We all face difficult situations. There are times when we are all alone. We have nowhere to turn. We have no options. We are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. We feel we are drowning or suffocating. Maybe we’ve lost our job and can’t find another job. We’ve had massive medical bills pile up. Our debt is growing exponentially. When such things happen, where do we turn? Do we trust in ourselves? Do we expect the government to bail us out? Or do we turn to God?

Or think of the times when we feel completely insecure. All of us born before 1990 can probably remember where we were “when the world stopped turning on that September day” (from the Alan Jackson song “Where Were You” that commemorates the fateful events of 9/11). Our freedom was threatened. Our way of life was threatened. Our very existence felt threatened. Threats continue to lurk in the distance from Al-Qaeda and other militant Muslim groups, Russia, China, or some wacko who may get his hands on some nuclear weapons. Who will protect us? Do we put our trust in our military or do we turn to God?

Yahweh-Yireh

Yahweh-Yireh (or Jehovah-Jireh in the KJV/ASV; meaning Yahweh-Will-Provide) was the name Abraham gave to Mount Moriah in Genesis 22:14 (the mountain upon which Solomon’s temple was built, 2 Chron. 3:1, and very near the place where Jesus, the lamb provided by God, was sacrificed; cf. Gen. 22:14b). In the first two verses of the chapter, Abraham was commanded by God to go to this place and to sacrifice his son, his only son, whom he loved! Abraham had a choice to make. Would he trust in God or try to come up with a way out of this difficult situation by trusting in himself?

On the way up the mountain, as Isaac carried the wood on his back, he asked his father where they were going to get a lamb for the sacrifice (v. 7). Abraham, fully planning to kill his son (cf. Heb. 11:17–19), replied, “God will provide….” Abraham had the knife drawn over his son and was about to slay him when he was told to stop. Turning around, Abraham saw a ram provided by God for a sacrifice. God provided, just as Abraham said. When Abraham arose early in the morning to follow the Lord’s command, he didn’t know what was going to happen, but he trusted in God to provide the answer and solution to his difficult dilemma. Will we learn to do the same?

Judah’s Choice

When the nation of Judah was faced with Assyrian terrorists overtaking their land and their people, they were tempted to seek protection in the nation of Egypt with their many chariots and strong horsemen. Was this wise? Would Egypt provide protection for them? Consider the words of the Lord.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the LORD!
And yet he is wise and brings disaster;
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together (Isa. 31:1-3; cf. chapter 30 and Deut. 17:16).

Trusting in Egypt to save them from Assyria would get them nowhere fast. While Egypt could provide a strong military, they ultimately could not protect Judah because “The Egyptians are man, and not God.” Only God could protect them.

God instituted government for good (cf. Rom. 13:1-7, esp. v. 4). However, government is not a substitute for God; government is man and not God. We must trust in God and not government to provide for us the things we need. Will we learn the lesson God was trying to teach Judah?

Conclusion

As Christians, we must “walk by faith and not by [flesh]” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7). We must trust in God, come what may. Trusting in God means that he will provide the best things for us in the best way, even if his provisions don’t make sense to us or result in the loss of our lives or the destruction of our country. Consider the example of Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15, KJV). Or consider the example of Habakkuk, who upon learning that God was going to destroy his nation with another nation more wicked than his own, as he learned to live by faith (Hab. 2:4), wrote a psalm/prayer recorded in Habakkuk 3; especially note verses 17-19:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright (Ps. 20:7-8).

Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me? (Ps. 118:5-6; cf. Heb. 13:5-6).

Yahweh-Yireh – the Lord will provide!

Biblical references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV).

John R. Gentry works with the Eastside church of Christ in Waverly, TN. He can be reached at john@truthpublications.com.