the ram ...

“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 22:14

I am learning new lessons in trust these days, the kinds of lessons you only learn when things are not in your control.  And for control junkies like me, those are not easy.  I had a student ask me today about the journey that brought me to Augusta and I realized that it was one of the smallest moves I've ever made in terms of not changing employers and only going a few miles up the road, but by far the biggest change I've made in terms of the amount of faith it took to make it.  And just like in the Indiana Jones movie where he doesn't see the path until he puts his foot out there, I still don't clearly see the path in front of me ... just the next little step along it.

I'm still reading The Land In Between ... and the past few chapters have dealt with the growth God desires to accomplish there.  Growth is really never an easy or too much of a comfortable thing ... wish it was, huh?  Today I was reading about Joseph and was reminded of his faithfulness WHERE HE WAS ... and God's faithfulness TO HIM where he was! Never really had thought about it except that man, Joseph had some tough times, but God brought it all around for good.  But those 22 years in the land in between (as a slave, in Potifer's house, in jail) ... there was some growth going on as Joseph CHOSE to be faithful where he was.  I wondered this morning as I was reading what the story would have looked like if Joseph just decided to "get by" until God came through ... or took him home to Canaan (that didn't happen til he died!)  We are called to be faithful in the land in between ... and there, God is faithful, not to necessarily bring us out of it, but to provide for us in it.

I think that's what Psalm 37 talks about in verse 3 where is says ...
Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Dwell in the land.  The land in between.  The land where you are.  The land you've longed for.  Whatever that land is, be faithful there.

God doesn't often take us out of where we are so much as He promises to sustain and provide for us there. 

Think about Abraham ... so much land in between in his life.  And finally it seems that God and His promises are all on track to let him end his life in the sweet satisfaction that he has been faithful and God has provided.  Until ...

Until he gets the word to sacrifice Isaac.  I mean, really?  Pretty sure I would have dragged my feet on that one.  Ummmm, God, what did you say?  And imagine telling Sarah ... don't think she would be laughing at that one!  But ...

Unbeknownst to Abraham, something else was walking up that mountain. Quietly. Out of sight. On the other side of the mountain. Something else was putting one foot in front of the other. Only Abraham couldn’t see it.

For every step Abraham took, a ram on the other side of the mountain took a step.

All Abraham saw that day was his solitary journey of pain. As he got closer to the top of the mountain, his dread must have increased. I wonder if he asked himself any questions. I would have. I would have wondered why hadn’t God intervened? Why hadn’t God stopped this testing? Couldn’t God see that Abraham was a man of faith? Why test him in this way?

But there was no answer. There was no voice from heaven. And so Abraham kept obeying his God’s command. He put Isaac on an altar and prepared to sacrifice his one and only son.

And just at that very moment, at the very last second, when it looked like the end had come, God spoke, stopping the sacrifice. Abraham looked up and there caught in the thicket was a ram. Abraham took his son off the altar, replaced him with the ram, and offered the sacrifice to God.

Abraham named that place “Yahweh-Yireh” or “The Lord Will Provide.” (read this here ...
http://devotions.proverbs31.org/2011/08/a-ram-is-on-the-way.html)

 ... I've always been a bit partial to Jehovah Jireh as the name of God that most spoke to my life.  He has been my provider.  always.  Why I would doubt that He would provide now, I do not know.  His track record's pretty stellar!!  :-)

His provision may not be what we were looking for ... or even what we asked for.  But that's not because of His lack of ability, but because of His perfect, infinite plans. 

So, even on days like today when it is sometimes hard to trust in what I do not see, I choose to trust God today. A ram is on the way.