“The Lord will provide.”
I’m a pastor’s kid, so I grew up knowing this reference. But it’s very different to go from knowing the reference and feeling the reference.
Many years ago, I was a young staff member at a church. It was a stretch for them to bring me on board. The small congregation experienced a few bad months of giving, and things were getting tight. I was getting worried about being laid off because I’d not experienced lean times while on a church staff.
I mustered all the courage I had. I took a deep breath. Then I asked my lead pastor if I should prepare to find another job. He was very surprised by this question. He grinned and said, “The Lord will provide. You don’t need to look for another job.”
He was so confident in the Lord’s ability. I relaxed (a bit).
And you know what?
He was right. The Lord provided, and I learned a great lesson.
Last week, we studied the story’s core with Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac on the altar to the Lord. This week, we start the epilogue to the story in Genesis 22:13-14.
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, New International Version
As the Lord told Abraham to stay his hand to spare Isaac, the Lord also provided the acceptable sacrifice. A ram had gotten caught in the thicket and was ready for Abraham.
In English, we see the word “provide.” In Hebrew, the word translated as “provide” is a form of the verb “to see.” But it’s not referring to vision. It’s the way we might say, “See to it that you pay attention.” It is an idiom referring to taking care of all the details.
Abraham names this place “The Lord takes care of all the details.” Isn’t that beautiful? It’s not just that He provides—that would be a blessing itself! But it’s more. The Lord cares for all the details of our lives.
The Lord had that ram be born and raised. It found its way up to the mountain, where it got caught by its horns. Think about that. Long before Abraham made this journey, the Lord prepared the ram.
It reminds me that the Lord already had the solution before Abraham had the problem.
Dear one in Jesus, He still cares about the details of our lives. He still provides the rams before we’re even heading up the mountain.
You can trust Him, even as you walk up the mountain of a trial.
Life Meets Theology 