September 29, 2019 – Genesis 22:14

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide.
—Genesis 22:14

“The LORD Will Provide.”87 Provide what? The lamb for the burnt offering that he has commanded. We see in the fact that God provided the ram that became the appointed sacrifice, through which Isaac’s life was preserved, a dim revelation of the great truth that the only sacrifice that God accepts for the world’s sin is the sacrifice that he himself has provided.
This is the meaning of all the sacrificial worship—God himself will provide a Lamb. The world had built altars, and Israel, by divine appointment, had its altar too. All these express the lack that none of them can satisfy. They show that humanity needed a sacrifice, and that sacrifice God has provided. He asked from Abraham less than he gives to us. Abraham’s devotion was sealed and certified because he did not withhold his son from God. And God’s love is sealed because he has not withheld his only-begotten Son from us.
So this name that came from Abraham’s grateful and wondering lips holds true in all regions of our wants. On the lowest level, the outward supply of outward needs; on a higher, the means of discharging hard duties and a path through sharp trials; and, on the highest of all, the spotless sacrifice that alone avails for the world’s sins—these are the things that God provides.
If we wish to have our outward needs supplied, our outward weaknesses strengthened, power and energy sufficient for duty, wisdom for perplexity, a share in the sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world, we receive them all on the condition that we are found in the place where all God’s provision is treasured. If someone chooses to sit outside the baker’s shop, that person may starve on its threshold. And if we will not ascend to the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place by simple faith, God’s amplest provision is nothing to us, and we are empty in the midst of affluence.
Get near to God if you would partake of what he has prepared. If you would drink from his fullness, live in fellowship with him by simple love and often meditate on him,. And be sure of this, that however within his house the stores are heaped and the treasury full, you will have neither part nor lot in the matter unless you are children of the house.
—Alexander Maclaren