“God and You”

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Matthew 10:40-42
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
Sermon“God and You”

There are a just a couple of things to note as we understand God as our provider in a very personal way.

God knows what you need. Our God is a personal God.We have a personal relationship with God.Sure we can worship Him as a family, as a Church family or as a community, but God has you in sight as an individual too. Last week we read in the Scripture passage we read from Matthew about how intimately God knows you (Even the hairs on your head are numbered!).

And we each have our own sets of needs and individual circumstances. God knows exactly what they are.God knows your struggles, your disappointments, your fears, your secrets. God knows what you need. It may be different from what I need, or from what your spouse needs. God is aware of your individual, personal needs – physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.2. You must have faith. Because of the personal relationship we each have with God, we must seek to strengthen it by a personal effort. That would include adding personal meditation time to corporate worship, praying to have personal conversation with God and making time to listen to Him, making changes in behavior, priorities, attitudes and so on so that my life becomes pleasing to Him, and I can honor Him with my personal talents and resources. lt also means that I must exercise my faith.

In Matthew 9:20-22,we read about the woman who suffered with the ‘issue of blood’ who made her way through the crowds to Jesus with the thought, ‘if l could only touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed’, exhibited that kind of faith and connection that is needed. She was part of a crowd following Jesus,but she stood out from the rest of the crowd by reaching out to personally touch Jesus,and in that she received a personal blessing – she was healed.

Hebrews 11:6 says,”Without faith it is impossible to please God”. Faith is sort of, a precondition for blessing in the sense of being in preparation of and alignment with the outpouring of God’s blessings.

3. God’s provision is unique for you. We sometimes get disappointed because we look at how God has cared for or provided for someone we know, but God is not doing anything for us. God has made us each unique. His provision for each of us is also unique. We cannot compare our burdens with those of others, neither blessings. It can be such a comfort to know that no matter how strange our circumstances may be, how convoluted and entangled we feel, God has a perfect solution. We need to stay faithful and stay in faith to see God’s unique, timely, sufficient and awesome provision.

While God cares for our temporal needs and answers our prayers for these, His love for us is so great that it covers us for all eternity. God has made a provision for us to be saved from eternal death and have eternal life instead. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life”.

Gen. 22:2 He said, “Take your son,your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

2 Chr.3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Scholars debate over if Moriah the same place – Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified as the sacrificial lamb after many centuries. Genesis mentions “land of Moriah” vs. “Mount Moriah.” in 2 Chronicles or the vicinity where the Jerusalem temple was built after hundreds of years. lt certainly is in the vicinity.

Leaving aside the history and geography of the debate aside,let’s note that Jehovah Jireh- The Lord provides – not only things we need in our earthly life, but Life for all eternity. It’s the same place where God provided for Abraham a ram to take the place of his son, lsaac as sacrifice so that he may not physically die,that,God provided his own Son, Jesus,to be the perfect and sinless sacrifice for our sins so that we may not die the eternal death that we deserve for our sins.
God knows what you need.

You must have faith.

God’s provision is unique for you. God has the ultimate provision for you – Eternal Life. God bless you to understand His Word and to respond to His Love for you so that, if you haven’t already, you must taste and see that the Lord is Good and His Mercy endures forever.