Jehovah-JirehSample

Abrahams’s obedient response to the test was rooted in his faith in God. 

As Abraham and Isaac are walking together to the place of sacrifice, Isaac asks a heart-wrenching question of his father: “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” We the readers know that ironically Isaac himself is that lamb, but Abraham responds simply, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:7-8). What does Abraham mean by this? 

Does Abraham believe that there is an exit plan and that at the end of the day God will allow him to hold on to his blessing? On the contrary, the writer of the letter to Hebrews argued that Abraham fully believed he would have to sacrifice his only son, but that even in the face of this sacrifice he had faith in the God who is able to raise people from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). 

In other words, Abraham’s obedient response arises out of his faith in the character of the God he has come to know. Abraham knows, through the eyes of faith, that Jehovah is a covenant-keeping God, and even if his actions mean the end of the blessing, he will still obey God. Abraham stakes out the same position that Job did in the midst of his losses: 

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

The end result is that this covenant-keeping God that Abraham has faith in and obeys completely, reveals Himself as Jehovah-Jireh as He provides, in the place of Isaac, a ram for the sacrifice (Genesis 22:13-14). Abraham has passed this test and it is clear that he loves the One who blesses even if he loses the blessing: 

“Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12).

All of us have our own Isaacs in our lives, and we must learn, as Abraham did, that we cannot hold on to Isaac and still get God as Jehovah-Jireh. As we learn to relinquish our Isaacs through an obedience rooted in faith, we will come to desire and worship the God who is alone our Provider. In so doing, we will come to know that His name is Jehovah-Jireh. 

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