels. 

Rebekah was astonishingly generous with her time and her energy. Her responsibility to her own family originally brought her to the well. But when she saw a need, Rebekah hit pause on her own day and gave of her time and energy not begrudgingly, but in above and beyond fashion. Rebekah went on to become the wife of Isaac and forever a part of the story of God’s family, all because of her heart to be generous with her time and her energy in an unexpected moment with a stranger. 

Our time and energy can feel like two of our greatest commodities. Like water contained in a jar, we can feel their limits, pressure, and constraint. We can become stingy with these commodities and have a limited mindset on our ability to lean in when presented with a need. 

But a heart with astonishing generosity of time and energy is reliant on the Lord. A heart in this posture knows to go back to the well of Living Water again and again and ask Jesus to fill us up for what He would have us pour our time and energy into today. This means something different for everyone: maybe it looks like asking Jesus for a generous and willing spirit as we talk to our coworkers, help out our roommates, or care for our children. Perhaps it’s shifting our mindset to view our calendar as something we steward, asking the Lord to show us where to say “no” to some things so that we have the space and energy to say “yes” to others, both the expected and the unexpected. Like Rebekah, we have the invitation to be astonishingly generous as with our days, and the question is—what will we do with it?


Jesus, you hold all time in Your hands. My days are Yours. Show me how to be a wise steward of the time I have and leverage the gift of today for Your glory. I am open-handed, Jesus. What step of generosity of my time and energy would You have me take today?