GOD - OUR PROVIDER
Anita Clark – Pastor, Carbondale, KS
“And Abram called the name of that place, Jehovah Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” Genesis 22:14.
How precious it is to find God as our Provider! As we walk with the Lord God, we learn Him in this special way. Abraham did. In Genesis 22 God tested Abraham’s faith. We all know the story. God told him “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” What a command! Abraham did not hesitate. “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac, his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering and rose up, and went unto place of which God had told him.”
This is such a wonderful story, truly showing great obedience to God’s demand and will. Hebrews 11:19 states that Abraham was “Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence also he received him, in a figure.” His faith did not weaver. He was perfectly obedient to God’s command. He speaks to the servants telling them that both he and Isaac will go and worship and come again to them. When Isaac questioned him about where the lamb for the offering was, Abraham answered, “God will provide Himself a Lamb.” God certainly did, Praise the Lord, our God. This is why Abraham called the place “Jehovah-Jireh.”
We see from this example that if we surrender all that is precious to us to Him and believe Him, He will provide everything we need. God spoke in verse 17 that because Abraham was willing to do as He commanded, the Lord said, “In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore...”.
There are many illustrations in the Bible showing God providing whatever was needed for His people at various times. In Exodus 14, we see the children of Israel in a dilemma. They had obeyed God and left Egypt and had traveled into the wilderness, but now they are against the Red Sea and the mountains are on each side of them, and they look up, and the Egyptians are coming full speed behind, a great army with chariots to kill them all. God told Moses to speak to the sea and lift up his rod over it. God provided and a “strong east wind all night.” It blew and washed the water up into a wall and the Israelites went over on dry land. Then, after the Israelite got safely over God said for Moses to stretch out his rod again and the water rushed back down drowning all the Egyptians.
In Exodus 15 God provided pure good water at Marah, which had been a very bitter hole of water. The people complained and murmured. In vs. 25 Moses cried to the Lord and God said to cut down a tree and put it in the water. Moses did that and the waters became sweet. We see over and over how our God supplies for His people. In chapter 16, the people murmur about not having enough to eat so, God supplied a marvelous food. Every day except the Sabbath, this food, called manna, would appear on the ground, and all they had to do was gather it. Think of how great this was. The people numbered 2 to 3 million. Imagine if you can how much manna that took to satisfy all that hunger!
Matthew 6:25-34 tells of Jesus speaking to the crowds of people which came out to see and listen. He taught them principles of trust in God for their very lives. Jesus said, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body; what ye shall put on.” Jesus said that God will supply whatever we need just as He does the lilies of the field.
Apostle Paul teaches us that our faith should be in God alone. God is fully and completely able to meet our every need. In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says in his prayer for the Ephesian believers, “Now, unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.” Apostle Paul was referring to the work of God in our lives, changing us into the image of Christ Jesus. God has provided all Spiritual blessings in Christ to produce in us the spiritual growth we need. Praise the Lord for His divine work in us, to perfect our faith and produce the growth He wants to be seen in our lives.
In Philippians 4:19, Paul writes, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory.” Our God knows exactly what we need. Many of us have asked the Lord to work in us and through us so that only Christ will be seen in our lives, that He will receive all the glory. We cannot do this in ourselves. We must come to this realization before God can really finish His divine work in us. As we submit ourselves to God, He will begin His work. Oh, how He changes us. He is trying to perfect us. It is hard for us to allow Him his work, often times. It is not always pleasant, but it is completely necessary. We must surrender completely and He will finish His work in us, as Philippians 1:6 says, Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of the Lord Jesus.” He is our Great Provider.
