Do you believe God will provide?

The morning dawned grim.  Still needing time to process the days to come, Abraham let his teenage son sleep a little longer.

As he went through his mental checklist of all that he would need for this assignment, he thought back through God's words to him over the years…

Go to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation.
To your offspring I will give this land.
Number the stars … so shall your offspring be.
I will be their God.
I will bless your wife and give you a son by her.

And then there was the birth.  What sacred ground!  His wife, so old, barren by any standard, through the pain of childbirth brings forth a son, his son.  His son.

And now this.  God's word as clearly as it always has been.  But so hard.  But it's not like God hasn't told him to do hard things in the past.  Leave you home.  Send out Hagar and Ishmael.  Leaving home was hard, but sending out Hagar and Ishmael.  That was really hard.  But neither of those compared to this.

"Isaac, it's time to get up.  We have a journey to make.  We are going to worship."

Through the wilderness toward Moriah Abraham, Isaac, and two of their servants walked.
As they walked, Isaac and the servants joked, but Abraham was serious, pensive.  Together they cut the wood for the burnt offering.

As they cut and worked together, Abraham prayed silently.  "God, I am obeying you.  And though your word doesn't seem to make sense, I'm obeying you.  And I trust that this offering will not end in death.  I'm trusting you."

"There's the place, Isaac.  There's the mountain where we will worship."

The joking quieted down as both fatigue and Abraham's demeanor settled among them all.  Finally they arrived at the base of the mountain.

"Isaac and I will go worship.  You stay here with the donkey.  And when we have worshipped, we'll come back to you."

We'll come back to you.  

Abraham loaded up his son, the son of promise, with the wood that would be his pyre, if things went as they seemed.  He took in his hand a lighted torch and the knife he would use to sacrifice his son.

Father and son walked together.  "Father, you have the fire and I have the wood, but where is the lamb?"

"God will provide."

God will provide.

They reached the place of offering.  Isaac watched as his father built the altar.  And as he laid the wood on top, Isaac came to understand.  He would be the burnt offering.  He would be the lamb.

And in those moments, Isaac thought back over the stories his parents had told him.  Of God speaking directly to his father.  Of promise, and hope, and nations, and destiny.  Of angels, and laughing, and a brother he never knew.  And though this did not make sense, he chose to not fight his father, but trust that what he had heard all of his life was true.  God keeps his promises.  And God will provide.

And so this son of promise submitted himself as his father.  Bound, he lay on the altar.  He closed his eyes as his father raised the knife.

Abraham could not believe what he was about to do.  And yet he believed that somehow God would provide and they would go back down this mountain together.

And as he prepared to slaughter his son, God spoke.

"Abraham, Abraham!"

Abraham fell to the ground in relief, and tears, and worship.  And the knife clattered from his hand. "Here I am!"

"Do not kill your son.  You have acted in faith.  You have obeyed."

The emotion of it all shook Abraham's body. Isaac's eyes opened. This father, so willing to love God so deeply that it seemed as if he hated his son, pulled himself up from the ground and released his son, his son of promise.

And there, in the thicket, was God's provision.  A ram caught by his horns.  This was the the offering.  Thank you, Lord.

And so Abraham took the ram and slit his throat and offered this ram that God provided upon the altar instead of his son.

As the smell of the burnt offering rose to heaven.  Abraham turned to his son and spread out his arms.  "This place is the place of God's provision.  We will always remember.  We will always remember … The Lord will provide."

And together they worshipped.  And together they walked back down the mountain, back to their servants, back to their home.  God will provide.  Do you believe it?  

Can you hear the whisper of promise in this story?  How does this story give you hope that God will keep his promises even when it doesn't look like he's keeping them?  What does it tell you about faith and obedience?  Is there a situation in your life today in which you need to trust God although it just doesn't make sense?  Would you tell me about it?  

Abraham and Isaac came to know God as provider.  And a day would come when the greatest provision of all would be made.

You have joined us for Promise, a 25-day journey from creation to the cradle.  If you would like a Family Devotional Guide with questions to discuss around the dinner table, email me and I'll send it right out to you.  If you'd also like a template for ornaments to make "Jesse Tree," let me know that too.  My email address is cynthiafin@gmail.com.

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