Names of God - Jehovah-jireh

It's time for another post in the Names of God series. We have done a little study on the names Elohim, El Elyon, El Roi, El Shaddai, El Olam, Adonia, and Jehovah. Today we will discover more about the character of our God as we take a look at His name, Jehovah-jireh.

We first see this name of God in Genesis. To discover the meaning of this name of our God we go again to Abraham. We go to the day that an old man of great faith is asked by his God to do the unthinkable. We go to Genesis 22:1-14.

In Genesis 22, we go to the day that God calls out to Abraham to take his son... his son that he loves... and sacrifice him to Him. This is the first time the word love is used in Scripture. I think that has to be for a reason... don't you? God has always tried to show us, to teach us, that love is about sacrifice.

 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering

and laid it on Isaac his son,

and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

So the two of them walked on together.

Genesis 22:6

What a beautiful picture this was of our Savior. A small foreshadowing of what was to come. Abraham walked with his son, ready to be wholly surrendered in absolute committed obedience to his God. He walked on in faith. He walked on trusting in the promises of his God. His God who had given His Word that through Isaac he would become a great nation and all the nations would be blessed in him. So somehow he knew that his God would provide life for his son and life for those who were to come through the seed of his son... even though now He asked for his death.  

They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out,

bearing His own cross,

to the place called the Place of a Skull,

which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

John 19:17

Jesus walked to the place of His sacrifice and He carried the wood on His back and it was His Father that walked with Him, His Father who carried the fire and the knife... The difference in the story is found in this name we are looking at today... Jehovah-jireh, the LORD Will Provide.

Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked,

and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns;

and Abraham went and took the ram

and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 

Abraham called the name of that place

The LORD Will Provide,

as it is said to this day,

“In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

Genesis 22:13-14

Abraham's son was spared. God's Son was not. The ram that spared Isaac... was a picture of the Lamb that would not be spared in order to not only spare Isaac, but to spare you and I. The Lord would provide the sacrifice that was needed. It would be God who would take His Son, His Only Begotten Son, His Son Whom He loved, and sacrifice Him... for us. 

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said,

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29

For God so loved the world,

that He gave His only begotten Son,

 that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,

but have eternal life. 

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,

but that the world might be saved through Him.  

John 3:16-17

It would be God who would provide the sacrifice for our sin. However the sacrifice for our sin is not the only necessity that our God has promised to provide.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:11

And my God will supply all your needs

according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:19

Our God promises to supply our daily needs. He knows what we need. He has promised to meet those needs according to His riches... according to His will... according to His way. He always provides what is best when it is best.

Last year I found myself clinging to a particular Psalm all year... over and over I would come back to the promises of my God and would hold on to them for dear life. That Psalm was Psalm 34. As I read threw this Psalm I noticed the repeating of the word "all". It was this word that I clung to as I held on to this Word of my God, my God whose name is Jehovah-jireh.

 I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the LORD;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.

 O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
O fear the LORD, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry. 

 The face of the LORD is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.