Your Jehovah Jireh

And Issac spake unto Abraham his father and said “My father” and he said “Here am I Son”, and he said: Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Genesis 22:6-7

There is something missing. If only I had this one thing my life would be complete. I have A,B,C…but D is what would really solve this puzzle in my life. This thing is too difficult for me to do. I have been praying for so long but I see no answer on the horizon. I am not asking for too much, only what everyone else seems to have…when will I receive my breakthrough?

Today I want to say just trust and obey. God will provide.

I recently read the famous story in the book of Genesis regarding when God tested Abraham. These were God’s words to Abraham “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” Genesis 22:2There are a few things that struck me- reinforcing the fact that God indeed works in mysterious ways. I will call them the three mysteries:

Mystery 1: Before this test the bible said that Abraham “Believed in the lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness”. Genesis 15:6 God had told Abraham that he would do for him the impossible: Give he and his wife a son in their extreme old age. This Abraham believed and the bible said that because he believed he was counted as righteous. The mystery here is that Abraham had already believed God in the doing of something “unbelievable” but here God tests him by asking him to sacrifice his only son.

Mystery 2: God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations when Abraham was 99 years old and childless. In the sealing of this promise God gave him a son, Isaac, through whom all of this would be fulfilled. But here God is telling Abraham to give back this great gift he had given him.

Mystery 3: God gives very clear instructions to Abraham regarding where and how this Sacrifice is to take place but notice the sequence in which the lord tests Abraham: A. Take now thy son B. Thine only son Isaac C. Whom thou lovest.

Indeed it is as if God is turning up the heat 1,000 degrees at a time. Reminding Abraham that…he is your son; he is your only son; his name is Isaac…you love him. He now tells Abraham to take Isaac to the top of a yet to be disclosed mountain, where he would be burnt for offering. This test would not have been complete if Abraham had many sons or if Abraham did not love Isaac. He had no other son (Ishmael, the son with the bond woman, had been cast out and was not an heir to the promise). He loved Isaac.

God reveals himself to us. His ways are mysterious but if we are patient in time we would know more about ourselves and more about God. I mentioned 3 mysteries.

The first is why God tested Abraham whose faith was already so great- I believe that God continually tests us to increase our faith. In his infinite wisdom he weans and grows us through obstacles.

The second is why God would ask Abraham to give back the Son who was to fulfill the promise.-This was the test. In faith Abraham believed that the same God who gave him this son can do…anything.

The third is how God deliberately made mention of how Isaac was his only son and how he loved him – God does everything well; and when he tests us he tests us well. That is why situations often appear too difficult…if they did not perhaps we would rationalize our miracle when it comes.

TRUST & OBEY

“Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey”.

I cannot imagine how Abraham must have felt. We live in a world where everyone wants to stand up for their rights and get their just due; a world where we want answers yesterday for questions to be asked tomorrow. I do not know what Abraham felt at the time but I do know that according to the bible he did not utter any protests or pleas. He understood that he was not entitled to anything and that any and everything we have belongs to God in the first place. Abraham simply got up and did as he was instructed.

This is a powerfully lasting picture of quiet trust and resolute obedience. God had done great things in Abraham’s life. Abraham had seen his 99 year old body have a baby with a woman equally as old. Abraham had a very close friendship with God. When God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham negotiated with God in reverence and awe bargaining that God would spare the city if 10 righteous people were found. The initial starting point of the negotiation had been 50 righteous people and Abraham had pleaded down to 40, 30, 20 and finally 10. Here Abraham had pleaded for a city of sinners to be saved if 10 righteous people were found but when God asked him to sacrifice his son he did not back away. As humans we are quick to defend and protect “our own” while caring little for everyone else’s. Abraham had pleaded and bargained with God for the lives of countless strangers who cared nothing for him but here he obediently surrenders his only son.

Isaac being the smart kid that he was noticed that something was missing. He saw that the wood for the fire was there, indeed all of the things needed for a sacrifice, but where was the lamb that would be sacrificed? Abraham’s response is uttered by millions of believers today: Jehovah Jireh. God will provide. Brothers and Sisters, this is where we need to get to.

We need to arrive at that point in an obstacle in our lives when things aren’t working out, something is missing but even against all of the odds we say: God will provide. Not out of a hopeless resignation but out of a hopeful faith in a God for whom nothing is impossible.

Jehovah Jireh!

The story ends when Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac and the angel of the lord calls out to him saying “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.” Genesis 22:12

God then provides a lamb for the sacrifice after which he blesses Abraham with many promises including this “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” Genesis 22:18

Brothers and sisters one of the reasons why we are blessed is that upon a mountain in a land called Moriah thousands of years ago a man called Abraham obeyed God when God asked him to sacrifice his only son.

Today God is not asking you to sacrifice your loved one; Jesus has made the ultimate sacrifice for us. He is asking us to do what he indirectly asked Abraham to do – Trust and obey.

I do not know what it is that you are going through in life, what obstacles you face now or will face in the days ahead. But I want you to know that Jehovah Jireh. God will provide everything that you need; he will show you the way. I think that we are fortunate to have examples of tremendous faith displayed by these men and women of God in the bible.

It is amazing when you really think about what Abraham was ready to do for God. He is the only one I know of in the bible that was ready to give up his only son for God, in a foreshadowing of how thousands of years later God will give his only son for us on a cross at Calvary.

My advice is that we should follow Abraham’s example: Seek a close friendship with Jehovah; the kind that Abraham had. Through this closeness you will have the grace to trust and obey him just as Abraham did. And he will be to you the Lord your provider. My prayer is that this be true for you in Jesus’ name.

When Abraham was done sacrificing the lamb he named the place “Jehovah Jireh”. Let the obstacles and high mountains in your life come to be known as Jehovah Jireh as you look back and see that it was in these things and these places that the lord provided for you in your time of need. Remain Blessed. Amen.