Tuesday - A Dose of Daily Inspiration

Week Five, Day Two

The Name

The Hebrew word raah (RA-ah, from which yireh is derived) means "to see." In this case, it is translated as "provide." Since God sees the future as well as the past and the present, he is able to anticipate and provide for what is needed. Interestingly the English word "provision" is made up of two Latin words that mean "to see beforehand." When you pray to Yahweh Yireh, you are praying to the God who sees the situation beforehand and is able to provide for your needs.
Key ScriptureAbraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22:13--14)
***
TuesdayPRAYING THE NAME
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22:13--14)
Reflect On: Genesis 22:1--14
Praise God: For his loving provision in your life.
Offer Thanks: For the way God has provided for your spiritual, material, and emotional needs.
Confess: Any tendency to live as though God's grace is cheap.
Ask God: To help you obey him without hesitation or compromise.
A real man, a real boy, walked up the mountain together--the young man bent under the wood for the burnt offering, the father striding behind, carrying the fire and the knife. "But where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" Isaac asked.
"God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son," replied Abraham.
We have heard the story before. We know how it ends. But what if we didn't? What if Isaac had been our son, the fulfillment of a promise God had made to us? Could we have traveled for three days to Mount Moriah, the place of sacrifice, dreading the moment and yet walking steadily toward it? Could we have taken the knife in our own hand, willing ourselves to obey the command we did not understand and wished we had not heard? It is hard to read the story without imagining how Abraham must have felt. Was his hand shaking as he held the knife? Was his mind reeling under the burden of the terrible command he was about to obey? It is not hard to imagine his agony.
But have you ever considered it from God's point of view?
Watching the man and his son, did God feel something tearing at his heart, knowing that what he asked but did not require of Abraham--the sacrifice of his only son--he would one day require of himself?
As you read and reflect on the story of how Yahweh Yireh provided for Abraham and Isaac, try reading it from God's point of view. Try looking through the eyes of the heavenly Father, who would one day make the costliest of all sacrifices, providing his only Son as the ransom for your soul.
For more from Ann, or to own your own copy of the Praying the Names of God / Praying the Names of Jesus devotionals, please visit www.annspangler.com.