Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord Will Provide

Do you know your answer could be sitting right next to you but you'll never know it until God is ready to reveal it? Dr. Tony Evans says that delay can help us focus more on God than on the things He gives us.

Because you can, we can, fall so in love with the blessing that it trumps the blesser. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. God gives to us out of love, hoping we'll respond the same way, but that's not always how it works. Let's join Dr. Evans as he talks about how we ought to relate with our God who provides. There probably isn't a name more celebrated, a compound name more known, more referenced than Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide.

The Lord will provide. When God uses a compound name, it is normally because He's addressing a situation in life. When He used Elohim, there wasn't even any life. It was, and God, Elohim created.

There was no life. He just had the power to make life. But when He uses this phrase Jehovah-Jireh or the other compound names that we will look at, something is going on in somebody's life and circumstance that God wants to use to unveil Himself. In the book that just came out that's in the bookstore, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, I talk about this story, not so much focusing on the name of God, but focusing on being caught in a Catch-22. But let's review it in terms of the name of God, and let's see how it relates to you getting to know God by His name in the situations of life.

Please notice the problem, because remember, God reveals His name personally in life's circumstances. Verse 1 of chapter 22 of Genesis says, Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham, and Abraham said, Here I am. He said, Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. It says the Lord tested Abraham.

This is a test. He tested Abraham in the most devastating way. He says, I want you to go up on the mountain and I want you to worship me, and as is the custom of the day, I want a sacrifice, and today the sacrifice will be your son, your only begotten son whom you love to death.

Let me put it another way. I'm going to test you, Abraham. I want you to give me the thing you love most, the thing you're most excited about, the thing that was a dream come true for you. I want it.

I want you to give it back to me. This was a theological test because God had told Abraham, I'm going to make of your son Isaac a great nation. Isaac is a teenager when this takes place.

Isaac's not married. Isaac has no children, yet God says, kill him. But you said you were going to make a great nation.

You can't make a great nation out of him if he's dead because he doesn't have any children, so my line doesn't go on. So God doesn't make sense in what he's asking him to do in light of what his word had already promised. Anybody in here in a theological contradiction? You know God said one thing, but what he's asking you to do now contradicts what you know he said. It doesn't make sense.

When God allows you to go through things and it doesn't make sense. Why me? Why this?

Why now? It doesn't make sense. That's because he's getting ready to tell you his name. He's getting ready to let you see something about him that you had never seen before, to experience something from him that you've never experienced before, because this is not only a problem. This is a problem with a contradiction.

You're in between a rock and a hard place. God doesn't make sense. Abraham is going through a crisis. What is the heart of the test?

Here it is. When faced with a choice between the blessing and the blessor, what will you choose? See, Isaac was the blessing. He waited a long time for God to finally open the door. God opened the door through a miracle, allowed a pregnancy. He's a hundred. She's 90 years old.

Ain't supposed to be. But through a miraculous intervention, they got the blessing. God test him. What means more to you, the blessing or the blessor? Because you can, I can, we can fall so in love with the blessing that it trumps the blessor.

How do I know that's the heart of the test? Because he tells them to sacrifice Isaac in church. He goes up to the mountain. His son wants to know. He says, I see the torch with the fire, verse seven, and I see, I see the wood, but I don't see the lamb, Dad. Every time we came to church, you would have a lamb. I don't see a lamb.

He makes a statement here that's powerful. He says, verse eight, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. God put Abraham in a situation that only he could fix. Abraham couldn't fix this. He couldn't solve this.

This was not something within his human, he said, God got to do this himself. He looked, behold, there was a ram caught in the thicket, verse 13, by the horns. Now that's a mighty quiet ram that only makes noise at the right time. Do you know your answer could be sitting right next to you, but you'll never know it until God is ready to reveal it.

Your solution may be right here next to you. That ram was caught in the thicket, right there next to him. He never saw it or heard it, because God was not ready to reveal it yet.

Not because God didn't have it. While he was going up the trial mountain on one side, God had a solution called a ram coming up on the other side, and he was going to create a match when it was the right time. Abraham called the name of the place, verse 14, Jehovah Jireh. He names the place the Lord will provide, verse three.

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He obeyed immediately. Delayed obedience becomes immediate disobedience.

If God says, do A, and you thinking about it, meditating on it, considering it, you know, getting around to it, there's nothing for God to see. You have not acted on what he has said. He rises immediately, even though he doesn't understand, even though it doesn't make sense.

He arrives immediately. Delayed obedience is immediate disobedience, and partial obedience is complete disobedience. In other words, if he would have gone halfway to the trip, he wouldn't have finished the journey. He would have said, like many of us, Lord, at least give me credit for getting up. At least give me credit for getting dressed. At least give me credit for saddling my donkeys. But I didn't ask you to get up, saddle your donkeys. I told you go to the mountain to sacrifice. See, what we want is delayed obedience and partial obedience, maximum manifestation.

No, no, no. When he saw that he would not withhold his son, if you are trusting God for your eternity, you ought to be able to trust him for time, because eternity is a lot longer than time. Are you willing to trust God with your Isaac? With your Isaac, the thing that you want to release the least, the thing that means the most, the thing that you're holding tight and don't want to let go. And everybody has an Isaac.

Everybody has that thing that you want more than life itself. He saw that God mattered more to him than Isaac. And he loved Isaac. He didn't stop loving Isaac to love God. He just decided to love God more. And loving God in faith doesn't mean simply having an emotional attachment.

Loving God means acting out what God said, not just singing songs, praying prayers, and hearing serpents. One of the reasons that some of us do not know the name Jehovah-Jireh is God is still waiting for you to act on what he said, even though you may not understand how it's going to work out, how it's going to happen. Isaac had to be placed on the altar when God said, now I know that, you feel me?

Then, and only then, did the solution show up, even though it was right next to him. Could it be that you've been waiting five years for something God would have given you in five minutes, if he still wasn't waiting for you to complete your sacrifice? This means, single Christian, that you must give your singlehood over to God.

That may be the Isaac in your life. The desire for a maid may be so strong that it's caused you to not follow God completely as a single, and he could literally have the person he wants for you sitting next to you, year after year, and you never see it. Because the thing he wants, you don't want to give it.

Could be money. God, I will give the part I'm supposed to give to you after you give me more. To which God says, you're going to be waiting a long time? I want to know that you trust me enough to go to worship and honor me with the firstfruits of what I give you, not what you happen to have left over.

I want you to put it on the altar, my career on the altar, whatever it is that God commands. I don't understand how I'm going to make it. I don't understand how it's going to work out. I don't know what you're going to do, but this is what you said.

This is what I'm going to do. Now you're going to have to supernaturally intervene because I can't fix this. Dr. Evans will come back with more of our message in a moment, including a look at the connection between Abraham's son and God's son. First, though, you can dig even deeper into today's subject with the help of Tony's popular devotional book, Experiencing the Power of God's Names. When you learn the deep meaning behind the many ways God is referred to in the Bible, you'll find out that there's a description that matches up to any situation you find yourself in. Experiencing the Power of God's Names will help you make daily discoveries about what those names mean and what they tell us about how God wants to relate with us. Just make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station, and we'll get a copy on its way to you, along with a special bonus, the full-length versions of all 14 messages in Volumes 1 and 2 of Tony's current series, Knowing God's Names.

They're perfect to review on your own, share with your church, or use with your Bible study or small group. This special double offer won't be around for long, so don't wait. Get the details and make the arrangements today at TonyEvans.org or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222, where we have friendly team members standing by day and night to help with your resource request.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, let's get back to our teaching time now. Here's Dr. Evans. You can't hold on to Isaac and get Jehovah-jireh. See, you can't hold on to Isaac. See, we want Isaac and Jehovah-jireh.

You can't have it. It's when he sees that he provides. So if you give him nothing to experience or to see, then he withholds the provision because he responds to faith.

When you see Jehovah show up, when you have this encounter, what happens? Well, remember we read in Hebrews 11, he got back Isaac, it says, as a type. He got back Isaac because the angel stopped him, and the angel said, you know, release him. Now I know that you, but he got him back, but as a type. So he got him back physically. He gives him back Isaac, plus, because all Isaac gives is a little something something.

He's type. What does he give him? It says, then the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord Jehovah, because you have done this thing, because I saw you do it, and have not withheld your son, your only son. Indeed, I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand, which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies and your seed or the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Okay, watch this then. I'm gonna give you back Isaac, but that ain't nothing for what I'm getting ready to do now, because I'm now getting ready to open up the windows of heaven, and I'm gonna shower you with stuff that will have generational repercussions.

You ain't seen nothing yet. In saving Isaac, you could keep Isaac and lose everything else, but because you were willing to put Isaac on the altar, you get Isaac back and everything else. See, a lot of us are trading Isaac for Isaac and everything else just so we can keep Isaac, but if all you have is Isaac, that's limited. Isaac is a type of God unleashing all that he has planned for you, all that he has in store for you, but he wants to know before he unleashes this that he has you. He's not gonna unleash this when he, when the blesser is not more important than the blessing. Everybody's showing up in church today.

Everybody is looking for their blessing, and the blessing trumps the blesser. I love this phrase in chapter 22, and it's in verse 14 again. Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of Jehovah, in the mount of the Lord, it will be provided, okay? He calls the name of the place Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide, but then he tells you where he provides. He says it is provided in the mount of the Lord. In other words, he just doesn't provide anywhere.

He doesn't provide any old place, any old time. He provides when there was immediate obedience and a specific location. The location was in the mount of the Lord. Well, what's the mount? The mount is Mount Moriah. That's where he told him to go. The Mount Moriah was the place where the sacrifice was gonna be made. So Mount Moriah was the place of worship.

What's my point? You must look at Isaac as an opportunity to worship. When you worship over your Isaac, when you say, God, I'm gonna bless your name in spite of my pain. I'm gonna exalt you. I'm gonna worship God.

I'm not doing this because I feel like it. I'm doing this to exalt the blesser. You make it a matter of worship. When God sees your worship, he makes your provision.

It's in the mountain. It's part of your worship. It's not just doing something for God or being a good Christian. It is my celebration of God because that's the mountain. It's the place of the altar. He says, making it your worship is when I provide it. Making it your worship. When our bosses want us to do something, they may ask us to sacrifice time, stay overtime or work long or coming on Saturday. They want you to sacrifice for the company.

When evaluation time comes, they notice your sacrifice. In John chapter eight, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and the Pharisees are condemning Jesus. And then Jesus makes this statement to the unbelieving Jews. Abraham saw my day and was glad. He lifted up his eyes. Remember that verse?

He lifted up his eyes. Mount Moriah is just a couple of hundred feet from Golgotha. Mount Moriah is just a couple of hundred feet from the mount on which Jesus was crucified, Mount Calvary.

Just a couple of hundred feet away from Mount Moriah. Abraham looked up and saw Mount Moriah. But John 856 says Abraham saw something else. He saw that one day God was gonna enter into human history in the person of Jesus Christ and make provision for the sins of the world and become our Jehovah Jireh. So what God says the angel of the Lord did, which is Jesus in the Old Testament for Abraham, he is still doing today cause Isaac was a type through those who come through Jesus to demonstrate faith in Jesus Christ, God becomes your Jehovah Jireh.

Cause just as Isaac was put on the altar 2000 years ago, Jesus was put on the altar and just like Isaac was given back to Abraham, Jesus is given back to his children and he ever lives to make intercession for the saints. He did heaven right now, ready to become your Jehovah Jireh. He did heaven right now, ready to bless you. He did heaven right now, ready to provide for you. He did heaven right now, ready to deliver you.

He's just waiting for you to get up out of that bed, bring your Isaac to the altar, be willing to get rid of your Isaac, to free him up, to know that you fear him so he can show you what Calvary can do in the tricked up, jacked up, messed up, contradictory situations in your life. If you've been listening to our broadcast and you have not personally trusted Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins so that he can give you the gift of eternal life right now, I want you to go to God and transfer your trust from any and everything else except the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins and arose from the dead. In fact, I'm going to say a little prayer and you can repeat it after me, but you just have to mean it for yourself. Heavenly Father, I know I'm a sinner and that I can't save myself.

I believe Jesus Christ, your Son, died on the cross in my place for my sin, and I now am trusting him alone to forgive me and to give me the gift of eternal life that he promised to give to anyone who came to him for it. Thank you for saving me and help me from this day forward to live a life pleasing to you. Congratulations.

Welcome to the family. God bless you. If you just prayed that prayer with Dr. Evans, we want to encourage you to get involved in a good Bible-teaching church so you can grow in your faith and impact. We also invite you to visit us at tonyevans.org. When you click the link that simply says Jesus, you'll find a video message from Tony about what it means to be a Christian, and he'll walk you through everything you need to know to start your brand-new life.

Copies of today's lesson are available on both CD and as a digital download. Just check with us for information on the message titled Jehovah Jireh the Lord Will Provide. Or better yet, get all 14 messages in this powerful two-volume collection Knowing God's Names. If you contact us right away and make a donation to support Tony's ministry, we'll send the complete two-volume collection as our way of saying thanks. And as an extra bonus, we'll also include Dr. Evans' devotional book I told you about earlier, Experiencing the Power of God's Names. Just visit tonyevans.org for all the details. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222.

Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. For too many people, there's church life and real life, two different realities that weaken our faith and perpetuate our problems. On Monday, Dr. Evans will talk about how that can change when God becomes our banner of victory. I hope you'll be with us. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.