The Lord Provides...
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As we journey through our reading, I am once again struck by the faith of Abraham. For years, I have prayed for God to give me and my family the faith of Abraham.
I now remember why I have prayed that for so long.
Abraham is the epitome of a faithful man.
He trusted God.
We can learn so much from Abraham.
The long awaited promise of a child was finally fulfilled through the birth of Isaac. Joy filled the new parents hearts. Although Abraham and Sarah were roughly 90 and 100 years old when the promise was fulfilled, they were thrilled none the less.
Imagine how Abraham must have felt when the Lord asked him to sacrifice his son only a few years later. As in, sacrifice him on an altar...to die.
Once again, we see the faith of Abraham shining through.
His obedience astounds me.
At the very last minute, as the boy is tied to the altar on top of some wood, God provided a ram instead of the boy for the sacrifice.
Abraham named the place where the sacrifice took place, Yawheh Yireh--The Lord will provide.
Take a sheet of paper and write that out. Yawheh Yireh.
Put it somewhere you can see it throughout the day.
It is so hard to believe this could be true some days. The pain, the loss, the lack....it overwhelms our faith.
Even the strongest of believers can get knocked right off their feet when trials come. Things seem like they will never ever be okay again.
Abraham surely felt this.
Surely, he must have begged and pleaded with the Lord to save his son. The son that was promised to him. Now, God was taking him away?
Yet, Abraham trusted God's plan more than he trusted his own.
Whew.
What if we could had that same faith?
No matter what the circumstance, surrendering it all to God, and trusting Him with the outcome.
Not too long ago, one of my teenagers said to me, "Mom, I think I have a control issue. When things don't go my way, I get angry and upset. I wish people could just do what I wanted them to do. Is there medicine for this?"
I tried hard not to giggle. I knew all too well exactly what this child meant. I loved the honesty in the pondering though, and I sure can learn from it.
We have a tendency to want to control outcomes. We want to write the story.
We don't trust that God will really provide what we really need.
Read Abraham's story again.
Put yourself in his shoes. Hard as it is to imagine...
When we give it all to Him, He provides.
When we hoard, when we covet, when we try to re-write the story....it only prolongs His will and His provision for us.
When we surrender. When we put that thing/desire that we are smothering to death on the altar, and surrender it to Him...
He Provides.
Yahweh Yireh.
Can we be honest with the Lord today about our needs and desires?
Can we admit our desire to control outcomes, people and situations?
Surrender to Him today.
Lay it all on the altar.
Watch and wait for Him.
Yahweh Yireh.
You can trust His plan.
His story is better than ours. Give Him back the pen.
He will Provide,
jill
