The God who Provides

On Sunday mornings in the R&B Youth Group we have been learning about the different titles and names for God. Through scripture, God has introduced us to Himself as "Elohim--the creator," "El Shaddai--Almighty God, who keeps His promises," "YHWH--THE GOD WHO IS," God's personal name which He revealed to Moses at the burning bush. We hope that learning about the names through which God has made Himself known to us will help us better understand who He Is, and help us better relate to Him, pray to Him, worship Him, and understand who we are as His people.

Yesterday we talked about the "binding of Isaac" in Genesis 22--that well-known story of God testing the faith of Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his only son. One of the astonishing things about the story is that Abraham from the very beginning maintains the conviction that God will provide--that one way or another, by providing a substitute sacrifice or by going so far as to raise Isaac from the dead, God will keep the covenant He has made with Him to raise up a great nation through Isaac--even though God never mentions that He will provide a substitute! In fact, God is mostly silent throughout the story. From the opening lines: "Take your son, your only son, whom you love..." to the moment Abraham raises the knife, God does not utter a word. But through all of this, through what must have been three agonizing days of travel to the mountain, three sleepless nights filled with worry, Abraham maintains the conviction he has learned through long years spent walking with the God who has never before let him down: God will provide. And when the Angel of the Lord stops his hand just before he offers his only son, and he looks over and sees the ram that God has provided as a sacrifice in place of Isaac, Abraham names the top of that mountain the only fitting name he can think of: "YHWH-Jireh--the Lord will provide."

I think we probably all experience times like Abraham's three-day march to the mountain. Passages of time where the demands of life or the tasks God has given us seem to cut off any hope of a happy ending, and when God seems to have left us alone to walk the road by ourselves. This was the time for Abraham when the faith that had slowly taken root during all those years walking with the Lord was finally able to shine, and I think that it is during these times in our lives where our own experience with the God who will never leave us must carry us through.

The Good News is that Abraham's story has a happy ending, because far from deserting Abraham, God does provide for him, and God raises Him up through Isaac to be a great nation, just like He promised. And the Good News is that even when we feel alone and abandoned, God is right there with us, and in His good time He will provide for us as well. And one day we can also, along with Abraham--maybe in a hospital room, or at work, or in a relationship, or at home--name those places and moments in our lives where God has provided for us. The best News of all, of course, for Abraham and for us, is that the story was repeated--this time with a different Father and a different one and only Son. But this time the Father didn't look around for a ram caught in the bushes, but offered that Son so He could provide His ultimate gift--a restored relationship with Him and eternal life in heaven.