God Will…
Do we really believe this before we see it?
by Max Lucado
Abraham had another word for God: Jehovah-jireh. “The Lord who provides.”
Abraham came by the name honestly. It all began when Abraham heard the call to go to the land of Canaan and so he went.
God promised to make him the father of the nations and he believed.
That was before Lot took the best land. That was before the king of Egypt took his wife. That was before he found out that he, the father of the nations, was married to a barren wife.
But then Lot ended up in Sodom and Gomorrah, the Pharaoh ended up returning Sara, and Abraham ended up bouncing his first-born on his hundred-year-old bony knees. Abraham learned that God provides.
Even Abraham must have shaken his head when God asked him to sacrifice his own son on Mt. Moriah.
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!””Here I am,” he replied.Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Genesis 22:1-2 NIV).
Up the mountain they went.
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?””Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.”The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7).
One wonders how the words made it past the lump in Abraham’s throat:
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together (Genesis 22:8).
Jehovah-jireh: the Lord will provide. Abraham tied up his son and placed him on the altar and raised the knife and the angel stayed his hand. Abraham had proven his faith. He heard a rustling in the thicket and saw a ram caught in a bush by his horns. He offered it as an offering and gave the mountain a name: Jehovah-jireh — The Lord Provides.
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided” (Genesis 22:14).
And on a mountain, the sacrifice was provided … not just for Abraham, but also for us.
Questions:
- What is your initial reaction to the story of the binding of Isaac? (Genesis 22:1-14)
- What purpose do you think it served?
- What do you think we might learn from Abraham, and how would we live that lesson today?