Friday, January 31, 2014
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We were in Phoenix on a ministry trip, and the last thing I expected was to be leaving something there when we were ready to come back. But we did, or rather my wife did. She decided to leave her gall bladder there. She had unexpected major surgery about 2,500 miles from home. I thought I was going to be back to my office, of course, that week. And I needed all kinds of files and reports urgently. So, I asked our office to mail me my office overnight while my wife is getting the surgery we hadn't expected. So they boxed everything up and sent it by a mail service that guarantees "next day delivery" by 10:30 A.M. So, the next morning I happened to be talking on an outdoor pay phone (Remember those?) when the truck pulled up. The driver made a mad dash toward me, handed me my package breathlessly, and I looked at my watch-10:27 A.M.! They're good! I was impressed. Just in time, but in time.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "On Time Delivery."
Our word for today from the Word of God; we're in Genesis 22, and it talks about the day that God got a new name. It's one that's been especially important to many of us-Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. It happened on the mountain where Abraham was bringing his son, Isaac. God was testing the faith of this great man of faith by asking him to be willing to sacrifice what he loved most on that mountain-his son.
And so it says in verse 2, "Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'" Abraham's most precious possession. He obeys God. He takes the wood for sacrifice up there. They're at the top of the mountain. He puts him on the altar.
Here's what it says, "He bound his son, Isaac, laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, 'Abraham! Abraham!' 'Here I am' he replied. 'Do not lay a hand on the boy' He said. 'Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.' Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its' horns. He went over, took the ram, and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide-Jehovah Jireh.
Well, it may very well be that you need God to be Jehovah Jireh in some area of your life right now. And you'll meet Him as Abraham did when God is testing you. Maybe you're going through it right now. It's Jehovah Jireh time! But notice God's delivery schedule. Just at the last moment, when it looks as if it's over, like the Jews at the Red Sea, the waters part at the last possible moment. Here the knife is in the air, and then the ram appears. I cannot tell you how many times God has come through for me on that same schedule. He'll never take you over the edge, but He'll take you to the edge. Why? Because He knows that faith is the key that unlocks His great power in any situation.
We don't have much of that, so He stretches us, pushes us, and allows us to wait so we'll develop the maximum faith from this experience. And God gets great glory when He delivers in a way that is obviously Him. And you'll end up more amazed by Him, more trusting in Him, more worshiping Him, more in love with Him than ever. The trick is to trust God while you're waiting, even when it's apparently past the point of no return. Human answers might be over, the time when our clock over, but God isn't finished yet. Faith even when there seems to be no way. You reach Jehovah Jireh on the mountain of the Lord; that place where He tests you and takes you to the point of no return and then comes through.
Well, I watched that delivery service roll in at just about the last possible minute, and they kept their promise of guaranteed on-time delivery. God's going to provide for you. He always delivers, and it will be on time! Don't be surprised if it's just in time.