Provision part 3
There's a story in the Old Testament of the Bible about God requiring a sacrifice. He tells His man, Abraham, to kill and offer up Abraham's son, Isaac. And Abraham, having faith in God, agrees. The two of them go up a mountain and get everything ready. Then Isaac asks the 64,000 dollar question. He says, "We've got the wood and everything... where's the sacrifice?" Abraham replies, "...My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering..." (Genesis 22:8). Which can be interpreted one of two ways (or, in my opinion, both ways). It can mean God will provide an offering for Himself, OR God will provide HIMSELF as an offering! And, come on, we're talking about a lamb, so of course we're talking about Jesus. You know, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world? So God provided Himself FOR Himself in order to protect us. If that isn't the Gospel (the good news) I don't know what is. And then we fast forward a few verses in the book of Genesis and we see this: "Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means "the LORD will provide"). To this day, people still use the name as a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided"" (Genesis 22:14, NLT). That's so powerful to me. Because knowing WHAT God provides is important, but knowing WHERE to find it is equally important. I'm convinced that we waste so much of our three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) looking for love in all the wrong places. When what we really ought to do is just go to the source. Our provision (Jesus) is provided to us on the mount of the Lord. We can come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in times of trouble. We can look God in the face (in the mirror) and find grace in His eyes. We don't have to beg our heavenly Father for anything. We don't have to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows. Jesus sweated great drops of blood, and His blood redeemed us from that cursed dimension. Now we can walk in newness of life. Now we can understand, and experience, the truth that we have no lack because our God has no lack! The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands! We have it all. Simply because God loves us and wanted us to have it. That's why He gave it to us. That's why He gave HIMSELF to us. God doesn't just provide... He is our provision. He is everything we could ever need. And He freely gave Himself to us. For God so loved the world, right? We don't need to get anything, because we have everything we need! (And, yes, I'm still planning to talk about God not only giving us what we need, but what we want. That's for tomorrow. I promise.) We have everything we need... because we have Jesus! Love is the answer. All we need is love. When you start building on that Rock and that foundation, that's when you build something that will withstand the test of time. That's when you build something meaningful. Something that will last. Something that is worth building. And what I'm talking about... is relationships. God and people. That's what matters most. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. By filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Experiencing the love you've been given by giving it away. By sharing it. Ready for this one? Experiencing what you've been provided with by providing for others! Receiving it and releasing it. Freely you have been given, freely you can give!