God Will Provide

“Abraham answered, ‘God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’” — Genesis 22:8

Isaac grew from a baby into a boy. Abraham and Sarah loved him so much. He was the son God had promised, the one through whom all those starry promises would come true.

Then one day God tested Abraham. “Abraham!” God called.

“Here I am,” Abraham answered.

“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,” God said, “and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there to me as a sacrifice on a mountain I will show you.”

In those days, people gave gifts to God called sacrifices. They would kill an animal, like a lamb, and burn it on an altar. But now God was asking for Isaac.

This is one of the hardest stories in the Bible. Abraham must have been heartbroken. But he didn’t argue. Early the next morning, he cut wood for the fire, loaded up his donkey, and set out with Isaac and two servants.

On the third day Abraham saw the mountain in the distance. He told the servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go up there and worship, and then we will come back to you.” Did you notice? Abraham said “we will come back”.

Abraham put the wood on Isaac’s back, and he carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together.

“Father?” said Isaac.

“Here I am, my son.”

“We’ve got the fire and the wood,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb?”

“God Himself will provide the lamb, my son,” said Abraham. And the two of them walked on together.

When they reached the top of the mountain, Abraham built an altar and laid the wood on it. He tied up Isaac and laid him on the altar. Then he reached out for the knife.

But at that very moment, the angel of the Lord called out from heaven. “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am.”

“Do not lay a hand on the boy!” said the angel. “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not held back your son, your only son, from Me.”

Abraham looked up, and there in a bush was a ram, a big male sheep, caught by its horns. Abraham untied Isaac. Then he took the ram and offered it to God instead of his son.

Abraham called that place “The Lord Will Provide”.

God never wanted Isaac to die. He stopped Abraham, just as Abraham had trusted He would. The Bible tells us that Abraham believed God could even bring Isaac back from the dead if He had to (Hebrews 11:19). Abraham trusted that God would keep His promise, whatever happened.

And God did provide. He gave a ram to take Isaac’s place.

Looking ahead to Jesus: Hundreds of years later, God did provide the Lamb. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). God stopped Abraham from giving up his son. But God “did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). Jesus took our place, like the ram took Isaac’s.

Read it in your Bible: Genesis 22:1–19

Dear God, thank you that you provide everything we need. Thank you most of all for giving Jesus, your only Son, to take my place. Amen.