The Road to Moriah: The Lord Provides
Our sermon series for Lent this year is called “The Road to Moriah.” It is based on Genesis 22 where God asks Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on the mountain that God directs. That mountain is Moriah and the whole event is a foreshadowing of what God is going to do with his one and only son Jesus.
While about a day out from Moriah, Abraham and Isaac leave the servants behind and as they are walking, Isaac observes that they brought along the fire and the wood for the burnt offering but no sacrifice or lamb for the offering. Abraham then says the Lord will provide.
God indeed does provide for us. There are at least 169 bible verses that refer to ways that God provides for us. What many Christians struggle with is the distribution of God’s provision. Why does God not provide equally? Why do some seem to receive more while others receive less? The answer to those questions is found in the fact that God does not want to see us merely as a source of providing our material possessions. Acquiring things is not the goal in this life.
God differentiates between our needs and wants because he knows that where our treasure is, there our heart is also. He wants our focus on our home in heaven, our eternal home and not on this earthly home. According to Ephesians 3:20, God can do more for us than we can ask or imagine. What is important for us, however, is not earthly things, but our eternal righteousness.
Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord’s prayer for our daily provisions, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Jesus also reminds us that our Heavenly Father knows we need those things. What he wants us to focus on is seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. Join us this Sunday as we learn about God’s provision for us in Christ.
-Pastor Ken Harste