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God Himself Will Provide


          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?”
         Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
          But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” 
          “Here I am,” he replied.
            “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
                Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 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 22:7-14)



JEHOVAH-JIREH meaning “The Lord will provide”
          I love the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. I especially love Abraham's statement "God himself will provide the lamb for the burned offering." God created all lambs and rams, so yes, God provided. God gave Isaac to Abraham in his old age, so yes, God provided. God arranged for the specific ram in the story, so yes, God provided. God sacrificed the Lamb at the right point in history, so yes, God provided. In addition, good leaders have told me that they never ask anyone to do what they are not willing to do themselves. God asked Abraham, but God also went through with what he spared Abraham from carrying out.  Like Isaac, Jesus went willingly. Can you imagine Abraham (over 100 years old) trying to physically subdue a teenage boy?
          The second part of Jehovah-Jireh's provision to Abraham is an important lesson for us. Abraham was seventy-five before he left Ur and went to the land Jehovah-Jireh provided to him. He was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. He and Sarah waited all their lives before God provided Isaac to them, and they died while waiting for the land that was promised to them to be theirs.
     I don't know why God makes someone wait in any particular circumstance. Sometimes we have to wait because we need to be taught or reminded that Jehovah-Jireh is God and we are not. If we got everything we wanted when we wanted, we would effectively rule God and our only reason for talking to Him would be to place an order. Sometimes, we need to develop the strength of character to wait. Waiting makes us stronger. It can also make our desire for what God is providing more mature. Sometimes, God waits before providing because He is working things together, getting everything in place. It's almost like He's dimming the house lights and waiting for everyone to sit down before He reveals what He has done. No matter what we think He is providing, what He is trying to provide to us - and what he wants us to seek - is Him. God is the Jehovah-Jireh who provides Jehovah to us.

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