By Lisa Wilmore
Scripture to Ponder: And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Genesis 22: (12-14 KJV).
Often, individuals will wonder and stress about things that are totally out of their control. There may have been times when astronomical amounts of money were needed to help a loved one in a dire need, but persons were unable to provide what they needed. Individuals may have gone to friends and other relatives, loan officers at banks, finance companies or even pay day loan institutions, but always turned up empty handed. During the adventure of going from place to place to obtain funds to help the family member out, one may believe that all hope is gone. Well, my friends, all hope is never gone.
We serve a God that has it all and He is our provider. Trust Him!
One of my family members, recently, brought me a t-shirt with one of the names of God, JIREH, coated, largely in the front of it. My first impression was, “WOW!”-because the Name was large and eye-catching which would ultimately get the attention of whoever saw it. Due to the size of the letters, if someone saw the shirt and did not know what “JIREH” meant, they would be compelled to “google” or research the meaning of the word/name. Furthermore, when I saw it, I began to think about how God has provided for us.
In our aforementioned text, God tested Abraham’s obedience by asking him to sacrifice His only son, Isaac. Through this testing experience, Abraham learned a valuable lesson while revealing his obedience and commitment to God. When Abraham positioned his son to be sacrificed, God told him to “Lay not hand on the lad.” He provided a ram to be sacrificed instead of Abraham’s son. “Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh” (Genesis 22:14a); “Jehovahjireh-The LORD will provide.”
In the final analysis, God has provided everything we need when He sacrificed His Son, Jesus. The ram was a substitute for Isaac, Abraham’s son; in like manner, Jesus was a substitute that spared us from eternal death; instead we have eternal life. “Thank you, Lord, for Providing!”
