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The Lord Will Provide
What are you thankful for this year? Not just the quick, easy responses that first come to mind, but what is it that you’re truly grateful for in your heart? Because this year has been quite a journey, filled with all kinds of highs and lows. But even in a year like this we still realize how blessed we are, how God has richly provided for us. And we realize how even when times seem hopeless and even when we’ve messed up ourselves, God still provides.
That’s where I think we find Abraham in Genesis 22. The place is called Mt. Moriah, but after what happens here Abraham names it, “Yahweh Yireh,” meaning the Lord will provide, “For on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
See, Abraham was a man of exceeding wealth and prominence. God had provided for him abundantly throughout his life. But one day, God called Abraham to a journey. And it was a journey that would be long and arduous, filled with many highs and lows, but it was a journey that came with an incredible blessing. God promised, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing... and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3).
But as Abraham sets out on this journey, he is tried and tested, and time and time again it looks like this blessing is in great danger of failing. Remarkably though, even when it seems like all hope is lost and even when Abraham loses trust and messes things up himself, God still somehow provides each every time and moves Abraham closer to that blessing.
Until Abraham finally has a son, Isaac. And in Isaac were all the blessings of God wrapped up in one, the heir through whom all the other blessings would be fulfilled. And so, when God asked him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah you can imagine how that must have pierced his heart, knowing each step up that mountain was one step closer to losing his only son whom he loved. But in this last and greatest test, Abraham trusts in God. As the two walk up the mountain, Isaac asks, “Behold the fire, and the wood, but where is the lamb?” And in some of the most moving words in all the Bible, Abraham says to his son, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.”
Abraham had faith that just as God had always done before, God would come through again. He believed that if God had brought this blessing to life in the world, God could raise it up to life after death. He trusted that God is “Yahweh Yireh,” the Lord who provides. And God had abundantly provided for Abraham throughout his whole life, but now the one thing, the only blessing that really mattered was that on the Mount of the Lord, God would provide the lamb.
And so just when Isaac was stretched across the wood and the knife was about to pierce his body, God cried out to Abraham saying, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gn. 22:16). Then Abraham looked up to find a ram caught in the thicket to offer up to God in place of his son. So, God did come through! God did provide a ram as a substitute! However, up on Mt. Moriah, God didn’t provide the lamb like Abraham had promised... at least not for 2,000 years.
See, the same mount that Isaac walked up carrying the wood across his shoulders would one day be the mount that Jesus walked up carrying on His shoulders, the cross. And as Jesus was stretched across the wood, the nails about to pierce His body; no voice cried out from Heaven, no angels stopped the sacrifice, no substitute came to take His place! Because Jesus is the substitute. The cross was prepared for us but in our place God provided His only son, “The lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29).
And so, just as it was throughout the life of Abraham, God has abundantly blessed you and me beyond all measure. We have so much to be thankful for. But as we think about these blessings, we need to realize that none of it would matter at all if it weren’t for the Lamb. And like Abraham willing to give up his only son, we also must be willing to let go of even our most treasured blessings—willing to suffer and lose it all—willing to have nothing in this life; and still find hope, assurance, joy, peace, gratitude, and thankfulness in knowing that on the very same Mount of the Lord, God provided for us the Lamb.
