Gen 22:1-14
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 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?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 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. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “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.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 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.”
The words Jehovah Jireh literally means that “God will see to it”. Here God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son. And Abraham says ‘ok’. Why? Abraham had a certain kind of faith that knew that the same God who told him that He would make him the father of many nations, would also figure out, had something better in store. And just when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, a lamb was found trapped in a picket. What are the odds of that?
Have you ever had to give up something/ someone that you truly loved, and you had no idea if you would ever get it back in the future? It’s in these times that you have to remember the word of God. I do it this way. Every time fear grips me because I don’t know what’s in store for my future, I think “now what did God promise me? It may have been a prophetic word or a word from the scripture, but I find a word and hold on to that. Once I’ve done that, I think to myself “God you’re not a man to lie. You said you honour your word above your name. This is your promise. So SEE TO IT.
God is the one who provides. And He sees to it that whatever He’s promised, is performed.What is it that you are in need of? He will not break his promise. He will not alter his word. He will see to it that you will not be ashamed or confounded. Abraham built a memorial for you to remember that God provides. Call on God as your Jehovah Jireh.
