He Will Provide
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The sun had barely risen when Abraham received the most devastating command of his life. "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering." These words would echo in any parent's mind like a death sentence. Yet Abraham's response reveals something profound about the character that had been forged through decades of walking with God.
Let’s take a moment to read Genesis 22:1-18:
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
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.”
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. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 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.”
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, 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 lambfor the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
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. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“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.”
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.”
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make 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, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
REFLECT
By this point in his journey, Abraham was no stranger to God's voice. He had left everything familiar in Ur, wandered through foreign lands, and waited twenty-five years for the promised child. Isaac wasn't just his son—he was the living embodiment of every promise God had made. Through Isaac, Abraham was to become the father of nations. Through Isaac, all the earth would be blessed. Now God was asking him to destroy the very foundation of that future.
What strikes us most about Abraham's character isn't his immediate obedience, though that's remarkable. It's his quiet confidence in God's nature. When Isaac asks, "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham responds with prophetic faith: "God will provide for himself the lamb." This isn't wishful thinking—it's the declaration of a man who has learned to trust God's character even when he can't understand God's methods.Abraham had experienced God's faithfulness through impossible circumstances before. Sarah's barren womb had bloomed with life when she was ninety. Lot had been rescued from Sodom's destruction. Time and again, God had proven that His promises don't depend on human ability but on God’s faithfulness. This history shaped Abraham's response to the ultimate test.
The journey to Mount Moriah took three days—three days of walking with his beloved son toward an altar of sacrifice. Imagine the weight of those steps, the sleepless nights, the internal wrestling. Yet Abraham never wavered. He split the wood, built the altar, and bound Isaac with his own hands. This wasn't blind obedience; it was informed trust. The Hebrew word for "test" in verse 1 doesn't mean "tempt" but rather "prove" or "refine." God wasn't trying to trick Abraham or satisfy some cruel curiosity. He was revealing what decades of relationship had produced: a man whose trust in God had become unshakeable. Abraham's obedience wasn't born from fear but from love—love for the God who had been faithful through every season of his life. When we face our own impossible moments, we often focus on what God is asking us to give up. Abraham shows us a different perspective: focus on who God is. His willingness to sacrifice Isaac wasn't about Isaac at all—it was about his unwavering confidence in God's goodness and faithfulness.
Just as the knife was raised, God intervened. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," the angel called out. "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." In that moment, Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket—God's provision exactly when it was needed. Abraham named that place "The Lord Will Provide." This wasn't just about a ram replacing Isaac on the altar. It was about God's character being revealed in the crisis. When we surrender everything to God, we don't lose—we discover that God's provision often comes in ways we never expected.
The testing strengthened Abraham's faith precisely because it proved God's faithfulness. Every trial we face has the potential to do the same. Our struggles aren't punishments; they're opportunities for our trust in God to deepen and our understanding of His character to expand. Abraham's story reminds us that mature faith isn't the absence of questions or struggles—it's the presence of trust that transcends our understanding. His willingness to obey when nothing made sense reveals a man whose relationship with God had become the defining reality of his life. We may never face a test as dramatic as Abraham's, but we all encounter moments when God's will seems to contradict our hopes, when obedience feels impossible, when the path forward is shrouded in uncertainty. In those moments, Abraham's example calls us to remember: God is faithful, His provision is certain, and His purposes are always good—even when we can't see how.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
What "Isaac" in your life—something precious that represents God's promises—might God be asking you to surrender in trust?
How has God's faithfulness in past difficulties prepared you to trust Him in current challenges?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Father, like Abraham, we want to trust You completely, even when Your ways don't make sense to us. Help us remember Your faithfulness in the past when we face uncertainty in the present. Give us the courage to obey You fully, knowing that You always provide exactly what we need. In Jesus' name, Amen.