“Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” (Genesis.22:13 – 14)
Jehovah Jireh – the Lord will provide.
This name of God came about through Abraham; he gave the name Jehovah Jireh to the place where God provided a ram for him to sacrifice in place of his son Isaac. In this context, God’s provision was salvation. All through-out the scriptures we see God desiring to be the provision for His people of breakthrough, victory, relationship, dreams being fulfilled, burdens being lifted, all the way up to when God gives the ultimate provision, that of Christ being crucified on the cross for us to be restored to Himself. So if this is God’s nature, so much so that it even is one of His names, why do we too often fail to see His provision in our lives?
I believe the key can be found in the first few words of the scripture above:
“Abraham looked up”.
Abraham chose in that moment not to look at the problem, his anxiety and his fear (his son about to be sacrificed on the altar) but rather chose to
lift
his
eyes!
WITHOUT VISION WE WILL MISS THE PROVISION.
Vision is a lot more than just seeing. Having vision means lifting your gaze from your here and now, from your immediate circumstances, and to lean into a future that is yet unseen. Too often we are trying to make up short-term contingency plans to overcome our immediate problems, frustrations and short-comings and we end up never really taking any ground. The Message version of Proverbs.28:19 puts it this way:
“If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”
It is time to get off the treadmill of fighting the same battles and never seeing real victory or breakthrough. God is calling us to get real vision, where we look up and see what His hand is wanting to provide. Take your eyes off of your defaults, your defects and your deficiencies, and fix them on Jesus. What you behold you will become. And as you allow Christ to become your vision, you will find He will be your provision.
“Abraham looked up”.
