I have always been in awe of how God gives us pictures of Who He is through His many names throughout the Bible. Genesis 22 gives us the name, Jehovah Jireh, or “the Lord will provide.” In these verses, God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his son, on Mt. Moriah, and Abraham responds to God in immediate obedience.
Can you imagine the journey to the place Abraham would have to give up his son, the son he had spent much of his life praying for; the child he had finally been given after waiting and desperately hoping for so long? Perhaps he whispered to himself with each weighted step, “I trust you, Lord,” continuously preaching to himself to keep moving forward when really he wanted to grab his son and run back down the mountain. Did he question God, asking why He provided a son only for him to die?
Although we don’t know Abraham’s thoughts as he was about to give up his son, we get a picture of how God must have felt that first bittersweet Christmas, knowing the hope His Son would bring to His earthly children, but recognizing He was born as a sacrifice for us – He was born to die. Even in Genesis, God points us to Jesus and his death as the sacrifice for our sins so that we might be saved and live forever with Him.
On the way up the mountain, Isaac asks his dad where the sacrifice was going to come from, and Abraham replies, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” Genesis 22 tells us that at the last possible moment, God provides the sacrifice of a ram caught in the thicket, saving Isaac, his son, from death. Abraham calls the name of that place, “The Lord will provide.”
Abraham trusted God’s promise of becoming a great nation, with children as numerous as the stars. He trusted God to provide whatever was needed, even to the point of resurrecting Isaac if needed. He did not call Mt. Moriah, “The Lord provided,” but an ongoing promise for us today and forever, “The Lord WILL provide.”
Do you see God as Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides? Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply EVERY need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” God promises to provide for you just like He did for Abraham on that mountain.
It is a matter of trusting God to provide, even in the last moment. Sometimes it seems that God often provides at the last moment because He knows that is how our faith grows best. Just like Abraham may have done on his way up Mt. Moriah, preach it to yourself and remind yourself, “I trust you, Lord,” step by step if you have to. Genesis 22:16-17 says, “BECAUSE you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you…”
Whatever it is you face today, trust Him with it. Lay it down at the altar, and stand firm on the promise that “the Lord will provide.”
– Mel Anderson