My Favorite Passage of Scripture (Part 2 of 2)

“Abraham, Abraham!”

I believe I would have passed out from the relief. That’s not to say I would have made it this far! Can you imagine? It must have been a very loud booming voice that spoke his name. This was a test of Abraham’s faith and obedience. God did not intend for Isaac to be sacrificed because that would have violated His own law (Lev 20:1-5). Abraham stops the sacrifice and after God expresses His pleasure in Abraham’s obedience, a lamb is found caught in the thicket (v 13).

The substitution of the lamb is a direct correlation to Christ’s substitution for humanity on the cross. The Hebrew word ‘olah refers to a burnt offering (v 2). This type of sacrifice was atonement for sin. The blood is spilled and the entirety of the animal is given. Nothing is held back. This is what God required of Abraham. This is what God required of Christ. This is what God requires of me. Abraham obeyed. So did Christ. Will Christie? It is a daily decision I must make. Because of Christ’s death, I do not have to literally die for my sins though I deserve to die (Rom 6:23, 10:9). God wants me to present myself as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). The catch is this: as a sacrifice that is still living, I can crawl off the altar anytime I choose. I must submit, like Isaac did, and stay on the altar, dying to self and choosing my Father’s will over my own (cf. Gal 2:20, Rom 8:13, 1 Cor 15:31, 2 Cor 5:15).

“Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide…”

When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, he built it on Mount Moriah (2 Chr 3:1). Although Solomon’s temple was destroyed in 586 B.C., another temple was built in the same spot by Herod the Great, just before Jesus’ birth.

Please do not miss the significance of this!

In the very place that God revealed Himself as Jehovah Jireh to Abraham and provided the lamb as substitution for Isaac, the Jewish people sacrificed goats, bulls and sheep every year on the Day of Atonement for their sins. Then Jesus was born, and his parents took Him to the temple to present Him to the Lord (Lk 2:21-38). Simeon recognized Him as the Messiah and Anna gave thanks to God, for the redemption of Jerusalem had come. He would return every year for Passover – the very Lamb of God celebrating Passover in the place that God had provided the first substitutionary sacrifice! And when Jesus Christ was crucified, He would be the LAST sacrifice ever needed because the blood of goats and bulls can never take away sins, but the blood of the perfect Lamb of God takes away sin forever (Eph 1:7, Heb 9:11-14, 10:4-14)! Praise God! He has provided!

God has shown Himself to be my Jehovah Jireh so many times, with the most significant being on the day of my salvation as a young child. However, the Name took root deep in my soul in August of 2005. Jason had answered the call of God on his life to go into some type of full-time ministry a year before during the summer of 2004. He started taking seminary classes via distance learning that fall while deploying as a submarine officer. The first class he took was Intro to Hebrew Grammar. He translated and wrote a paper on Genesis 22. When it came time to ask for his next duty assignment, we pursued a job in New Orleans so that Jason could take classes on campus at the seminary. The Lord gave us the job!

When we moved to southeast Louisiana in April of 2005, I was entering my second trimester with Bull and had a 2 year old Gator in tow. We bought a brand new house and quickly got settled. We found an amazing church home at Northshore Church. We were full of expectation for what the Lord had in store for us in this place.

A Category 5 Hurricane is headed for the Mississippi – Louisiana Gulf Coast

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit, with the eye passing directly over our house, leaving nearly 5 feet of water in our new home. We lost nearly everything, and were evacuated to Tennessee after only 4 months of living in the place that we knew God had called us.

Hubs and I looked at one another with utter confusion. Wait a minute God. You called us into ministry. You gave us the job in New Orleans so we could prepare for ministry. We found a church that fit perfectly. We had so much hope for the time we were supposed to spend there. Why did you take it all away from us?

Over the three years that have passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Hubs and I have found numerous ways that God has made sense of the destruction: the lifelong friends we made in Tennessee… the outpouring of support from the spouses of deployed soldiers… the beauty of the body of Christ healing itself by ministering to our family… the birth of a healthy baby boy exactly two months after the storm… the healing of post-partum depression for myself… the joy of watching my two sons grow up together… the insurance pay out that has allowed us to live off of savings for two years… the lesson learned of praising Him during the worst times and the best times… the amazing faithfulness of my God to provide for His child even though she isn’t sure how He will do it.

Allow God to be your Jehovah Jireh. He will provide. He gave Himself that Name because He wants to be known as the Provider. He has provided His only Son as a substitution for you. Don’t turn your back on His sacrifice.

“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Gen 22:18).

“For Christ died once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Pet 3:18).