6-28-26 “The God who Provides: Jehovah-Jireh”

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“The God who Provides: Jehovah-Jireh”

I want to start with something funny that I found on an internet site: A man was caught in a terrible flood. Water was rising quickly around his house, and he climbed onto the roof to wait for rescue. A neighbor came by in a boat and shouted, “Jump in! I can take you to safety!” But the man waved him away and said, “No, no, I’m waiting for God to save me. I have faith!”

A little later, another rescue team came by in a motorboat and called out, “Sir, this is your last chance!” But again he said, “No thank you, God will save me!” Eventually, a helicopter came, lowering a rope ladder. The rescuers shouted, “Grab on!” But the man refused once more: “It’s okay! I’m trusting God!” Finally, the water rose so high that the man drowned.

When he arrived in heaven, he asked God, “Lord, I trusted You! Why didn’t You save me?”

God replied, “I sent you a boat, a motorboat, and a helicopter. What more were you waiting for?”

Faith is not waiting for God to act only in dramatic ways—it is recognizing God’s provision when it comes, sometimes in unexpected forms. Unless you respond to God, you may not grow in faith.

The prophet Isiah says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isiah 55:8-9). Yes, because we don’t know how God works in our life, we have to sense in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Today, I would like to talk about Abraham’s faith journey and how God worked in his life. Through Abraham’s faith and God’s provision, we can come a little closer to God.

In today’s Scripture, we see Abraham’s remarkable faith. God commanded him to offer his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice. Isaac was the son Abraham had waited for nearly one hundred years to receive. He had already sent away his other son, Ishmael. Isaac was precious beyond words.

God knew Abraham’s love for Isaac. Therefore, God tested Abraham’s faith through the person he loved most. God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you.”

What is astonishing is Abraham’s response. The next morning, he rose early, prepared for the journey, and set out with Isaac. There is no argument, no complaint, no hesitation.

If we were in Abraham’s place, many of us might have said, “God, how can You ask this of me? You told me to send Ishmael away, and now You are asking me to sacrifice Isaac. You promised that Isaac would be my heir. Why are You making life so difficult?”

Yet Abraham obeyed. How could he do that?

We find the answer in his words. In verse 5, Abraham tells his servants: “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Notice that Abraham says, “We will come back.” He believed that God would remain faithful to His promise. Somehow, even if he could not understand how, God would keep His word.

The Letter of Hebrews explains Abraham’s faith this way: “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice… Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.” (Hebrews 11:17-19).  In other words, Abraham offered his only son to God as a burnt offering, but by faith God gave him back, as if raised from the dead.

We see the same faith in the conversation between Abraham and Isaac. Isaac asked, “Father, the fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham replied, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

What confidence! What trust! Abraham believed that God would provide, and God did.

When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, the angel of the Lord stopped him. Looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught in a thicket. God had already provided the sacrifice. That is why Abraham called that place “Jehovah-Jireh,” which means “The Lord will provide.”

But what if Abraham had not obeyed God and had only complained? What if Abraham had told Isaac, “You are the sacrifice”? We do not know what would have happened. One thing we do know is that because Abraham obeyed and immediately followed God, he was able to experience God’s grace and provision—Jehovah-Jireh.

Let us remember something important. Abraham did not always have this kind of faith.

There were times when Abraham doubted God and struggled to trust His promises. Instead of waiting for God’s timing, he tried to fulfill God’s promise in his own way. That led to the birth of Ishmael and brought pain and conflict into his family. Yet God did not give up on Abraham.

Through failure, disappointment, and heartache, Abraham matured. He learned to wait. He learned to trust. He learned to depend on God rather than on himself. The faith we see in Genesis 22 did not appear overnight. It was shaped through years of failures, lessons, and God’s grace.

The same is true for us. Everyone fails. Everyone has doubts. Sometimes doubt itself becomes a pathway to deeper faith. The real problem is not that we fail. The real problem is when we refuse to grow from our failures. It is when doubt never develops into faith. It is when we continue blaming others and remain stuck in the same place, hurting ourselves and those around us.

God calls us to grow. God calls us to move from the path of failure to the path of faith. The disciples of Jesus also experienced failure, but they did not stay there. Peter denied Jesus, yet he became a bold witness for Christ. John often misunderstood Jesus, yet he became known as the apostle of love. Paul persecuted the church, yet God transformed him into one of the greatest missionaries in history.

Their stories remind us that failure does not have to be the end of the story. By God’s grace, failure can become the beginning of a deeper faith and a stronger walk with the Lord. We must also change the way we think about ourselves.

First, we need to bless ourselves. When we truly believe that we are God’s beloved and blessed children, we are able to bless others, especially those closest to us.

When God first called Abraham, He said: “I will bless those who bless you… and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3) What an amazing promise! God not only blesses us; He calls us to become a blessing.

As people of faith, we have inherited Abraham’s blessing. God desires to bless the world through us. God desires to bring healing, restoration, and hope through His people. But there is something important we must do. We must speak blessings. If we only think good thoughts but never express them, little changes. Proverbs 18:21says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” It reminds us that “the tongue has the power of life and death.”

The Apostle Paul says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “yes” in Christ. And so through him, the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20). When the Word of God was read and preached, you may say, “Amen” or “yes” to receive the blessing of the Word. By faith, we may say, “Amen.” By faith, we may speak up to bless yourself and others so that God bless you and those who you bless.

Believe in the God who provides. “He [God] who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6). Thanks be to God, Amen.