He Is More Than Enough




, And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.” (Genesis 22:6-8, 14, KJV) To hear some Christians speak sometimes, one would think that God is totally powerless. It is almost as if this all-knowing, all- powerful, all-mighty God, the creator of Heaven and Earth needs help to do the things that He is more than capable of doing. Some of us it seems have a very difficult time coming to the grips with the awesomeness of our God and as someone once said, the greatest problem in the religious world is not an unbelief in God but our belief in a God that we have made too small. While the early church and those before them often exercised a diligent faith in God, we seem to live in a dispensation where everyone wants to literally see results and outcomes before we feel comfortable. It is as if gone are the days of unmovable and unwavering faith in a God that we knew was going to come through even if there was nothing around us that supported that knowing. On the matter of faith Paul reminds us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). In other words, we do not know what is going to happen, or how it is going to happen, but we believe God for whatever we need at any given point in time; a faith that says I don’t see it yet, but I know it is coming. It is this kind of faith that Abraham exercised in our reference text. When God asked him to offer up his long awaited and only son Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham did not flinch, he did not argue, he did not bargain, but simply took his son “to the place which God had told him of ... built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.” (v.9). As he “stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son”, I am tempted to think that even then he knew that that God would provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: but he was willing to exercise his faith in God, even with the knife in his hand, his hand up in the air, ready to slay his son. Up to that time he had not seen the lamb he knew would be provided but he knew that God would provide it, in His time. Space does not allow me to go fully into this wonderful portion of scripture but I invite readers to read the entire chapter for a front row seat to this magnificent demonstration and reward of unwavering faith. It is very interesting that Abraham called the name of the place of the offering, Jehovah-jireh, which we have come to interpret as meaning the Lord will provide. A looser interpretation is “the Lord will take care of it” and I really like that one best as it serves as a reminder that whatever our individual circumstances, our God will take care of it. Jesus himself reminded us “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” (Matt 6:26). If that does not send shivers down your spine then I do not know what will. Paul undoubtedly was thinking the same thing when he reminds us, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19). As I pondered the text and Job’s own unwavering faith in a God that “though he slay me, yet will I trust him”, it confirmed once again that regardless of our present situation, our God is more than enough to meet us at our every point of need and do for us far more than we can ask, imagine, or think. We remember the three Hebrews boys thrown into the fire, Daniel in the lion’s den, the crossing of the Red Sea, David and Goliath, the Shunnamite woman, and the numerous other examples in the scriptures of a God that has mastery over every situation and who is more than enough when His people exercised faith in Him. I have always believed that it is God’s responsibility to take care of me. Of course there are things that I have to do but having come to the realization that He is the Almighty God, I figured out some years ago that it was pointless of me to worry about the things over which I had no control and were things that He was the specialist at. Not only is He my provider (Jehovah- jireh), but when I need healing, He is my Jehovah-rapha (Ex. 15:26); when I need inner and outer peace, He is my Jehovah-shalom (Judges 6:23,24); when I need guidance, He is my Jehovah-rohi, my Shepherd (Ps. 23:1); when I need sanctification, He is Jehovah- m’kaddesh, the Lord who sanctifies (Ex. 31:13); when I need for Him to be there, He is my Jehovah-shammah and His presence is with me (Ezekiel 48:35); when I need to hold Him high, He is my Jehovah-nissi, my banner (Ex. 17:15). He is Jehovah-tsidkenu, my righteousness (Jer. 23:5-6); He is Elohim, LORD, all-powerful; He is El Shaddai, my nourisher and comforter, and He is Adonai, my Lord and Master. Did I leave anything out???? As these Redemptive names of God shows, everything about Him says He is more than enough for me, and for all who will believe that He is all that He says He is and then some. Our God does not need help. He simply needs a people who will demonstrate unwavering faith in Him and not make Him too small for their circumstances. Sure He often asks a lot of us and there are times it seems we have been given more than we can bear but once we learn to lean on Him, especially during the difficult times, we will find a God whose resources we cannot exhaust. The rent needs to be paid, the bills are piling up, and things are not going the way you planned. Perhaps you are looking for that elusive job and your spirit is just about exhausted. From your perspective it seems you are always a day late and a dollar short; there is never enough to go around. In the face of those and life’s other challenges, how big have you made your God? As you face your situations you may think you need Abraham’s faith. All that is required however is faith as small as a mustard seed (Matt. 17:20) and a belief that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). As you exercise your faith in Him and become aware of His awesomeness, may you realize also that He does not need your help to do the things He is a specialist at. Simply do your part and leave the rest up to Him. It is only then that you will fully realize that He is more than enough. Always has been. Always will be. He is Elohim; He is LORD.