The New Horizon-Day 5

Day 5  

The LORD Will Provide

Genesis 22:1-19

Sometimes God says, “walk with me into your future, I will show you what that will look like as we go.”  Abraham was seventy-five years old when the Lord issued such an invitation to him (Gen 12:1). Not knowing where  he was going  Abraham collected up  some of his family  and  walked into  the  unknown  trusting  God

(Gen 12:4).

Sometimes God says, “this is your future and clearly lays it out for us asking us to walk with him.”  About forty years after Abraham began his faith-walk into the promise of God, God issued him another invitation.  This time God was very specific regarding the future:  “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of mountains I will tell you about” (Gen 22:2, NIV84).  Knowing where this walk was going, Abraham collected up what was needed to make the sacrifice and walked into the known trusting God (Gen 22:3).

Often people say, “walking by faith would be easier if I knew what was ahead.”  Would it really?  When we look at Abraham’s life it is hard to decide which is more difficult, not knowing and going or knowing and going.

Abraham early on walked into the horizon of the unknown and the Lord provided.  Now he knows that he is headed to an altar with the sacrifice God had provided; his son.  The three-day trip must have seemed like a lifetime.  I remind you that Abraham is traveling with an adolescent who has a penchant for asking the obvious question.  Isaac asked, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Gen 22:7)  Abraham knows what we sometimes forget that he is dealing with a teenager, whose age appropriate behavior will not let this go.

Forty years of walking in the unknown with God had prepared Abraham with an answer for his son, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burn offering, my son” (Gen 22:8, NIV84).  As Abraham is about to slay his son the angel of the Lord calls a halt to the sacrifice and God provided a ram for the burnt offering.

Abraham named the place, “The Lord Will Provide” (Gen 22:14).  Years later in that area under the supervision of Roman guards the sacrifice of God’s one and only son was made for our sin.

Abraham made one of the great faith statements of all times, “The Lord Will Provide.”  If we walk into the unknown or the known, “The Lord Will Provide.”