For such a bright and diligent student who usually has the answer to any question, Djenica was unusually perplexed. Coming from Haiti a few years ago and now the valedictorian of her graduating class, she had questions instead of answers when considering Genesis 22. In a recent Bible study that Trudy Odom and I are privileged to have at a local public high school where Trudy taught for many years, our “Bible Biographies” lessons had brought us to the “Moriah moment” in the life of Abraham, and our student’s perplexed reaction was understandable: “Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son?”
Whether reading it for the first or the fiftieth time, Genesis 22 captures our attention with a jolting and unprecedented message from the Lord to Abraham. It then takes us up a literal and literary ascent as with each verse he and his son approach the summit and what seems to be the inevitable. From a mere human perspective, it appears as if the Lord is taking and not providing. But viewed through the longer lens of Scripture, we see coming into sharp focus the Lord’s ultimate provision in Christ that this moving mountain scene so vividly foreshadows. Abraham’s faith-filled words in response to his son’s question ring down through history to the coming of Christ and will echo on for eternal ages: “My Son, God will provide himself a lamb” (Gen 22:8).1
The whole experience was so significant to Abraham in its personal impact, prophetic preview and display of the heart of God that it provoked Abraham in an act of worship to appropriately call the place, and indeed the Lord, by a new name, Jehovah Jireh (the LORD will provide). This will be the only time in Scripture the name will appear, but the truth of its meaning is seen on every page.
Take a moment, my dear brother and sister, as familiar as the story is, and stand again with Abraham and Isaac on that wind-swept mountaintop with the sacrifice still smoldering on the altar before them and consider what this divine name conveys about God in relation to you and your life. Abraham’s experience and test are indeed unparalleled and unique, but in some ways so are yours. So, no matter how far you have come on your journey or what “Moriahs” you have experienced or are experiencing at present, the Lord’s very name assures you that He will provide for you all along the way of your life’s journey and for all of eternity’s ages. He is Jehovah Jireh, the God who will provide.
Let’s briefly notice some of the familiar provisions the Lord supplied to Abraham and supplies to us as well.
God’s Temporal Provisions
The reason Abraham could say so assuredly “God will provide …” to his son upon the mountain was because he had proved the Lord’s provision in many temporal blessings throughout his life. Upon his initial call by God (Act 7:2), Abram left his home to move out, not knowing where he was going (Heb 11:8), but with God’s promise to provide him safety, sustenance and most importantly a seed by which the nations of the world would be blessed. The Lord Jesus, in His “Sermon on the Mount,” would exhort us regarding our temporal provision, “Take no thought for your life … for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Mat 6:25,32). While it is easy to become worried or disgruntled or even feel entitled to temporal things, every physical blessing we do have, to our very breath (Dan 5:23), is evidence of His daily providing hand. Our life, with whatever degree of physical ability and intellectual capacity it possesses, is a token of His gracious provision for us to use and develop for His glory and our spiritual blessing. As a result, all that we attain and possess in life should be viewed as coming from His hand as well, through the abilities and opportunities He has provided us.
Paul could give a wonderful encouragement to the Philippian believers in closing his joyful letter to them: “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Php 4:19).
God’s Spiritual Provision
For Abraham, his appreciation of God’s spiritual provisions also began in Ur and were intertwined with the Lord’s temporal provisions. While not detailed in Scripture, Abraham would have, no doubt, sensed the vanity of his “modern” culture and the futility of its empty religion. All this would remind him of his own innate frailty and sinfulness and cause his response to the call of the “God of glory” whom alone he could know and trust. This was the beginning of God’s provision for him, but there was much more to come! Genesis 13:14-17, 15:4-6, 17:10-14 and 22:15-18 describe God’s covenant and provision to Abraham being confirmed, expanded and developed throughout his life. By God’s grace, we too have come into a rich and ever-increasing spiritual provision. We have been “called the children of God” (1Jn 3:1), “called to be saints” (Rom 1:7), “called out of darkness” (1Pe 2:9), “called unto the fellowship of his Son” (1Co 1:9), among countless other spiritual blessings that exceed even what Abraham would have known.
God’s Eternal Provision
Hebrews tells us that Abraham “looked for a city” (Heb 11:10). Besides appreciating the Lord’s temporal and spiritual provisions throughout his life, he had his eyes focused beyond to an eternal provision. In the beginning of his walk with the Lord, he saw beyond Ur and its advanced culture. During his pilgrimage, he saw beyond his own nomadic life, amassed army and substantial treasure. Amidst the pagan nations surrounding him, he saw beyond their impressive civilizations to an eternal provision, to a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. His eternal perspective informed his walk of faith and regulated the use of all the temporal blessings he was provided. While most of our little lives won’t scale to Abraham’s significance in God’s purposes, this eternal perspective is essential and invaluable to every believer. It gives us the proper understanding of how to use now the temporal and spiritual blessings that the Lord has given us, and points us on in hope to the eternal provision to which they are directly connected!
Let the wonderful name of Jehovah Jireh encourage you to reflect on and to engage in all the Lord’s provisions for you today and to look expectantly toward all that are to come.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
