My wife and I are reading Haggai (It is in the Old Testament and he was a prophet when Israel got back from being taken away from Babylon - his name means "festive") and thinking about trusting God and letting Him provide. First we read Chapter 1 which talks about how the Israelites got back and at first were real enthusiastic about rebuilding the temple… well when they worked on the temple the other peoples would attack them. So the Israelites kind of thought "Well, maybe now is not really the time, we'll just focus on our lives a bit and we'll get around to building God's temple when the time is right." They had really rich people that built opulent houses and they had really poor people that could barely find a bite to eat. In fact, most people were working REAL hard, they planted, tended the fields and harvested. However, their results were lackluster. God used Haggai to talk to the people and say "Um, you guys have been busy building ridiculous mansions and you haven't even started my temple… what's up with that?" "Oh… and P.S. - you all haven't been having supreme harvests or bringing home much profit because I'm withholding my blessings from you because you're not paying attention to Me." Brad's interpretation
You see, I'm learning through the Bible and life experience - without God being the focus of our life - we don't get to experience the richness of the blessings that God has in store for us… He withholds them so that we search after Him.
In the meantime, we got a letter in the mail with $20 in it that talked about being called to share God's love and growing our faith collectively and individually in God and realizing that He is Jehovah Jireh (According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Jehovah-jireh (Hebrew - יְהוָה יִרְאֶה)(or Yahweh-yireh, The Lord will provide), was a place in the land of Moriah. It was the location of the binding of Isaac, where God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham named the place after the Lord provided a ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac.). The letter said that this is what they were doing to show their faith and also to encourage us - it asked that we consider using a portion of it to encourage others. Well, it just so happened that earlier in the day, my wife had thought that it would be nice if we had $20 to go to the County Fair with our daughter (she's never gone to a county fair). So…God provided just the amount thought to be needed on the very day it was asked ( I realize that this is not a NEED - it was a WANT but God wants to bless us with our wants as well so the story still works). We used the money for the fair and we have decided that when I get paid (which may or may not happen in August) we will also send a similar message on and add to it - just as God adds to our blessings as we have faith in Him as shown in our recent study in Haggai.
This only gets a bit cooler in the way it is integrated together. Jehovah Jireh to some Jewish commentators see the name as alluding to the future importance of the place as the site of the Temple built by Solomon. It is interesting that we were reading about the rebuilding of this temple in our quiet time (Haggai) and that God chose to provide a time for our family to be festive - the meaning of Haggai's name!
I've had several other DAILY examples of God providing - yesterday I was talking to my business partners and they were each describing marketing activities they were each involved with and I realized that I hadn't had time to focus on marketing because I've been focused on getting work done… well that afternoon, a contact called me and asked if we would team with them to go after a stream restoration project in Montana. It is not a for sure job but it made me realize that God is involved moment by moment in my life and provides all - opportunities, jobs, food, shelter, love….all.
Thank you Jehovah Jireh for your provisions, help me to thankfully receive these blessings (like in the song "thank God from whom all blessings flow"), and to not tire of their taste as the Israelites tired of the taste of manna in the desert.
