God Sees and Provides

Have you ever been scared to do what the Lord has commanded you to do? Have you ever wondered how or when God would provide for you in a particular circumstance? Today, I am reading through an account in the Bible from Abraham's life.

Genesis 22: 1-14

1. After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”He said,

2. “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

3. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”

6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8. Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

9. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11.But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12. He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Right away, we read that God commanded Abraham to do an unbelievably hard thing! Reading this passage separate from the entire story of the Bible, God's command might even seem crazy and cruel! Sacrifice his only son; the son God had promised to make a great nation from; the son he and Sarah had waited so long for?!

Notice in this passage Abraham speaks very little. He doesn't question God's command or complain about it. Abraham obeys, and when he does speak, his words are profound.

Let's look at the things Abraham said.

• In verse 5 Abraham said, "I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Abraham believed he would return with Isaac. We get a glimpse into Abraham's thoughts in Hebrews 11:19 "He considered that God was able even to raise him (Isaac) from the dead..."

• In verse 8, Abraham said to his son Isaac when he asked where the lamb was, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." God will provide. The word provide is the Hebrew word ra'ah and it means to see. As Abraham spoke these words to Isaac, he, most likely, was bracing himself and calming his own heart. God sees; He understands and will give us what we need.

• In verse 14, Abraham called that place, “The LORD will provide”. In Hebrew these words are Yehovah Yireh and mean the self-existent, eternal One will see, look at and discern.

Abraham revealed his heart in the words he spoke.

Abraham believed Jehovah was faithful and would keep His promise.

Abraham believed the Lord would keep His promise to make a great nation from Isaac, and that through him, all the nations of the world would be blessed. When the Lord's promise had blossomed and grown inside Sarah's womb, Abraham had learned that the Lord could be completely trusted. The Lord was not bound by age or time. If He could cause a 99 year old woman to conceive and give birth to a son, then He could certainly raise that son back to life again.

Abraham believed Jehovah saw.

Abraham believed that the one, true, self-existent, eternal God had perspective that only He could have. Abraham trusted who God was and what God would do. Jehovah would not break His covenant with Abraham. By saying Jehovah sees, He in essence told Isaac that God understands and has the power to provide what we need, when we need it.

Abraham left the land of Moriah, that day, with bolstered faith. He had traveled, what must have been a long three days, to this place. He had put one foot in front of the other, walking in obedience, ready to carry out the command God had given him. He calmed his heart and answered his son's question with the character and reputation of God...He sees, He will provide. After Jehovah intervened and gave Abraham and Isaac a ram, Abraham cemented in his heart the faith-filled words he had spoken to Isaac by naming that place Jehovah Jireh. A name that would be written down and remembered throughout all ages.

A name that would echo far into the future-

Jehovah Jireh would again provide a lamb because He saw and understood we needed a Rescuer. He would provide The Lamb, His only son, Jesus, and Jesus would be sacrificed.

In verse 12, the Lord said to Abraham, “... for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Don't you think Jehovah Jireh already knew what was in Abraham's heart? I think so. So maybe the Lord was revealing to Abraham what was in his heart. When the Lord commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham was faced with a choice: choose God or choose Isaac; choose to obey or choose to withhold. Abraham chose to obey God. He had a reverent awe of the Lord and trusted His character, and in the end, the Lord provided exactly what was needed. It was a day and a display of God's provision that, no doubt, Abraham and Isaac would never forget.

But it was not only meant for Abraham and Isaac. We have the immense blessing of reading this account today and seeing how Jehovah Jireh was at work thousands of years before He gave the world Jesus, pointing people‘s hearts toward that future hope. Even though God chose to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham, this account shows us that hope and redemption could not come from anything Abraham could give, even if it was the one whom he loved, his only son, Isaac.

Hope would come from Who God provided.

I want to encourage your heart today. Jehovah sees you. He has already provided the solution for your biggest problem. Whatever God has commanded you to do, according to His Word, He commands it because He knows what is best for you. He sees you and understands the difficulty and complexities of life here on earth. He understands how hard it can be to obey Him and do the right thing at times. He sees exactly what you need, and will provide it. God has not asked us to do anything that He is unwilling to supply the strength, wisdom, and ability for. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, because He has a perspective and an understanding of the past, present, and future we do not have.

Jehovah Jireh-

He sees and He provides

Sincerely,

Amy