Are you waiting for God to provide for you? I remember a hymn from my childhood, “God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way. He will take care of you. God will take care of you.” I believed it when I was young, and I still do. I remember tithing when I was a young pastor and wondering how I would pay my apartment rent. A check came in the mail from a member who said God told them to send it. God has provided, right on time, more times than I can count.
When God stayed Abraham’s hand, the great patriarch heard a rustling in a thicket. There was a ram entangled in the bush by its horns. Abraham sacrificed it on the altar instead of his son. From that day on that place was known as “The Lord will provide.” The writer of Genesis traced the popular saying, “on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided,” back to that moment.
Then the Lord reaffirmed all of his promises to Abraham. Because he had obeyed the Lord, God would multiply his descendants like stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. God would bless Abraham and bless all mankind through Abraham’s descendants. After God provided, Abraham, his son, and his servants headed home. I wonder what that was like. One recent cinematic portrayal of the story showed Sarah being very angry with Abraham for risking the life of her son Isaac. This is not in the story, though.
What if Abraham had waited for God to give the ram at home? What if he had waited at the bottom of the hill? Abraham only discovered God’s provision when he climbed the hill. The ram had been there all along. But Abraham had to obey to find it. David would later make that spot the place of a sacrifice to God and the eventual location of the temple. Years later, God took his only Son, David’s descendant and offered him up for the sins of the world. There was no ram. The Son of God was slain. On the mountain, God provided salvation.
Let’s obey God and climb the mountains he puts before us. On the mountain it will still be provided. But only those who climb will find his perfect provision. Look at the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the beach and remember. Wait on the Lord and find him faithful, right on time.
