In The Thicket

"And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns."

This moment comes in Genesis 22 when Abraham is prepared to sacrifice Issac, but God steps in, providing a ram for the altar instead. 

It's not a moment I've ever sat in. It's the provision that moves the story forward and provides its theme, another name of God, His very character, Jehovah Jireh; our God is a provider.

But how did God provide? Where did this ram come from? Did it manifest out of thin air? It surely could have with God behind it, but I'd imagine it had been wandering the mountain until it wandered into that thicket.

And if that's the case, that means God had brought the provision before the moment Abraham received it. That means the providential ram was there as Abraham and Isaac climbed the mountain and built the altar. That God had already positioned it for this appointed time of revelation and receiving. 

And what this shows us is that God is not only the God who provides but also the God who is working out our provision before we have the ability to see it.

When our lives look unchanged, He's working. When our circumstances look impossible, He's positioning. When we're crying out for Him to answer our prayers, He already has the answer in motion. 

I have a friend who didn't know how she was going to pay a bill. The day it was due, her boss pulled her aside to inform her that they'd discovered a clerical issue in her paycheck and owed her money, which covered the bill. The money was always hers, but she didn't know she was missing it. But God brought it in the moment of need.

God provides financially, logistically, circumstantially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. And when those provisions come, they don’t come out of thin air. They come from a God who is intentional, who writes the story and weaves our provision into it, and who was working for our answer before we even cried out in prayer. 

His provision is in progress.

I can't tell you what it will look like. I can't tell you if it will be the answer you'd hoped or the specific need or desire you understood, but I know He's a God who looks beneath the need, who sees the deeper places, and whose very character and name is one of provision. And when He seems silent, He's working. He's working right now for you. He's weaving your story. He's leading the ram into the thicket. And whether it's the angst of desire deferred or need unmet that makes our hearts cry out to Him for provision, He's with us. He never leaves us. He's working for us, and He's staying beside us. He is a God who provides.