Jehovah Jireh, God Our ProviderSample

“Ready! Aim! Fire!!”

To demonstrate the effectiveness of the bullet-proof Kevlar vests that police officers are to wear in the field, police departments employ a rather unusual training exercise.

Trainers dress mannequins in bullet-proof vests, and expert sharpshooters fire rounds into the vests.

Trainees then inspect the mannequins. The vests invariably pass the test with flying colors, as the dummies are unscathed.

Then the real test comes. Trainers ask the officers, “Now, who wants to put a vest on and test how well it works on you?”

Any guesses on the response? NONE of the trainees are particularly enthusiastic about donning a vest and being shot at, even by expert sharpshooters!

Be honest, how many of us would be willing to be shot at, even if we were wearing bulletproof vests?

Listen, you can cover my entire body with bullet-proof Kevlar, then wrap me in body armor and chain mail, and lace all of that with bubble wrap and I STILL wouldn’t volunteer for that assignment!

Why? Because while it is one thing to say I have faith in the vests, it is quite another thing to put a vest ON and stand in the line of fire.

To put this another way; it is one thing to say we believe in God and it is quite another thing to trust Him when the bullets are flying!

I am pointing at a problem I call “Christian atheism.” How can a Christian possibly be an atheist?

The phenomenon sounds like a paradox because it is. We are Christians, but then at the first hint of trouble, we act like there is no God. WE FREAK OUT! We ROYALLY AND REGULARLY FLIP OUT! We say we believe God is real, but then we live like He isn’t. We trust Him for our eternal salvation, but then we act like He can’t handle our lives here on earth.

If we are honest, we ALL have moments like that. I’m not talking about the normal jitters or initial shocks we have upon receiving bad news. That’s normal.

I am talking about the deep despair we can fall into when circumstances threaten our security.

As we begin this reading plan, I have a question: how real is our faith truly?

Is what we believe as true in the trenches as it is at our church teas?

Over the next few days, we will look closely at Jehovah Jireh, God our Provider.

Jehovah Jireh challenges our Christian atheism. Today’s passage reminds us that we can trust God to provide for our needs and deliver us from our fears.