Yahweh Jireh, The Lord Will Provide

The six month of his unemployment was about to dawn.  We had used what little savings we had to cover our costs for the previous five months and we were literally down to the last few dollars.  He had sent out hundreds of copies of his resume, been on dozens of interviews and nothing ... We had made it this far and been ok but what next?  What happens when those last few dollars are spent and our income is non-existent?  There are three children here .... How will we feed them?  Will we lose our house?  An indescribable fear hung over our heads as we contemplated our future.  I pleaded with God saying, "Please, please, please God open up doors of opportunity.  Take care of us as we continue through this time of uncertainty.  Please provide for our family and don't let us drown."

And then a day like any other day came upon us.  He was off to yet another interview.  His stomach was in knots as he believed that this interview, like all the others would result in nothing, leaving us at the bottom of an empty well.  I went about my afternoon caring for the girls as usual when the phone rang ... "Well ???"  I asked expecting to hear another "we'll call you if we find that you're a fit".  He answered back, "Well they loved me.  They took me right in to talk to the Colonel and he hired me on the spot!  I start immediately."  My heart lept as relief washed over me... Amazing!   He got a job- and not just any job, a job in the field that he had been pursuing.  A job that would not only take care of our family, but that he would be extremely happy in- something he hadn't been in years.  God answered our prayers ... He provided for us in our deepest time of need.

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Can you imagine how Abraham felt as he traveled up Mount Moriah knowing that he was about to sacrifice his son?  To lose a child is a tragedy in and of itself but to lose a child that God blessed him and Sarah with, a child that fulfilled such a significant promise ... I cannot imagine that angst he felt as he made that journey.  Despite everything he obeyed God and didn't question His command.  When Abraham reached the point where he was instructed to sacrifice Issac he laid down his son and raised his arm, knife in hand ... "Lay down the knife, " the angel said.  "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God.  You have not withheld even your beloved son from me."  Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush.  So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering on the alter in place of his son. Abraham named the place, "The Lord Will Provide" ... (Genesis 22:12-14). 

Yahweh Jireh, The Lord Will Provide.  Throughout the Bible we see other examples of God providing for needs that seemed otherwise impossible to meet.  Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fishes.  After a night of catching nothing, Jesus instructed His disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they were overwhelmed with the enormous catch.  Peter caught a fish that held a coin, a coin that would pay his taxes.  The Lord will provide!

Today we still face various needs.  Whether the needs be monetary, emotional or physical we all have them!  Take heart that God is a God who provides.  God does not wish to see you drown in your troubles.  He has the ability to help you through anything and He wants to help you through everything.  Trust in His provisions.  When you think that there is no hope and that there is no way that life could iron itself out trust in His provisions!  Seek Him and make your requests known to Him and don't get discouarged if His provision isn't exactly what you had in mind ... He sees things crystal clear and His plan and provisions may be better then what we expected!  I close with a verse that so simply expressess His desire and intent to provide for us ...

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?" Matthew 6:26-30