In the Thicket: The Providence of God 1
God only knows where the seed came from. But there was a seed, and it took root. It endured the baking heat of the dry season, and the pounding rain of the wet season. It held out its leaves and ate sunlight. It pushed down it’s roots and drank moisture from the soil. It grew year upon year, intermeshing with the neighbouring vegetation until it became a thicket. It must have grown good and strong by the time the ram came by.
God only knows where that ram came from. Did they have wild rams back then? Did it escape from an unwary shepherd? Was it wandering lonely looking for a fight to become dominant over a herd? We can’t and won’t ever know. What we do know is that for some reason it desired to stick it’s head in the thicket, maybe to get at some green grass growing in the shade of the brambly branches. Then the ram’s horns became stuck. It’s hard, dangerous horns, the symbol of its power and might, caught amongst the leaves. It must have tried to escape, to break free. But the plant, nothing but root and branch and leaf, proved stronger than the muscle and bone of the beast. It was entangled, and it stayed that way until a very old man came bounding towards it, whooping and cheering the praises of God, wielding a mercifully clean blade, and accepting this sudden gift from the hand of the all powerful creator.
God only knows what Abraham thought was going on when he received the command to sacrifice Isaak. Abraham was not a violent man, and had even pleaded with God to save wicked Sodom. He had waited prayerfully and patiently for years for the miracle birth of his only son to be born by Sarah, and now he was supposed to give him back by bloodshed?! What would you think about that? How would you feel if it were you?
Abraham, surprisingly, was not disobedient: he rose early in the morning, he gathered his wood for the fire, and he journeyed to God’s specific location, a mountain in Moriah. But if we think that Abraham was without hope, or that he was in bitter distress, or that he was angry at God, we would be wrong. Before he and Isaak began the ascent up the hill, Abraham told his servant he would return with the boy. Then, when Isaak asked his father where the offering was, Abraham told him the Lord would provide. Abraham didn’t know how God was going to do it, but he knew that God would do something.
Abraham, the father of faith, had shown his trust in the Lord. He had been willing to travel to the mountain God showed him, even willing to sacrifice his own son. Abraham was convinced that God would fulfill His promise to give offspring through Isaak, even if that meant Isaak would need to come back from the dead. At the final moment, when Abraham’s faith and obedience were perfectly united, an angel stayed Abraham’s knife wielding hand. Then the angel pointed to a substitute sacrifice, a ram caught by the horns in a thicket. Abraham had not seen it before, even though God had been preparing that moment for years. And after offering up the ram, the one that God provided, Abraham gave the place a new name, Yahweh Yireh, “The Lord will see”. He had told his son that God would see to their need, and God had provided.
The word provision means ‘see to’. To provide something means to see to it that something necessary is delivered or accomplished. And it is the root of our word providence, a theological term that explores how God cares for all things and accomplishes his will in the world. He sees to it that His creation is sustained, that His people are saved, and that His promises are kept. In a series of posts, I want to explore God’s providence in scripture in order for us to have that same faith that Abraham did, that no matter what the problem we face, or what the cost of following Christ, God will see to it that His will and promises are fulfilled for us.