City Life Starter

Written by Aisha Darwesh

The Word

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.”

Genesis 22:13-14 (ESV)

³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Mark 6:32-33 (ESV)

Aisha’s Analysis

Today’s verses reveal how God provides. In Genesis 22, God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and when the Lord determined that Abraham was intent in his heart to do so, the Lord stopped him and provided a ram for the sacrifice in Isaac’s stead. 

This gives us an insight into how we are to prioritize our lives. God blesses us with so many things, but when it comes to choosing between God’s blessings and God, our choice should always be God. He ought to be more important to us than the blessing itself. 

In the case of Abraham, Isaac was God’s promised child to him. After years of struggling to believe and trying to make things happen himself, Abraham finally got what he desired–a son from his wife, Sarah – who was also unable to have children previously. Isaac was living proof of God’s faithfulness and patience with Abraham and Sarah. He was their “tree of life,” so to speak. The Bible tells us: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12 ESV).

As life-giving as desires fulfilled are, our ultimate and greatest desire should be God. We can never get that twisted. When we set our hearts to obey God no matter what it costs us, just as Abraham did with Isaac, God’s provision comes pouring in. 

God provided a ram for Abraham in response to Abraham’s obedience and willingness to keep God on the throne of his heart. Similarly, God provides for all our needs as we seek Him first: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33 ESV). 

Application

When God’s promises are fulfilled in our lives, we can easily shift our attention, affection, and worship on God’s blessings rather than God Himself. This is a grave error because the things God has blessed us with are unable to satisfy the deepest desire of the heart which is God Himself. 

In today’s hustle and bustle culture, it can be really easy to give our time to everything but God. As a practical way of showing that God is your priority, begin to give Him the first five minutes of your day. When you first wake up, take a few minutes to thank Him for giving you another day of life and worship Him with singing, praying, journaling, reading the Bible, or just sitting quietly in His Presence to adore Him. I recommend getting out of bed to do this or you might be tempted to fall back asleep. 

Taking time to acknowledge God as our source and as our Provider will help us to keep Him first and keep us cognizant of the truth that He’s worthy of our worship and sacrifice.

Prayer

Father God, just as You provided the ram for Abraham, I am trusting You to provide all my needs, mainly my need for You. You’re a good Father and a good Provider. You gave it all for me, and I want to give my all for You. You’re worth it! In Jesus’ name, amen.