part 2 of “Jireh”
Last week, we looked at the story of Abraham and we focused on when his faith was tested. God had promised him a son and God came through on that promise. But then God told Abraham to take his son Isaac to a mountain and sacrifice him. Abraham did as God said. He took Isaac to the mountain and was going to sacrifice him until God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of Isaac. Abraham called the place Jehovah-Jireh or “the Lord will provide.”
As I look at this story again, there is something that is in this story that I have missed and maybe you have as well. This is because what we have missed isn’t explicitly stated in the story. Let’s look at this story again.
God tells Abraham to take Isaac to a mountain and sacrifice him. This is what the Bible says...
“The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.” - Genesis 22:3 NLT
This had to take a great amount of strength. Abraham was preparing for a trip in which he was going to sacrifice his son. He prepared the donkey. He prepared the wood for the fire. He got the servants he was taking with them ready to go. Also, he got Isaac ready. Can you imagine all of this?
I mean think about it. You are preparing for a trip in which you are taking one of your young kids somewhere and you are going to leave them there. They are not going to return with you. How much strength would you need to prepare for that trip? How much strength would you need to make that trip? Sometimes I need the reminder that the people in the stories of the Bible are real people and not just made up for a story to tell.
Faith takes strength.
God provided Abraham with the strength to take every step of that journey to the mountain. When Abraham wanted to quit, God gave him the strength to take another step. When Abraham wanted to turn back, God gave him the strength to keep going forward. God gave Abraham the strength to keep going forward even though he didn’t how this was going to end. Now I know Abraham knew what he was going to do when he got to that mountain, but he also knew that God was going to provide for him no matter what happened (Hebrews 11:17-19).
So like I said last week, maybe you are faced with a job loss. You know that the next step is to find another job so that you have income coming in again. But you may also have some savings built up and you can have a little bit of a cushion while you are searching for another job. You also know that isn’t going to last forever and you need God to provide something. So, it like you are walking toward that mountain of financial ruin if you don’t find a job soon.
God provides us with the strength to take another step even when we don’t understand. We may not know how our situation will end up and how God will come through for us, but He will. What we are going through may not make much sense to us, but God has a plan. We may be confused about why we are in the place we are in, but God will get us through. God provides us with the strength we need to keep going toward the mountain so that we can find what God has for us when we get there.
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