fasting-empty-plate-10

YOUR AGENDA OR HIS?

The next redemptive name in our list (2 of 8) is “Jehovah Jireh”, which means “The Lord my Provider”.

JEVHOVAH JIREH
We get this name from the story of Abraham and Isaac found in Genesis 22:14. In short God promised to Abraham that He and his wife Sarah would bear a son and that through him their descendants would be as numerous as the sands on the sea shore. AND that there was a promised land waiting for them to inhabit when they become a nation. In their old age, when their bodies were ‘dead’, God awoken Abrahams seed and cause Sarah to be fertile. Out of this came their one and only son together. This son was the only way in which God’s word to Abraham could be fulfilled. All of Abraham’s purpose in all that he did through his entire life, was resting on the shoulders of this one baby. No pressure right. Then catch this many, many years later check out what happens in Genesis.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” – Genesis 22:2

Are you kidding me?!?! If he does what God says, Abraham’s whole purpose and that of the future nation of Israel would completely void out the promise that God Himself gave to him. How do you reconcile that one? Well Hebrews gives us some insight. It says:

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. Hebrews 11:17-19

Basically Abraham was saying: “God, I give you my agenda, my purposes, my thoughts and worries and everything that I have lived for up to this point. I am giving you my life and everything I care about. BUT, I know that your promises are always true, that you never go back on your word and I trust that somehow you will make it happen, even if you have to raise my only son from the dead. He was committed to everything the Lord asked Him to do, because he knew his God. And then when Abraham had his son on the alter and ready bring down the knife Genesis records this:

13 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. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” – Genesis 22:13-14

Abraham said that God would provide a lamb (Gen. 22:8), but instead He provided a Ram. Why? Because God would provide a lamb … 2000 or so years later on that very same mountain the “lamb of God”, God’s only son, would be sacrificed for the sins of the world and fulfill His promise to the world. What amazing, daring faith! But, it does raise one question that you can meditate on for the rest of the day.

Q. WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE, IN ORDER TO LET GOD PROVIDE?

Your hurts … identity … agenda … future … today … finances … time? What is it for you? Let this question marinate all day. What’s your answer?

Happy Fasting:)
P. Sean

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