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Jehovah Sees
It is often said that with following God comes great sacrifice, and in a sense that is true. However, most who share this reality are referring to some sin habit that must be abandoned in order for one to be numbered among the righteous. But truly, is it a sacrifice to exchange eternal death for eternal life? Certainly not! What if God required a real sacrifice of you and it had nothing to do with giving up some cherished, darling sin that leads to ruin anyway? What if the darling with which God required you to part were a person? I don’t mean a relationship that causes you to compromise your faith—that would be too obvious. What if God required you to sacrifice your child for Him? Would you second-guess the voice of God with which you had become so familiar? Would you rationalize that, surely, God would not require such a costly offering? Well, Abraham had to face such a decision. Would he allow the dismal cloud of human reasoning to eclipse the sunshine of doing God’s will?
It may have been in a night vision, as God often communicated with patriarchs and prophets, that God said to Abraham: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (Genesis 22:2). What must Abraham have thought as he heard that familiar voice from heaven? Whatever the thoughts were that entered his mind, one thing was certain—he must obey. So, without telling Sarah, tempting her nurturing disposition to possibly resist the command, he awoke early the next morning to do exactly what God said. I am sure that it was an agonizing decision to gather two young men, Isaac, and the wood, to embark upon their journey to Moriah. Yet God was with them. It is in our darkest, most difficult times that God is closest, though unseen.
On the third day, the men approached their destination. “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (Genesis 22:4, 5). Time does not permit me to expound on the incredible faith in his statement that they would both return after they worshipped.
At the point of critical mass, Isaac commented they had an altar and sufficient wood, but the lamb for the offering was conspicuously absent. “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together” (Genesis 22:8). In an act of faithful submission to God and his father, Isaac lay and allowed himself to be bound upon the altar. He could have resisted, but did not. And as Abraham raised his knife to slay his darling son, the familiar heavenly voice rang out to save Isaac and acknowledge Abraham’s faith. In the distance, Abraham saw a ram with its horns caught in an overgrowth of thorns. That would be the sacrifice. Abraham named the place Jehovah-jireh— “Jehovah sees.”
How is this story relevant for us? Well, at a point of critical mass about 2,000 years ago, Jesus became the One whom God provided as our sacrifice (Isaiah 53). During an agonizing third prayer (Mark 14:32-42), in the third year of His public ministry (Luke 13:31-33; Daniel 9:27), in an act of faithful submission to His Father, Jesus committed to wear the crown of thorns (John 19:1-6) for us. As we lay motionless on our proverbial deathbeds for our sins, the heavenly voice rang out from heaven, “Jehovah sees.” And friends, when He sees our needs, He provides right on time. Thank God that Jesus sacrificed His life for you. What are you willing to sacrifice for Him?
L. DAVID HARRIS is founder of Each 1 Reach Many Ministries, author of Know Peace Within: A Life in Transition, and the two-volume set Alive at 5: Victory in Retrospect. To find out more, visit www.reachmanyradio.com.
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