If you were around the Mod Threads community back in January, you'll remember when we launched our Transformed Tee and shared each night of Kingdom Seed Ministries Virtual Women's Conference with you. Tammie and Monte Jo are best friends who work in ministry together and we were thrilled to be able to support their efforts! Monte Jo is my mom-in-law and Tammie has adopted me, too! I have learned so much from each of them over the years and Libbey and I are so excited to provide this teaching for you! It's time to dive in and study as Tammie teaches us more on our Jehovah Jireh!
PS: Simply because I can't help myself, check out one of my favorite songs right now. Listen to Jireh by Elevation Worship and spend some time in prayer before reading through this encouraging devotional.
JEHOVAH JIREH – The Lord Is My Provider
Gen. 22:14
And Abraham called the name of the place, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Some of you may be familiar with the fact that in the Old Testament God was called by many names. Those names described His character and reminded the Israelite of who He is. The name Jehovah Jireh is one such name. It has its origin in the book of Genesis with the story of Abraham and Isaac. Many of you may be familiar with the story but just to make sure everyone is one the same page, the story goes like this:
Abraham and his wife, Sarah, begged God for a Son for years. Due to their faithfulness, God promised them a son from which would spring more descendants than they could count, but year after year no child came. When all hope was lost and Abraham and Sarah were well past child bearing years, God blessed them with the promised son and they named him Isaac.
Fast forward approximately 18-20 years. It is time for the annual sacrifice and Abraham is getting everything prepared. He is spending time in prayer, seeking God, gathering the wood, and selecting the unblemished sheep to be offered. During this process, God speaks to Abraham. Abraham is used to hearing God’s voice but this time the message is unexpected. God directs Abraham to take Isaac, his miracle child, up the mountain and sacrifice him in place of the lamb as an act of obedience and faith.
Unquestioningly, Abraham obeys, heading up the mountain, trusting that God will keep His promise that Isaac would be the source of generation upon generation of descendants. With the fire laid, Isaac bound, and his hand raised to sacrifice his beloved son, God stops the process by providing a ram for the sacrifice and declaring His pleasure in Abraham’s obedience and faith.
Abraham then names the spot of this miracle, Jehovah Jireh, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.
When I looked up the Hebrew for Jehovah Jireh, it said:
- God will see
- God will see to it
Literally, Abraham named the place The Existing Eternal God is My Provider. He is the One who sees me and will see to my needs!
Have you ever felt invisible, as if no one saw you, saw what you were going through, or understood your need? This scripture tells us that the God of the universe SEES YOU and that He will SEE TO IT. He not only knows you but is also working on your behalf. You can count on Him to keep ALL of His promises to you.
Abraham had this figured out. He knew God’s character and embraced the truth that we can TRUST HIM to keep His promise! Hebrew 11:17-19 tells us that Abraham trusted God so completely that he thought God would raise Isaac from the dead after the sacrifice was complete!
CONSIDER THIS…..
God is always looking for opportunities to reinforce the message that He is trustworthy. He used the unthinkable and unexpected directive to sacrifice a beloved son to emphasize His dependable and steadfast nature.
Think about the character of God that is foundational to this scripture. Abraham’s epic tale exemplifies that God is:
- trustworthy
- dependable
- understanding
- generous
- steadfast
- stable
- resourceful
- creative
NEXT STEPS….
- Read Genesis 22
- Grab a journal, title a page JEHOVAH JIREH and capture your thinking by making some notes, creating a poster, drawing a picture, or doodling about Genesis 22.
- Now, use the steps below to create character statements based upon what you’ve learned through Abraham & Isaac’s story. Capture these on your JEHOVAH JIREH page.
- Step 1 – Create a character trait list of God for Jehovah Jireh
- Step 2 - Pick a character trait of God from your list
- Step 3 – Turn that character trait into a statement like this: A God is __________ . I know this because He _______.
- Example:
WRAPPING UP….
-Tammie