One of the most dramatic stories in the Bible to me is the story of Abraham. Here’s a guy from a fairly well-off family in modern-day Iraq. He’s comfortable. Happy. But God – as He often does – interrupts this comfort, calling Abram (as he was then named) to “go to a land I will show you,” God said, promising descendants, land, and a blessing (Gen. 12:1-3).
Now what would you do if God showed up and said, “I want to you head generally west until I say stop”?
But Abraham was unique. He believed that God would deliver on His promises, and so Abram obeyed in faith, and headed west (Heb. 11:8). God tested Abraham’s patience, though. Sarah, his wife, saw her childbearing years come and go… but no child. Had God forgotten His promises? If Abraham was to become a great nation, it had to start with at least one child. You know the story, and you know that God provided. Isaac was born – the “child of promise.” Imagine how Abraham looked on his miraculous boy as he grew. I know how I watch my girls as they grow, as they learn things – I’m completely smitten. I can’t imagine Abraham’s feelings for a boy who – biologically-speaking – should not have been there.
Just as I can’t imagine how deeply Abraham treasured his only son, I also can’t imagine his feelings when God asked him to do yet another crazy thing:
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen 22:1-2)
Whatever form that awful command took, Abraham was certain it was from God. He got up early the next morning and set out. He didn’t hesitate. It’s a three-day hike to Moriah from where they were, though, so he had a lot of time to think about it. What did he talk about with his son? I imagine it was a quiet trip as Abraham battled his own mind and heart, trying desperately to make sense of God’s command. He apparently resolved the issue in his mind, a way through the nightmare, even if he couldn’t find a way out. The writer of Hebrews gives us a glimpse of what Abraham decided:
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Heb 11:17-19)
Back in Genesis 22, we read the horrifying details:
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. (Gen 22:6-10)
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we move directly from submission (“thy will be done”) to provision (“give us our daily bread”). Yet we reverse the order, don’t we? We ask for provision, and – if God provides, we think – then we’ll submit to His will for us. This is not how it was for Abraham. God promised, and so Abraham packed up and moved to a foreign land, trusting that God would provide. God provided a son… and then asked Abraham to give him back. When Isaac asked, “where is the lamb,” Abraham responded in faith: “God will provide.”
And God did provide. God stopped Abraham, and provided a substitute for Isaac: a ram caught in the bushes. Abraham called that place, “The Lord Will Provide” – Yahweh Jireh in Hebrew.
Almost 2000 years later, God would again provide a sacrifice. But this time, He would not stop it, because it would be His Son that He was providing. Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, would be the God-given substitute for you and me.
When we ask for God to provide our daily bread, we are acknowledging our need for His daily provision – and we have many needs. But in our neediness, we are also looking for the Provider – for Yahweh Jireh – to meet our ultimate need for forgiveness.
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” (Psalm 34:8)
The offered Christ is distributed among us. Alleluia!
He gives his body as food and His blood He pours out for us. Alleluia!
Draw near to the Lord and be filled with His light. Alleluia!
Taste and see how sweet is the Lord. Alleluia!
– Armenian Liturgy
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