Day 8: The Lord Will Provide

What a serene and quiet life might you lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust Him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, He has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! Have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Our Hope

Genesis 22:9-14 (NLT)

When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”

12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

Our Insight

The news seems to be getting worse every day. More cases, more closings, more adjustments to be made—and each change brings less certainty about what is to come.

And yet, in the middle of the uncertainty, each morning for the past seven days we have meditated on the simple idea that “God is in control.” Do you believe that? (If not, now is a great time to ask God to help your unbelief; see Mark 9:23-24.) With our faith firmly anchored in the sovereignty of God over all things, this week we turn our attention to another truth about God that many of us need right now as much as ever before: God is Provider.

Abraham’s entire journey came down to one defining moment. In that moment he had to act out his answer to this question: Did he really believe the Sovereign God would provide for him? Abraham made his choice, and that choice put God in a position to demonstrate a defining attribute of His character: Provider.

“The Lord will provide.” That truth is so important to God’s character that it became the name of the mountain which became the holiest place in Scripture. (The Temple was later built on the same place where God provided the ram.) To this day, the phrase is even used as a name for God Himself: Yahweh-Yireh (sometimes transliterated Jehovah-Jireh), which means “The Lord will provide.”

Our Prayer

This global crisis is quickly bringing every one of us to the same question Abraham faced: Do I really believe the Sovereign God will provide for me?

Spend a few moments right now talking to God about the specific things you are concerned about: your health, your family, your job, your income, your future. As you mention each one, remember who you are talking to: the Great Jehovah-Jireh, “The Lord will provide.”

Our Gratitude

Before closing this devotion, take a moment and bring to mind one thing—at this moment—that you are thankful for. And thank God for it.