One of my favorite names of God is Jehovah-jireh.
The name has the wonderful promise as it’s meaning: God will provide! But not only does it have a wonderful promise, it has a wonderful story. As we read Genesis 22 about how God told Abraham to take his son, his only son, Isaac up a mountain and to offer him as a sacrifice is spell-binding.
We see no hesitation or fear, only obedience. Abraham takes his son, two servants, and some wood. When they get to Moriah, he tells the servants to stay below, and he and Isaac start to climb the mountain with Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice.
As they walk up the mountain, Isaac asks the question, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham answers, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:”
Here we see the faith of Abraham — and the obedience of Isaac! We know from Hebrew 11:17-19 that he believed in the promise of God so much that he knew God could raise his son from the dead if Isaac did indeed die in the sacrifice.
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Even though we know the end of the story, even though we know how strong Abraham’s faith is from Hebrews 11, we are still held in suspense as we read Genesis 22. In the back of minds, we wonder, “What would we do? Would we sacrifice our son? Would our children so willingly obey us like Isaac did? What kind of emotions were going through Abraham at the time? DAbrahid Sarah know what Abraham was up to?
This story is packed with intensity. There is high drama. We come to the climax where the altar is built, Abraham has bound his son to the altar, he stretches out his hand with a knife in it to kill his son, and at the last moment, a voice from heaven, the angel of the LORD calls out to him.
The angel tells him to not kill his son. He says that He sees how Abraham fears Him as he was willing to sacrifice his son, his only son to God.
I love how God makes sure we know that this is Abraham’s son, his only son. We know that Abraham had other sons, but this was the son of promise. This was the son from whom the Promised One would come. This is the son from whose line one day the ultimate sacrifice would be paid. Then God’s Son, His only Son, would die. He would carry His own wood — the wood of a cross — up a hill. He would be placed on that tree, and He would die for our sins. At that time, there would be no other substitute. He would take my place, and He would take your place, in paying for our sins so that we could have eternal life if we choose to believe in Him.
But in Abraham’s story, Abraham looked up after God told him to kill Isaac, and in the thicket he saw a ram caught by his horns. He took the ram and offered the ram instead of Isaac. It was here, that we see for the first time in the Bible the name, Jehovah-jireh, for God provided. He provided a sacrifice for Abraham that was not his son.
And Abraham 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 22:17
This name has such a rich meaning. It means more than simply, “The Lord Will Provide. There are actually two attributes included in this name of God:
The Lord will see, and the Lord will provide.
A simple way to look at this name is that God in His omniscience and foreknowledge knew what we would need before we would need it. He will then provide what we need when we need it.
He knew Abraham would need a sacrifice, and He provided the ram at the exact right moment.
Jehovah Jireh could be amplified and understood as “the Lord will see to it.” (Lockyer) or as“the revealing One who is more than a Provider.” (Marilyn Hickey)
Here is a deeper and a fuller explanation of the name, Jehovah-jireh:
“…with God, to see is also to foresee. As the One who possesses eternal wisdom and knowledge, He knows the end from the beginning. . . . From eternity to eternity He foresees everything. . . . Thus with God foreseeing is prevision. As the Jehovah of righteousness and holiness, and of love and redemption, having prevision of man’s sin, and fall, and need, He makes provision for that need. For provision, after all, is merely a compound of two Latin words meaning “to see beforehand”. And we may learn from a dictionary that “provide” is simply the verb and “prevision” the noun of seeing beforehand. Thus to God prevision is necessarily followed by provision, for He certainly will provide for that need which His foreseeing shows Him to exist. With Him prevision and provision are one and the same thing.” (Webb-Peploe)
As the One who possesses eternal wisdom and knowledge, He knows the end from the beginning. He saw ahead and provided what Abraham needed.
Isn’t this truth simply amazing?
God knows what I need before I know I even have a need, and He will provide what I need when I need it. I don’t have to worry or fret. The Lord will provide.
There are so many truths that we can apply to our lives from this one name of God. Next week, we will look at these truths; and I will share the printable for this lesson.
I hope that this week’s post was an encouragement to you. If you are feeling like God is asking of you something that is too hard, remember that He will provide what you need. He foresees your need and will make provision for that need.
If you have not read any of the other names of God posts, you can find all of them by clicking on the links below:
- Names of God (List of books I used to study for this series)
- Elohim, The Creator God (free printables)
- El Elyon, The God Most High (free printables)
- El-Roi, The God Who Sees (free printables)
- El-Shaddai, The All-Sufficient One (free printables)
- Adonai, The Lord (free printables)
- Jehovah, The Self-Existent One, Part 1
- Jehovah, The Self-Existent One, Part 2 (free printables)
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