Sometimes I forget that the stories in the Bible were real....real people....with real feelings and real emotions. I hate when I read the Bible without that thought in my head....it makes it all seem so meaningless. But when you remember that there are real feelings there....it makes it all so beautiful.
My devotional today is in Genesis 22:1-14 and I stand amazed at this story. I'm sure you all know it...that one where the man who would inherit the nations, the father of many generations...the man of great faith and great obedience...the man who received more than just a brief mention in Hebrews 11 also known as the Hall of Faith...Abraham.
Abraham was a blessed man and at a very old age he received Isaac...the son he was waiting for...he was promised. Years later, when Isaac was old enough to understand life and carry all of the wood for the burnt offering the Lord had asked of Abraham, Isaac and his father walked up to the place God had told them and then....it began.
Isaac asks his father, "We have flint and wood, but where's the sheep for the burnt offering?" and Abrahams response is this, "Son, God will see to it that there's a sheep for the burnt offering." I read this over again....there is so much emotion left out of this. In the novels we read today it seems like every bit of emotion is put in them so we can really see how the character was feeling. Well this isn't rocket science. Here is a father who has been asked to sacrifice his only son. Did you just get the picture? I picture Abraham distraught...tears welling, heart pounding because although he loves his son with all of his heart...he loves God more. The covenant that started with Abraham was filled with promises to him and the only thing God required of Abraham was to obey him. Of course all of us can say, "yes we will obey God"...but do we when He asks things that seem impossible to follow through with? Abraham had his son tied up on the altar, ready to put a knife to him to end his life.
The bible says that Isaac was old enough to understand the offerings and old enough to carry the wood for the offering. So I can imagine we has old enough to kind of fight back to his father...but it doesn't mention that he did. Maybe he did but I imagine Abraham through tears explaining this to his son and his son in tears as they both fear but trust. Isn't that the same picture of Jesus Christ? He didn't resist, he didn't fight back or use his divine nature to stop anything...he feared BUT he was so trustful of his Father.
"Abraham! Abraham! Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn't hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me."
I can imagine Abrahams knees became weak and they both wept as he untied his son and grabbed the ram in the thicket to sacrifice up to the Lord. On that mountain Abraham provided a great picture of true fear and obedience to God and he named it "God-Yireh" which means "God-sees-to-it".
God sees to it. He provided there on Mt. God-Yireh and he saw to it on Mt. Calvary. A place where there was uncertainty, fear, emotions, tears and wailing as Mary watched her son die...becomes a beautifully messy place. A place where still God saw to it for US! How painful it must have been for Abraham to even think about killing his own son....how even more painful it was that God killed his own son. What an incredibly SELFLESS God we serve.
"Heavenly Father, you always see-to-it. Whatever it is, you see to it. You always have a ram in the thicket. Even when "it" is the destination of my soul. Even if the ram in the thicket is Your Beloved Only Son. We fearlessly fear you, our Jehovah Jireh, for being our Provider, the One Who sees to "it" - everything."
Romans 8:32
"If He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
Today, what worry, fear, anxiety can we lay down? we choose to walk in faith, knowing that there is a Ram in the thicket. And His name is Jesus.
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