JEHOVAH-JIREH: The Lord Will Provide
Scripture: Genesis 15:5-18; 22:7-14; Hebrews 11:17-19
Introduction:
The title of my message this morning “JEHOVAH-JIREH: The Lord Will Provide”. This will be the first of several messages focusing on the names of God. There are twenty-one different names that are associated with God and His attributes but I will focus on just a few in the coming weeks. This morning, in follow-up to my message last week on Psalm 23, I want to focus on God being our provider.
When I was a child still in school, my parents at the beginning of each school year would take all of us to the store to purchase our school supplies. This was a favorite time as this was one of the few times when we were able to get all new supplies. We would go from row to row in the store picking up different supplies based on what grade we were in and the supplies needed. We chose pencils, paper, folders, notebooks etc. With every choice that we made as a child, we did not consider if our parents could afford it – that was our parents’ job. Our job was to pick out the things we needed and not worry about how our parents would pay for them. You see, our parents were the “providers” for us and it was their responsibility to “provide” for our needs. They did this in this situation but also on a daily basis regardless of what need we had at any given time. Because we were their children they saw this as their responsibility because they were the ones who “chose” to bring us into this world. Well, as a Christian it is the same with God’s relationship to us. He “chose” us as His own and has taken on all of the responsibility of providing for us. This job role is expressed in the name JEHOVAH-JIREH.
I. JEHOVAH
Of the twenty-one names that were assigned to God based upon His attributes, ten of those names also included the name “JEHOVAH.” I want to briefly review this name just so you understand the root meaning of some of the other names I will cover in this series. The name JEHOVAH means “I AM – the One Who is the self-existent One.” It speaks to the fact that God has always been and always will be. He does not change and His promises never fail. Even when we are faithless, God is still faithful. This name was given based on Moses’ interactions with God where God explained to Him just Who He was. When God first called Moses to go deliver the Children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses was fearful and asked God how he should answer the people when they ask him what was the name of his God. God responded by saying “……I AM Who I AM….Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14) The key to understanding all of God’s names is to start with the knowledge that God is the “I AM”. Why is it important that we remember this? When I go somewhere and someone asks me who I am I tell them “I am Rodney Johnson.” This tells them nothing about me personally but just let them know how they should refer to me. This is not the case with God! God said that He was “I AM” – PERIOD! He is THE “I AM!” He exists within Himself and always has been. He was not created or formed; He has always been. My small mind does not understand every aspect of this, but I accept it because it is truth. So as we move through the names of God, think about “I AM” wherever you hear one of God’s names beginning with JEHOVAH. So let’s begin with JEHOVAH-JIREH.
II. JEHOVAH-JIREH
As you think on the name JEHOVAH-JIREH, consider this phrase: I AM JIREH!” This name originates with Abraham. While Abraham did not assign this name to God, he named the place where he was to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice this name. From this situation, which we will read about shortly, comes one of the attributes of God that all of us rely on today – that God will provide. Turn with me to Genesis chapter twenty-two and we will begin reading at verse seven. In this chapter Abraham was tested by God. I do not understand the mind of God and why He chose to do what He did, but He chose to find out if Abraham valued Him above all. In the story, God told Abraham to take His son Isaac whom he loved to land of Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering. Abraham did not question God or complain he just gathered Isaac up and headed out to the place God had told him. As they arrived at the place where he was to offer Isaac, Isaac noticed that Abraham had everything he needed for the burnt offering except the offering itself. Let’s begin reading at verse seven.
“And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering son.’ So the two of them walked together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’ Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the Lord, it will be provided.” Genesis 22:7-14
I want to point your mind to a few things before you judge God or Abraham too harshly because of this situation. First, God knew Abraham’s heart and knew what Abraham would do. Second, Abraham knew God and knew what He would do. You see, Abraham knew based on what God had promised to him that Isaac would not stay dead on that mountain. When Abraham was seventy-five years old, God told him to leave his father’s house and go where He would tell him to go (Genesis 12). When God called Abraham to leave his family He promised him that He would give him a lot of descendants. Those descendants would come through Isaac. Turn to Genesis chapter fifteen and let’s begin at verse five.
“(5) And He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’……..(13-14) And God said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve; and afterward they will come out with many possessions….. (17-18) And it came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Genesis 15:5; 13-14; 17-18)
Before God could fulfill this promise, Sarah became impatient and gave her handmaid Hagar to Abraham to bear a child for him in her stead. Abraham produced his firstborn son through Hagar but he was not the firstborn son of promise. He was the firstborn son that came through Sarah’s disobedience. (The world, some four thousand plus years later, is still dealing with the results of Sarah’s disobedience as these two nations continue to war against each other even today.) Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah and it was through his bloodline that God would fulfill the promise. Genesis 21:12 records “But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.”
When you study these verses you will conclude that Abraham had nothing to lose by sacrificing Isaac. Abraham knew that because God had made a covenant with him Isaac would come down from that mountain with him alive and well. Whether he offered Isaac as a sacrifice and God restored him to life or God stopped him from doing it altogether, Abraham knew that Isaac would leave that mountain with him to fulfill the promise that God had made about his life. There was no doubt in Abraham’s mind. Why was he so sure about this? Because God had made a promise to him and God NEVER goes back on His promises. So when Isaac asked Abraham about the lamb, Abraham responded by faith that God would provide for Himself the lamb for the sacrifice. Paul speaks of this in Hebrews chapter eleven when he wrote: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your descendants shall be called.’ He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type.” (Hebrews 11:17-19) Abraham knew for certain that Isaac would live because God would fulfill His promise through him. So when Isaac asked about the lamb for the sacrifice, there really was only one answer that Abraham could give Isaac and that was that God would provide His own because Abraham did not bring an extra one with him. As far as he was concerned, he was to sacrifice Isaac and then God would raise him up. Also, if God changed his mind once they got there, then God would provide His own lamb for the sacrifice.
III. Our JEHOVAH-JIREH
God made the promise to Abraham about his descendants when Abraham was seventy-five years old and it was another twenty-five years (when Abraham was 100 years old) before the promise was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac. Abraham lived another seventy-five years before he died. At the time of his death, Isaac was seventy-five and had been married to Rebekah for thirty-five years. Isaac and Rebekah at the time of Abraham’s death had two boys (Esau and Jacob) who served as the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. Abraham did not live to see the promised totally fulfilled as it related to all of his descendants, but he knew that God would do just what he said and it was counted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6) My point in sharing this with you is that God is our provider even though some of the things He has provided for us will not see seen by us. Our descendants will be blessed and reap the benefit of God’s provision for us because we are faithful to Him! I will let this sink in for a moment.
Last week I read to you what David said in Psalm 23. The very first verse says “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” After making that declaration, David spent the rest of this Psalm discussing what it was that God did for him that made him come to that conclusion. Everything that he talks about can be summed up in this name for God, JEHOVAH-JIREH, the Lord will provide. Everyone who comes to the Lord will be provided for. God has never promised to give us what we want in every situation, but He has promised to provide everything that we need. So when we are asked ‘How will you do this or that?’ we can answer truthfully “JEHOVA-JIREH or I AM will provide!” When our minds are so pre-occupied with what is going on around us that we cannot rest, we can call on JEHOVAH-JIREH and He will provide us with the peace of mind that we need as we begin to focus on Him. When I am driving down the road and I thought I had enough gas to make it just a little farther I called on JEHOVAH-JIREH and I AM provided. Now let me explain this last statement so none of you go out and intentionally see how far you can really go on a tank of gas. I have been in situations where I thought I had enough gas to get to a certain point on a trip only to find out that I might have miscalculated as I am driving in the middle of nowhere. That is when I called on JEHOVAH-JIREH to show me how to get to a place where I can refuel. I will tell you there have been several occasions when He spoke to me and said slow down below the speed limit and you will have enough gas to get to a station. Sometimes in His role as JEHOVAH-JIREH He calls on us to use our common sense – just an FYI. I could go on and on about what God provides for us but I know you already know this. But there is a point I want to leave you with this morning as it relates to JEHOVAH-JIREH.
When we think of God as our JEHOVAH-JIREH, we often focus on material things – those things that we need to exist in this life. We casually think about the emotional, mental, spiritual things aligned to this role. We do not always think about the health of our bodies or the clarity of mind that we have to function with on a daily basis. We do not think about the salvation that was provided to us through the death of His Son. We do not think about the sanctification that was provided to us making us righteous and called out versus being dirty and left out. We do not think about the thousands of times we have called on Him and shared our deepest secrets with Him and He provided a listening ear and gentle guidance.
As you leave here today, I want you to really think about all of the things that God provides you on a daily basis and then I want you to say, “Thank You God for being my JEHOVAH-JIREH!” And when you wake up in the morning I want you to say “I AM will provide for me today!”
May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
