GOD- MY PROVIDER

Genesis 22

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 ² Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

 ³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. ⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

 ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

   “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

   “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

 ⁸ Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

 ⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.

 ¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

 ¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ 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.”

 ¹⁵ The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you andmake your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspring^[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[c]because you have obeyed me.”

I can only imagine how Abraham felt when God made this request to him. He had just told Abraham that there would be nations that would descend from his son Issac. How would this happen if he was to sacrifice him? All along God had a plan, but He did give Abraham the whole plan. Could you imagine if Abraham would have told his wife. She had waited so long to finally, miraculously, receive God's blessing in a son. She would not of let him go through with it without a fight. Abraham told know one what God had requested of him, he just obeyed. All along he knew God would provide. He did not have all the information, but he knew what God had promised, and God would supply. Abraham says in verse 5: "Wait here while we go worship, and WE will be back". See he knew all the way that God would come through, even if it meant bringing Issac back from the dead. This is significant, because there had not been a resurrection in the history of mankind yet. God came through at the last minute with a ram. All the sudden he heard a ram stuck in the bushes.

Don't you think the ram was there all along? Abraham didn't hear the ram until God wanted him to. Wow, this is how God works, His timing is perfect, He comes through just in the nick of time.

  I have experienced this in my own life. God takes me through a trial that doesn't make any since to me, but His divine plan is at work. Have faith that God can finish what He has started in your life. Don't ever let the blessing get in the way of the blesser. You may have something that God blessed you with in your life. Beware not to let that thing get in the way, or become more important than the one who gave it to you. You may not see it, but God is in the process of blessing you.

  Abraham did something crucial, that allowed Him to receive his blessing-- He obeyed God. He didn't ask questions, he didn't waste time, he didn't procrastinate, he just obeyed.

 Are you willing to be obedient to God, so He can bless you?