God is our provider. It’s a statement that we sing about, that we
confess, that we preach about, and that we testify about. There are innumerable songs that praise God
as God Our Provider, that He is Jehovah Jireh.
We’re going to dig a little deeper into the scripture, so that when we
praise God as being our Provider, it’s not just some cliché that sounds good,
or because we heard it sung in a song.
Throughout the history of the Bible, and throughout man’s entire
existence, God has clearly demonstrated that He is a provider. There are Scriptures that attest to this, as
well. And we will get into those
scriptures soon. So when we are done, we will have an even greater
understanding of what it means to confess Jehovah Jireh.
Let’s
look at our main scripture, Genesis 22:1-14. We see a faithful Abraham being obedient to
God, and Abraham is preparing to sacrifice his son. Now you know that this could not have been an
easy decision for Abraham. Not too many
people will willingly sacrifice their own children because God told them
to. The Bible only says Abraham “bound
Isaac and laid him on top of the wood.”
You see, Isaac knew that a sacrifice was going to take place. Earlier on in the chapter, he even asks his
father about the ram, and Abraham simply answered that God will provide. I can’t even imagine the horror that must
have come across Isaac’s face when he realized that, for the moment, HE was to
be sacrificed! I’m sure that Isaac
didn’t lie down on that altar willingly, and I would use my sanctified
imagination and envision Isaac putting up quite a struggle! Wouldn’t you?
If your parents told you to prepare for a burnt-offering sacrifice, and
then it became apparent that YOU are the sacrifice, I know you wouldn’t just
jump on the altar and prepare to be cut and set on fire.
Also,
remember that this was the son that God had promised would be Abraham’s
heir! This was the son that was given to
Abraham and Sarah as a supernatural promise, because both of them were along in
years. And yet, Abraham was preparing to
sacrifice his son. Abraham didn’t
question God’s wisdom, and he had secured Isaac in place, and had the knife
ready! He was prepared to do what had to
have been painful for him to do, when the angel of the Lord stopped him. And after God saw that Abraham was not going
to hold anything back, including his own son, He provided the ram for the
sacrifice. I remember Rev. (Jamel) Williams
saying that the ram was more than likely there all the time, especially since
its horns were stuck in bushes. But that
ram was out of Abraham’s NATURAL vision, because he was relying on the
SUPERNATURAL vision of God! And through
Abraham’s act of faith, God allowed him to release his son and sacrifice the
ram. After which, Abraham named that
place “Jehovah Jireh”, which means “The Lord Will Provide.”
Now,
the Hebrew word “Jireh” is derived from the Hebrew word “raah”, which means “to
see.” In the case of this scripture, it
is translated to mean “provide.” We know
that God is omnipresent and omniscient, and He knows the end at the beginning. Even if Abraham didn’t know how this event
was going to turn out, he trusted God!
He trusted that God will provide a sacrifice in one form or another and
that faith carried him through. Abraham
experienced the power that God provides firsthand! And remember, this is not the first time that
God has provided for Abraham in such a profound and supernatural way. Remember, in Genesis 17, God promises Abraham
that he will be the father of many nations.
God promised that Abraham, being 100 years old, and Sarah, being ninety,
will become parents! Abraham even tried
to use natural logic to “reason” with God, asking about Ishmael becoming his
heir. Ishmael, the Scripture tells us,
was Abraham’s son through Sarah’s servant.
But God works in the realm beyond our logic and reasoning! And the Lord had a SPECIFIC PURPOSE in mind
for His people! He had a specific
purpose for both Abraham AND Sarah! God
provided Abraham with Isaac, who would become the father of many nations! God didn’t say “Yeah, Abraham, you have a
point. You’re both old, and Ishmael is
already here, so I’ll let you use Ishmael as an heir. We’ll go with that.” When Abraham told Sarah, she had a natural
reaction, in that she laughed to herself.
She had her doubts, but God had an answer for her. He had an app for her doubts! He heard her laughing to herself, and he put
it to her in no certain terms! He told
her directly in Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” We may think that something is impossible,
but God already sees it done! We may
think that a mountain is too difficult to climb, but God has spiritually
already placed us at the top! We may
think that the walls are closing in, and there is no escape, but God has
already provided a way out! Nothing is
too hard for Jehovah Jireh!
When
we study the Word, we see plenty of examples of God operating as Jehovah Jireh,
the Lord Will Provide. Right at
Creation, He provided Adam with a mate, so that they may go forth and multiply. Another example is Noah. The Bible tells us the early chapters of
Genesis that Noah was highly favored in God’s sight. And as such, Noah will be spared God’s
wrath. Noah didn’t have any
ship-building experience, but God provided him with the description, or a
blueprint, if you will, of the kind of ship that Noah will need so that his
family and the animals will be spared.
Noah built his ark, even though he was being mocked. Noah didn’t know how things were going to
turn out, but he served a God that did!
Noah knew that even if he didn’t know what was going to happen, he
served a God that knew! Noah stood on
faith that there was an answer that was going to be revealed! He didn’t doubt God, and followed the Lord’s
instructions to the letter. This
obedience spared Noah and his family, and was clearly a demonstration of God
being a provider.
God
has provided Joshua with a supernatural way to obtain victory in conquering the
city of Jericho. Rather than rely on
physical strength or military might, Joshua followed specific instructions
given by God Himself. Those instructions
didn’t depend on how powerful the opposition was, or how fortified the city
was. They didn’t depend on how large
Joshua’s army was, and whatever weapons he had at his disposal. In order to conquer the land, Joshua had to depend
on God’s instructions, and then watch the power of God work! And when you think about it, how many of us
have thought that we knew how to tell God to do his business? God gives us specific instructions, and we
put Him on a shelf, as if to say “Nah, Lord… I got this!”, and the moment we
try to do things OUR way, things go sideways, backwards, upside-down and inside
out!
God
provided an escape for Lot and his wife when Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be
destroyed! He provided freedom for the
children of Israel, who were held in bondage in Egypt! When Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den
for refusing to worship a false idol, God provided for Daniel’s safety! When Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were
thrown into the furnace, and after that furnace was heated to a point where it
actually killed one of the servants, God provided His safety, His protection,
and His very presence in that furnace, and these men escaped the furnace
unscathed. He provided for King David,
despite David’s faults! And the Lord
provided the people of Israel with judges to deliver them from their sin and
being conquered by their enemies!
God
being a provider does not stop there! He
provided for all of his prophets in the Old Testament, and he provided for the
Apostles in the New Testament. The Lord
provided a way for Peter to walk on water!
The Lord provided a way to feed 5,000 men, plus women and children, with
a few loaves of bread and a few fish!
The Lord provided a way for the apostles to escape from prison when it
was necessary, and even when they didn’t, it provided an opportunity for Peter
and Paul to witness to the prison guards!
You
see, here is the thing. Whatever God
provides us with, it isn’t something random, and it certainly isn’t anything
that will be impossible for us to do!
Remember what God told Sarah: “Is
anything too hard for the Lord?”
Whatever it is that God provides us with, he will give us a little
insight into that provision before it manifests itself. When God gives us an assignment for His
kingdom, when he has a specific task for us to play in Kingdom building, In other words, when God gives the vision, he
will give the provision! God giving His
people the vision to see His will be done is probably one of the most powerful
things that God provides all of us with!
We have to use our faith to tap into the vision that God provides,
because scripture tells us that “without a vision, the people perish.”
God
provides a vision for his people so that WE can rest in the assurance that
God’s word does not come back void! There
have been times where God’s people were reluctant to carry out God’s words,
because they felt that they were not worthy!
For example, the prophet Isaiah felt that his unclean lips were not
worthy of being in the presence of the Lord, but the Lord, through one of the
seraphim, cleansed Isaiah so that he can say “Here I am, Lord! Send me!”
And Moses, when he was called, expressed his reluctance. He felt that he wasn’t eloquent enough to
deliver a word from God. He felt that he
didn’t have the right words to use, and that he possibly had a speech
impediment and all that. Even with
Moses’ reluctance, God provided for him, by letting Aaron by the spokesman,
while Moses performed the miraculous acts!
So we see that when God wants us to do something for the Kingdom, it
WILL happen, if not through us, then some other vessel. God will always provide a way to assure that
His word does not come back void… ALWAYS!
Now
we know that God has not only provided for heroes of the faith! He provides for you, and he provides for me,
in so many ways. But I believe that sometimes,
we treat God like His purpose is to grant our wishes. Let’s clear the air right now. God is not a sugar daddy, and He is not a
genie! God isn’t in the “make a wish”
business, and we shouldn’t come to God with our “wishes.” Yes, He DOES provide us with things! He has provided us with some material
possessions, like a house, a car, a job, and what have you. But you know what? All of those THINGS are given to us so that
we can give HIM the glory! When we get
that new job, or that new set of wheels, the express purpose of it is to serve
the Kingdom with it! Of course, we have
to pay our bills and what have you, but overall, whatever God gives us is for
the purpose of Kingdom-building!
Now,
here is where some of us get it twisted.
Like I said, God isn’t here to grant our wishes. Yes, the Bible does teach that we don’t have,
because we don’t ask. But I think that
we stop at just asking for the physical things!
Psalm 37 says “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the
desires of your heart.” But when we
REALLY delight in the Lord, the desires of our heart grow beyond a new
car. When we TRULY delight in the Lord,
the desires of our hearts move from just a new raise. That’s why Jesus Himself teaches us in
Matthew 6:33 to “…seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.”
That’s
why the physical things that God blesses us with barely even scratch the
surface of God’s infinite grace and mercy!
And the sooner that we recognize this, the sooner that we can really
advance in Kingdom-building! Jesus tells
us not to store our treasures on Earth, because they can be destroyed or
stolen. Jesus tells us to store our
treasures in heaven, where it can’t be touched or harmed by man! He also says that wherever our treasure is,
that’s where our hearts are! So, if we
really want to get into God being our provider, we have to know where are
hearts are! Are our hearts focused on
that car, that house, or that job? Or
are our hearts focused on God and His love?
The thing is, material things can come and go. The job we have today can be taken out in an
instant. The car that we have can
disappear in a heartbeat. But the joy of
the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting!
Philippians
4:9 says “My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory
in Christ Jesus.” Notice that the
Apostle Paul isn’t talking about meeting a “want”! It’s up to us to know what we WANT and what
we NEED. We may WANT a new job, but we
may NEED some peace! We may WANT a brand
new car, but we may NEED some joy! We
may WANT a new house, but we may NEED God’s love! We may WANT people to like us, but we may
NEED the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit!
We may WANT to travel around the world, but we may NEED to go straight
to the throne room! When we are able to
walk away from the material things, and walk away from the things that don’t
matter, we can, as the song says, open the eyes of our hearts! We can stop chasing after things that don’t
matter, and focus on what we can do for the Kingdom! Hey, we may even “need” our bills paid (and
who doesn’t), but what about the real need to do the will of the Father?
You
see how it all works together? When we
seek His face, and when we seek the Kingdom of God, we can better distinguish
between what we WANT and what we NEED, and then when we go to him in prayer, we
can ask for the REAL desires of our hearts!
We can ask Him to meet the need of giving us more time to pray,
meditate, and fast! We can ask Him to
meet the need of sending love to someone that needs it. We can ask Him to meet the need of sending
healing and forgiveness to someone on their sickbed. We can ask Him to meet the need of someone
who needs to come to Christ. We can ask
him how we can fulfill the Great Commission!
And when we do that, then we will really see how God provides for us,
according to His riches in glory.
But
when it really comes down to it, the greatest of God’s provisions have nothing
to do with physical things. Like I said
before, when we are blessed with material things, it barely scratches the
surface of how God provides for us. The
apostle Paul spoke about this in 2 Corinthians when God said to Paul “My grace
is sufficient for you.” God wanted Paul
to know that God’s power was manifest in Paul’s weakness! When we are at are weakest, God will do
miraculous things! When we stop looking
for man-made solutions, we can turn to the savior! His grace, and His mercy sustain us! There is nothing that we can EVER do to earn
it, but He freely gives it to us, day after day after day! That’s why we can read Psalm 121 and state
with CONFIDENCE that “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence
cometh my help. My help
cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” My help doesn’t come from the doctor! My help doesn’t come from job! My help doesn’t come from the government! My help… ALL of my help, comes from the Lord,
because of HIS grace and mercy! God uses
those conduits to help us when we need it, but make no mistake… the job, the
doctors, the occasional shot in the arm that we all need sometimes… it ALL
ultimately comes from God!
Even
though God tells us that His grace is sufficient, it doesn’t mean that his
grace and mercy are ALL that He provides us with. You see, God gives us peace. And the peace that God gives us isn’t the
kind of peace that’s brokered by treaties.
The peace that God gives isn’t dictated by man’s terms, and it’s not
negotiable. The peace that God gives us
tells us that we will be OK even when the storms are swirling! The peace that God gives us tells us that we
can have peace, even in the middle of conflict!
That’s what some people don’t get, and they believe that the peace that
can be written on treaties and contracts is sufficient. But we all know that treaties can be broken,
and war can break out in an instant. But
the peace of GOD can’t be measured by the experts! The peace of God isn’t based on a compromise
between two opposing factions. The peace
of God always was, always is, and always will be! That’s why the Bible teaches that the peace
of God surpasses all understanding! Even
in the midst of some of our greatest tragedies, both personal and national in
scope, we have always found solace in the sweet embrace of the Holy
Spirit! The peace that God gives us says
that even if we don’t know the answers, we know someone who DOES. Even if someone hurts us, the peace of God
helps us to heal, and to pray for those who stab us in the back, and to pray
for those who perceive us as their enemy.
But
that’s not all! As the old commercials
used to say, “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!”
Yes, there is even more that God has provided us with. God has provided us with the gift of the Holy
Spirit, as promised in John 14, and that gift was manifest to all mankind in
Acts 2. Because of this provision, we
have the Comforter who will guide us into all truths. Because of this provision, we can speak
boldly and proclaim God’s greatness!
Because of the Holy Spirit, God is able to reveal the mysteries of the
Gospel to all of us! Because of the Holy
Spirit, we have a real intercessor!
Romans 8:26 says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for
us through wordless groans.” And because
God has provided us with the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able walk in the
Spirit, and live by the Spirit! We are
also able and equipped to bear the fruits of the spirit, as mentioned in
Galatians 5. Because of the Holy Spirit,
we have the gift of discernment, to know what is God’s word and what
isn’t. Because of the Holy Spirit, we
have the inspiration and the creativity to use ALL of God’s gifts for the Body
of Christ. Whether it’s preaching,
singing, ushering, being hospitable, teaching, or serving in any capacity, the
gift of the Holy Spirit allows us to do ANY job for the Kingdom to the best of
our abilities, so that we can be open and receptive to even MORE that the Holy
Spirit has for us!
But I would
be remiss if I didn’t talk about the greatest provision that God has made for
us! Without this provision, we wouldn’t
even be here! Isaiah spoke about this
provision in the 9th chapter of Isaiah when he spoke about a child
being born, and this child will be called “ Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
John the Baptist spoke of this
provision when he said “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me
comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” God has already made a way for this
provision, since the beginning of time!
That’s why the Apostle John wrote that in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This provision was born of virgin, conceived
by the Holy Spirit! This provision was
in the temple with the elders at age 12.
This provision healed the sick, and he brought the dead back to
life! This provision walked on water,
and calmed the storms. This provision
was beaten mercilessly and crucified for our sins! This provision rose on the third day,
conquering death once and for all!
We
already know that I’m talking about the Son of Man! The Barefoot Nazarene! The Rose of Sharon! The Prince of Peace! The Lion of the Tribe Of Judah! The Messiah!
Yeshua Hamashiach! The one and
only begotten son of God the Father! Jesus
the Christ! God provided us with not
just anyone, but His own Son, so that we can have eternal life! God provided a way for sinners like me to be
reconciled with Him! We just celebrated
Christmas, and lots of us exchanged gifts.
But thanks be to God that He thought enough of us to give us the
ULTIMATE gift, the gift of a Savior!
Thanks be to God that even if we don’t get the Xbox 1 OR the GI Jerome
with the Kung Fu Grip, we have gift of the Light of the World! So
when we sing the praises of Jehovah Jireh, we are thanking God for providing a
bridge over troubled waters! For
providing us with a way out of no
way! For providing a strong tower! For providing a Chief Cornerstone! For providing a Deliverer! For providing the ultimate physician! For providing a Counselor!
Of
all of the things that God has provided us with, I’m especially thankful that
he thought enough of us to provide us with the Savior, the one true light,
Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
