At a minister’s prayer meeting this past week, one minister began his prayer by saying, "God, I am angry with you." It was really a very refreshing prayer because it was so real. We all feel that way at times.
In light of life’s difficulties many of you may wonder sometimes whether God really cares about you. All of us have difficult situations we must face. All of us have needs about which we earnestly pray. We ask God to meet our needs and the needs of others. We seek God’s provision for our lives. And sometimes we ask why God isn’t responding the way we want Him to. Is God personally involved with our lives? Did God merely create the universe, set it spinning off into space, and then become involved in something else? Or is He available to each one of us here and now? Does God just know our needs, or will He meet our needs? All of us struggle to answer these questions.
The Bible reveals God as our provider. On the pages of Scripture, He is portrayed as the One who sees and cares for all of our needs. We hear about how the very hairs on our head are numbered. We hear of His concern and notice of one sparrow who falls to the ground. The pages of Holy Scripture are replete with stories of God coming through for people again and again. The three Hebrew children are delivered from the fiery furnace. Daniel is delivered from the lion’s den. David is delivered from the giant Goliath. Gideon and the remnant are delivered from their enemies. And so it goes.
"But what about me?" you say. "Will God come through for me? Sometimes He doesn’t do things when I think they need to be done. I’ve asked God for things that He hasn’t given me. I’ve prayed and apparently He hasn’t heard me, or at least, He hasn’t answered me yet."
Perhaps the message of our text will answer some of the questions you have. It is the story of Abraham offering Isaac, his son, to God as a sacrifice. In this story, God reveals Himself as the God who provides. It is an incredible story filled with great pathos as we see Abraham offering his beloved son. We struggle with the very idea of it. Our hearts are torn as we try to conceive of how we would respond in such a situation. But it is a story with a singular point — God provides. Let’s look at it together.
This text reveals that God came to Abraham in order to test Abraham’s faith. He commanded Abraham, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." (22:2) I cannot imagine what emotions must have surged through Abraham’s heart. We get some idea of how special Isaac was in God’s description of him. God called him, "your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love." This was Abraham’s heir. This was the son of promise. This was the son through whom a multitude would be brought to birth. This was the son through whose seed the whole earth would be blessed. But more than that, this was Abraham’s son, the son he loved. Now Abraham was being commanded to offer him back to the God who gave him. When the Scripture says that "God tested Abraham," it is indeed an understatement. This was truly a test. I cannot even imagine considering such a thing. But God placed His finger on the most valuable thing in Abraham’s life and called for it. Did Abraham love Isaac more than he loved God? Was that what this test was all about? Perhaps in part, but I believe there was much more to this test than that.
You see, God had, throughout Abraham’s life, been revealing Himself as the God who would provide for Abraham. When God first encountered Abraham, he called Abraham to leave his family and his home, and to follow God to a new place — God’s place. Would Abraham trust Him? Abraham did, partially. He left Ur of the Chaldees, but he took his father with him, settled in another place until his father died, and then proceeded on with his relative, Lot. Through all of this, God was trying to teach Abraham how to believe in His provision.
God promised Abraham an heir. But then God waited for years without fulfilling that promise. Would Abraham trust God? He did, partially. But he also tried to help God fulfill God’s promise. He and his wife devised a scheme whereby Abraham would bring forth an heir through Sarah’s handmaiden. Thus, Ishmael was born. But that was not the child of God’s promise. God said that He would, through Abraham and Sarah, bring forth an heir. This was a lesson in trusting God’s provision for them. Finally they saw that promise fulfilled in the birth of Isaac.
Now, God was asking Abraham to give up the son who was the very answer to his prayers. It must have seemed illogical, but then, what had seemed logical was not always God’s will. Had Abraham learned to trust in God’s promise more than in his own logic? Had he learned that if he would trust in God’s word, God would take care of all his needs? This, I believe, was the real test Abraham faced. It was a test of faith. Hebrews 11 summarizes these lessons.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. (Hebrews 11:1-12)
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. (Hebrews 11:17-19)
Abraham had come to the place in his faith where he trusted that God was even able to raise Isaac from the dead. God would provide. Abraham had come to believe this.
So Abraham took Isaac and his servants on a three-day journey to Mount Moriah. At the foot of the mountain, Abraham told his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." (22:5) You can see in Abraham’ statement the exercise of his faith. Knowing that he fully intended to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, he had the faith that they, somehow, would return together. So Abraham and Isaac proceeded up the mountain. As they walked, Isaac inquired of his father, "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Notice what Abraham says in verse 8. "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Then they reached the place of the offering. Abraham built the altar, arranged the wood, bound Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham took in his hand the knife he had brought, raised his arm with the full intention of plunging the knife into the body of his son to kill him. As he was on the verge of doing just that, the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham. In verses 12-13 we read, "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. In verse 14, Abraham called the name of that place "Jehovah-Jireh," or "The LORD Will Provide."
Notice the characteristics of God’s provision: God provides the right thing. In this case, it was a ram, but it was precisely what Abraham needed. God had called upon Abraham to make a sacrifice. He had asked for Abraham’s son, Isaac. Abraham had been obedient. He not only thought he believed God, he truly believed God. And he showed that faith through his actions. But God had stayed His hand. Now Abraham needed a substitute for the sacrifice. And a ram was provided by God, caught in the thicket. It was the very thing needed. Nothing else would have sufficed.
God provided what Abraham needed, and so God will provide the right thing for us. He is still Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord our provider. He will meet our deepest need for His greatest glory. The God who made us is able to take care of us. We will not lack for our true needs to be met.
But are we really clear about our true needs? So often, we ask God for things we think we need. But are they truly what we need? When we assume that we know our deepest needs, I believe we assume too much. Certainly we know our needs far better than other people. But because we live with us and are so involved with ourselves, sometimes we ascribe to ourselves needs which are merely wants. Part of the process of trusting God in prayer for our needs is to allow Him to reveal to us what He considers our needs to be. We should learn to trust that the all-wise God who loves us will take care of us in what will prove to be for our greatest good.
Look with me at another Scripture - Ephesians 3:20: "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think..." (NAS) This is not only a description of God’s ability, but His desire to work on our behalf. Like Abraham, the apostle Paul had become confident in God as the God who provides. Look at how he expressed that in the Scripture. He could have said that God is able to do some of what we ask. But he didn’t. He said God is able to do anything that we ask, "all that we ask." But he didn’t stop there. We may ask for certain things, but we would like to ask for more. We can think of far greater things to ask for than we have the courage to ask for. But Paul even includes them. He said God is able to do "all that we ask or think." But he didn’t stop there. He goes on to say that God is able to do more than that. God is able to do "beyond all that we ask or think." That is great! It is certainly enough. But Paul didn’t stop there. He said that God is able to do "abundantly beyond all that we ask or think." WOW! But he didn’t stop there. He said that God is able to do "exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think." Do you get the sense that God can provide just the right thing for you? There is nothing God cannot do for you. You can believe it!
But there is another important characteristic of God’s provision. God not only provides just the right thing, He provides it at just the right place. He provided for Abraham a ram — the right thing, but He provided it on the Mount of God, the right place. You see, this was God’s place. It was the appointed place of God’s provision. It was the place to which He had to bring Abraham in order to bless Him. God had Abraham where He wanted him. And at that point, He made His provision real to him.
God provides for us as well, but only when we are at a place where we are willing to receive. You see, sometimes we are not willing to receive. And in order for God to work that in us, many times He must bring us to that place by a variety of circumstances. That is what happened in Abraham’s life. Why should we expect it to be different in ours?
Sometimes, because of various circumstances and situations in our lives, various difficulties and sins, our hearts can grow hard. At times we come to the place where we are not willing to receive from the Lord, especially if He is trying to speak to us something we do not want to hear. We have placed ourselves back on the throne. We have exalted our opinions above the direction God is trying to provide. We think we know the will of God, but it is really our will that’s in the way. When we find ourselves in that place, God has to bring us from that place to a far different place. Just as He did to Israel when He brought them out of bondage from Egypt and into Canaan, he has to lead us out in order to bring us in. He has to deal with us to bring us to the place where we are willing and able to receive His provision for our lives.
You see, God only blesses those who are open to His blessing. If you want to shut your life to the blessing of God, He will allow you to do so. It’s not that the blessing is not there for you. God desires to bless you. It’s just that He will not force Himself upon you. If you want to go your way, do your own thing, be your own boss, trust in your own bank account, trust in your own intelligence and wisdom, then He will let you do so. He does so out of His mercy. He knows all of that will fail. And He desires for you to become so frustrated in doing your own thing that you will turn your heart back to Him and open your heart again to the possibilities of God.
Are you at that place where God can bless you? Are you at that place where God can provide just what you need? Are you open to the possibilities of God for your life? Are you open to the leadership of the Lord? Are you in charge or is He? God desires to bless you. Let Him. Surrender yourself to Him. He will provide just the right thing at just the right place.
Another characteristic of God’s provision is that He provides just the right thing, at just the right place, at just the right time. Abraham had bound his son, placed him on the wood, raised the knife, and it was at that moment that the angel of the Lord spoke to him. The knife was about to fall. If God had waited, it would have been too late. But there is no "too late" for God. We may wait too late, but God is never too late. In fact, He’s never even late.
Now you may be thinking, "Well, God is late. I prayed for things and months went by without an answer or even an acknowledgement. I’ve prayed for things and the answer didn’t come when I needed it to come. As far as I’m concerned, God has been late."
Sometimes we fail to understand that God has never committed Himself to our timetable. In the case of His promise to Abraham of a son, ten years went by without an answer. But God knew what He was doing. He, who had made the promise, was thoroughly committed to honor that promise. But He would do it on His timetable, not anyone else’s. Just as sometimes we don’t know our true needs, we don’t have the time right for the meeting of those needs. We are much like our own children. We want things far before we are able to handle them. And sometimes God may push us past what we think we can bear. In fact, there are times when we must get to the end of ourselves in order to see the beginnings of His grace.
What we need to see clearly is that God is working out His purpose in our lives. It is His plan for us which is important. God is not here to cater to us. Rather, we’re here to fulfill God’s eternal plan. The good news is not that we have a wonderful plan for our lives and God will help us to accomplish it; but that God has a wonderful plan for our lives. He knows what we need, where we need it, and when we need it. And He will never, ever be late.
Our memory is sometimes very short. Many of us could testify concerning God’s provision for our lives, how God met a need at just the right time, with just the right thing. But how soon we forget God’s goodness. He is Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides. You can count on it. You can say it confidently. Romans 8:32 says, He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? We can say it confidently and we can also say it expectantly. We can agree with Abraham who, it says in Hebrews 11:11, "considered him faithful who had made the promise." We can trust in Him. If He said it, He will do it. And we may boldly say with the Scriptures, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid." Trust Him today with your special need. And as you do, trust in this promise, Philippians 4:19 says, "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
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