Jehovah-jireh. The Lord will provide.
I have always struggled with reading Genesis 22. The title of this passage is “Abraham Tested,” so even from the beginning I shy away. We, in a general human sense, don’t like to read about testing. We like to read about joyful stories, like the birth of Christ or the triumph of David over Goliath. Or we like to read about stories where God does big, amazing things – like keeping Jonah alive in the whale or asking Noah to load hundreds of animals onto an ark. We don’t like to think about this God – powerful, loving, creative in ways we can’t imagine – asking his servant to burn his only son as a offering. My God, who I surrender my life to everyday, asked Abraham to kill his son.
I used to be unable to wrap my head around that. I would read this story and become angry, sad, or just plain defiant – refusing to think about it and the implications it had for my life. But I reread this hard and wonderful story recently (as part of my mission to read the entire Bible this year), and I decided that I must pay attention to this tale, this part of my history.
The first thing I realized, in verse 5, was that Abraham told his men that he and Isaac would return to them soon after going to worship God. First off, Abraham calls what is about to take place (the sacrificing of his son) worship. Wow. He also tell his men that both he and his son will be returning. I don’t think that in this verse Abraham is lying to his men about what he truly thinks will happen in the next few hours. He is not trying to be ironic or sardonic. He has the faith to say that he and Isaac will return, and the servant’s heart to call what will happen on the mountain worship to his God.
Now, can you imagine his walk up the mountain? Can you imagine the way his heart dropped when he reached the summit, and there was no angel to stop him, no miraculous sign to deter his mission? The Bible has no record of anything out of the ordinary until this point, so I can just imagine a perfect, sunny day without any sign of God. Did Abraham question what God told him? Now can you imagine Abraham taking his time to build the alter, hoping every second for a sign, any sign. And he tied his son to the alter and pulled out his knife. And God spoke. Jehovah-jireh provided.
Now, I don’t know if Abraham was a type-A person like I am, or if he had a five-year life plan like I sometimes realize I make for myself, but I can tell you that, if he did, this wasn’t in it. In fact, God had promised him – make a covenant, even – that he would bless the nations though his son Isaac. So isn’t it a bit ridiculous that God ask him to sacrifice this miracle child? Can you imagine what people, if they found out, they would have said?
Yet God provided. He took Abraham on a path that no one saw coming, and that no one would have ever thought logical or possible. And we have three amazing outcome from this:
1. Abraham had faith that God would fulfill his promise, no matter what was asked of him.
2. Abraham’s faith was, more than likely, greatly increased. This is an assumption, but I know mine would be.
3. (And this is probably my favorite…) Isaac became God’ servant. He was probably more than old enough to remember the trip up the mountain and his father binding him gently to the alter. He might have even seen the knife his father pulled out to kill him. But he also remembered how God spoke to his father, and he didn’t question Him at all. Isaac served the Lord.
So I realized, when God asks me to do something crazy, I can find my strength in Jehovah-jireh. The Lord will provide for me in every circumstance, no matter how crazy other people might think I am, or how preposterous I think the task God is putting in front of me is. Even if it doesn’t fit into my idea of how I think God wants my life to go. Jehovah-jerih will provide, even if it is in the last moment.
Love, Lulee 