31 Days of Praise | Day 14 The Lord Gives & Provides Faithfully

All praise, honor, and glory be Yours, O Faithful Lord because You are a generous, faithful God who gives and provides for Your people. Throughout history, from generation to generation, the Lord has given graciously and generously to us. He provides for His entire creation, ensuring that even the sparrows have food to eat. God provides and gives to each of us, even though we may not always be aware of His continuous work in our lives. He is always at work all around us and through us. In doing His work, the Lord gives and provides, caring for all our needs. This truth offers us the opportunity to sing God’s praises.

In Genesis 22, we see Abraham, the friend of God, respond to the Lord’s instruction faithfully, although he didn’t have a lot of detail to go on. He knew that the Lord had been faithful to looking after Abraham and his family in the past, so Abraham trusted that the Lord would provide for him now. God’s generosity and provision grow our ability to trust Him, recognizing that we can depend on the Lord.

Genesis 22:1-14 (ESV)

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. 2 He said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. 6 And 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 they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, My father! And he said, Here am I, my son. He said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. 12 He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.