One of the most difficult things that we Christians must learn is to see things God’s way. At times, we seem to feel that we are in the most extreme circumstances as we go through our lives. There is no question that the things that we face are incredibly difficult to surmount. There is no question that we sometimes feel that we are close to being overwhelmed by the enemy and his wiles. There is no question that there are times that seem like God has withdrawn His protection and is just sitting up there, watching to see what we will do.

            In this day and age, it seems as though we Christians are close to being overwhelmed by the god of this age. It is as if the enemy has his tentacles into every area of our lives. Abortion is legal; there is no legal prayer in our schools; our politicians seem to be much more corrupt than ever before; the media sensationalizes the most bizarre events, making heroes out of thieves, rapists, and murderers; groups of people who hate Americans and want to see us dead surround us; Israel is becoming more and more isolated, at times even from the US; and crime, murder, and rape are more and more commonplace all around the world. What do we Christians do? Where do we Christians turn?

            We know that it is too much for us to do anything about. The way things are going right now, it almost seems as if things are too much for even God to handle. The battle surrounds us. The battle lines were drawn thousands of years ago. Things seem to be building up to some sort of crisis like has never been seen in the history of the world.

            We, however, know what will eventually happen. We have hopefully read the Book. Some of us have even read the end of the Book before we read the beginning and the middle. That can cause problems. God arranged His Book in the order that He did for a reason. He wants us to follow the progression of things in the way that He laid it out. I am well aware of how difficult it is to read the Word in Genesis-Revelation order. We, however, must be knowledgeable of what God wants us to know and how He wants us to know it. The best way to do that is to be so familiar with His Word that we have read it all and not just bits and pieces of it.

            God wants us to recognize and acknowledge Him for whom and what He is. He wants us to come to know Him in an ever-increasing way. He wants our relationship to develop from our beginning child-like faith into a mature, strong faith walk. He does not want us to get to a certain point of comfort at and just stop.  He wants us and our relationship with Him to continue to grow, to mature, and to develop. He wants us to become very familiar with each and every aspect of His being, not just the aspects that we like or can use. He wants us to draw ever nearer to Him as our Father, as our friend, as our protector, as our provider, as our redeemer, as our source, as our reason for being. In order to do that, we have to learn to depend on Him for every thing that we will ever need or want. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being.

            The next name of God that we will look at is the compound name - Jehovah-Jireh. These compound names, as we shall see, owe a lot of their significance to the name Jehovah. If you will recall, the name Jehovah reveals God as the eternal, self-existent One, the God of revelation; the God of moral and spiritual attributes – of righteousness, holiness, love, and therefore of redemption; the God Who stands in special covenant relationship with Israel; in contrast with Elohim, the general name of God in relation to all the nations.1.2.3.

            The Hebrew word that Jireh comes from is the word ra’ah, which literally means to see. It is oftentimes used in the Old Testament in connection with the word prophet, or seer. It would literally mean the eternal, self-existent One who sees all, and therefore knows all. We actually need to look at the Scripture that this name is introduced in if we want to understand the significance of the name.
The compound name Jehovah-Jireh is first used in the 22nd chapter of Genesis. In the first verse, God (elohim), tested (or tempted) Abraham by requiring him to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham’s whole life had led him to this point. All his life had been in preparation for this event. The great promise had been fulfilled, the supreme hope of his life realized. He had settled down to live the rest of his life in peace and in joyous anticipation of the larger fulfillment of the promise through the centuries, and its final spiritual fulfillment.

            Abraham figured that his primary job was done. After all, he was probably about 110-115 years of age at this time. 1.2.3.

            Can you imagine how he must have felt? He had followed and been loyal to the Lord for over a hundred years, with only one major mistake that we are aware of – his having given in to the temptation of hurrying God’s promises up by having a child by Hagar, his wife’s handmaiden.  He had probably done what we today would do. He had decided that he had served God, that it was time for the younger men to take over. After all, Abraham had earned his retirement; he had been tested and tried for almost a lifetime. Why should he not enjoy his golden years?

            God’s plan, however, was different. God taught us two primary lessons in this particular story. Firstly, Abraham had learned over the years to trust God, no matter what He asked or required of him. For over a hundred years, Abraham had been being prepared for this test. He had trusted God throughout his adult life. So, even though it seems that God was asking a lot of him, Abraham knew that he could trust and obey God, no matter what was required of him. Secondly, God knew that Abraham’s character had been molded through the tests for over a hundred years. God knew that Abraham would be trustworthy in this situation. Now, Abraham knew it as well. We, some 4,000 years later, can learn from this story. We, too, can show ourselves trustworthy, just as God shows Himself trustworthy to us.

            Another thing that God shows us through this story is a picture of another Who gave up His only Son as a sacrifice. God is showing us a picture of what He Himself had done before the foundation of the world and would not allow to manifest until some 2,000 years later on Mt. Calvary. Lots of scholars today believe that Mt. Moriah and Mt. Calvary are one and the same. How fitting that it should be so. The place itself (Mt. Moriah and, later, Mt. Calvary) is actually what Abraham called “The Lord Will Provide, As it is said to this day, ‘in the mount of the LORD it will be provided’” (Genesis 22:14 NIV). The King James version tells us that Abraham “called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.”(Genesis 22:14 KJV).
A third rendering of this particular phrase is “…he shall be seen…”. So, an overall look at this phrase gives us “in the mount of the LORD he (it) shall be seen (provided).

            Why would we have two different ways of looking at this particular phrase? One reason for this, no doubt, is that with God, to see is also to foresee.
As the One who possesses eternal wisdom and knowledge, He knows the end from the beginning. As Elohim, He is all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful. From eternity to eternity He foresees everything. But another word for seeing is vision, from the Latin word video--to see. Thus with God, foreseeing is prevision. As the Jehovah of righteousness and holiness, and of love and redemption, having prevision of man's sin, and fall, and need, He makes provision for that need. The word provision, after all, is merely a compound of two Latin words meaning "to see beforehand". We may learn from a dictionary, also that the word provide is simply the verb and the word prevision the noun of seeing beforehand. Thus to God prevision is necessarily followed by provision, for He certainly will provide for that need which His foreseeing shows Him to exist. With Him prevision and provision are one and the same thing. All this is certainly expressed in the term Jehovah-jireh; and it is quite correct and in its proper significance to translate this name of God Jehovah jireh, "God will provide."1.2.3.

            Possibly an easier way to see this is that God knew (and knows) what needs you have and will have before the foundation of the world. That is a difficult concept for us humans to grasp; therefore, we have a difficult time getting it down in our spirits. We must, if not understand, at least accept this knowledge. God knew what you would need before man was even created. He is all-knowing; therefore, He knows all things. This is an incredible concept, but one that we must accept and believe. If we cannot get this into our spirits, no wonder that we have a hard time believing that God is our Jehovah-jireh.

            Abraham and Isaac, as father and only begotten son, are both types of Jehovah's full and glorious provision for man's sin and need. John said in 1 John 4:9 the following: "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, in that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him". On Mount Moriah, Jehovah was teaching Abraham what He Himself was prepared to provide. He was teaching the awful cost to Himself of the provision of the sacrifice for sin. Did it almost break Abraham’s heart to give up, to kill, by his own hand, as an innocent sacrifice, his well-beloved and only son? Then think of the awful and infinite cost to God of what He was prepared to do for man. The thing that Abraham foreshadowed on Mount Moriah was realized, accomplished, on that same mount, when God's Son, upon the cross cried, "It is finished.". 1.2.3.

            Isaac asked his father Abraham, “Where is the lamb?’. That question was answered then by a ram being caught in the thicket on Mount Moriah. That same question was answered some 2,000 years later on that same mount, then called Calvary, when Jesus the Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God, was killed and His innocent blood shed for us today. He was our provision, slain before the foundation of the world thanks to God’s prevision.
Because of that prevision and provision, we can go to God today as our Jehovah-jireh and know that God, our Father, has already provided what we need.
Praise His name!

To Him be all glory forever and ever!

1) Quotes from "Names of God", Nathan Stone

2) Strong's Concordance

3) Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, W. E. Vine

2009 © JOE KELLEY