Timely provisions from God
PROVIDENCE
Have you had the experience that at the right moment the right door opened, providing in your need?
At the crucial moment — when Abraham lifted his knife to sacrifice his only son — an angel stopped him and provided a ram as substitute for Isaac.
Abraham’s promise to his son was fulfilled: “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Gen. 22:8). On the same Mount Moriah, God later indeed provided the Lamb of God, his only Son (John 1:29, 3:16).
God used the competition among Jacob’s wives (Leah and Rachel) and their handmaidens (Bilhah and Zilpah) to provide 12 sons who became the tribes of Israel.
Jacob’s favouritism towards Joseph aroused his brothers’ hatred, spurring them to sell Joseph as a slave to Egypt. God used this tragic discord in Jacob’s family to provide for them during a severe drought. Joseph, the slave and prisoner, rose to fame when God revealed the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams to him. The king appointed him as governor to guide Egypt through the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine.
As there were still five years of famine ahead, Joseph let his family settle in Egypt. Over 430 years, they became a nation enslaved by the Egyptians. At the right time, God prepared Moses, a Hebrew who grew up in the Egyptian palace, to lead Israel to freedom. Exodus literally means out-road.
Their freedom and the Egyptians’ defeat spurred them to songs of praise. Their joy turned to moaning when hunger and thirst overcame them in the Sinai desert. God miraculously provided abundant manna, birds and water for a desperate nation.
When Israel faced formidable nations to conquer the Promised Land, God sent hornets in front of them, causing havoc among their enemies, so that one Hebrew soldier chased thousands of the enemy (Ex. 23:28, Deut. 7:20, 32:30, Josh. 23:10, 24:12).
Naomi and Ruth, both poor widows, arrived from Moab (a hostile country) in Bethlehem (house of bread) without a morsel to eat. Ruth gleaned with other poor, picking up heads of grain that fell from the harvesters’ sheaves. She did not know that she was gleaning on the field of Boaz, a wealthy bachelor, who would become her husband. She also did not know that the Davidic dynasty would emerge from them. God’s hand is present in small mercies.
David took delicacies to his brothers who were soldiers in Israel’s army, facing the Philistine army and their champion, the gigantic Goliath. David did not plan to become involved in war; watching the battle would be good enough. God had other plans. The Spirit spurred him to take on the brute everyone feared. He won and suddenly became the nation’s hero.