God Will Provide

Read Genesis 21-23

The messenger said, “Don’t stretch out your hand against the young man, and don’t do anything to him. I now know that you revere God and didn’t hold back your son, your only son, from me.” Abraham looked up and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the dense underbrush. Abraham went over, took the ram, and offered it as an entirely burned offering instead of his son. –Genesis 22:12-13 (The Common English Bible)

The Lord did just as he said he would. He blessed Abraham and Sarah, both well past child-bearing years, with a biological son of their own. They named him Isaac. Later, God promises that all of Abraham’s descendants will be traced through Isaac. The future looks bright for both Isaac and his parents.

Then God comes to Abraham and tells him to take Isaac and go to the land of Moriah to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. I can’t imagine God ever asking such a thing of a parent, but Abraham doesn’t seem to flinch. He gets the donkey harnessed, collects some wood for the fire, enlists a couple of men to go with him, and sets off with Isaac to the place that God will reveal. When Abraham identifies the place where the sacrifice is to take place, he instructs the servants to wait behind while he and Isaac go up on the mountain to worship and says, “Then we will come back to you.”

I find that to be an interesting statement from someone who is about to offer up his son as a burnt offering. It would appear that Abraham trusts that God will somehow provide. This trust wasn’t automatic, I’m sure, or without concern, but was borne out of faithfully walking with and waiting for God to act. Abraham even tells Isaac that God will provide “the lamb” for the offering. I guess Abraham had confidence that the God who had provided him with a son would provide for him again.

Of course, we know that when Abraham bound his son and took his knife to kill him, the angel stops him. A ram has been provided in nearby thicket to be used for the sacrifice. In response to God’s provision, Abraham names the place “The Lord will provide.”

I can’t imagine God calling us to sacrifice a child (and it’s worth pointing out that God did not make Abraham sacrifice his son in this story). But I do know that God often calls us to difficult tasks that we would not or could not do without God’s help. And I do believe the adage that “God does not call the equipped, he equips the called.” I do believe that when faced with tough times and tough decisions, God honors obedience like the obedience displayed by Abraham. I do believe that God provides.

May God grant us the grace to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit today, to be obedient to whatever it is that God is calling us to do, and the assurance that God will provide what we need to be faithful.