Open Our Eyes
Genesis 21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Genesis 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
In Genesis 21, Abraham is faced with the unpleasant reality that his wife, Sarah, has told him to cast out Hagar, her handmaiden, along with Hagar's son, Ishmael, who happens to be Abraham's son.
And the Bible says that the thing was very grievous to Abraham, because of his son. But the Lord told him to go ahead and do what Sarah wanted.
And so, he sent Hagar and Ishmael away with some bread and water into the wilderness of Beersheba, where their supplies soon ran out. And it says that Hagar placed her thirteen-year-old son under the shade of a bush, apparently convinced that they were going to die of thirst.
Genesis 21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.
Reaching the Limit
Have you ever been there? Hagar was at the end of her rope. She had given up. All she could do was cry. She was defeated. There seemed to be no hope. She believed they were going to die of thirst, but she just couldn't stand the thought of seeing her son go through that.
Genesis 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? [What's the matter with you?] fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Ishmael prayed. He had spent much time with his father Abraham over the years. He had seen Abraham pray to God and get results many times. And now, in this situation, he lifted up his voice to the Lord for help. And God heard him and sent an angel. It's fortunate for Hagar that Ishmael had the faith to pray, because her faith was gone.
Genesis 21:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
The Lord Hides Our Provision
Hagar saw something. Now, it doesn't say that God created a well of water. It says He opened her eyes, and she saw it. Her provision was already there. But she was just waiting around to die of thirst.
Is it possible to miss God's provision just because we're totally focused on our problem? Yes. Of course, it's possible. It probably happens quite often.
What God provides for us is in most cases hidden from casual view. It's like the coin Peter found in the fish's mouth. What if that coin had just been laying on the seashore? Somebody may have found it. Notice. God does not hide our provision from us, He hides it for us.
Isaiah 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Hagar became aware of something that had been there the whole time. She had not been forsaken. God's provision for her was there the whole time, but because she had allowed the circumstances to get the best of her, she couldn't see it.
Are Our Eyes Closed?
Her eyes had been closed to it. Did the Lord close her eyes? No, she closed her own eyes. Do we have our eyes closed? It's possible. It was right there, but she couldn't see it, not until the angel calmed her down.
Is it important for us to cast our cares to the Lord and receive the peace of God? Is it important to have a calm heart and a clear mind? Yes. Then and only then can we wait patiently for His guidance and hear Him tell us what to do, and open our eyes to the provision He has already prepared for us.
Wait Upon the Lord
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him:
I'd love to include waiting on the Lord in this message, but it would make this lesson too long. Waiting on the Lord is simply keeping a calm heart and waiting patiently for the Lord to give us the direction we need. And He WILL give it at the right time.
But I want to stay on this idea that what we need is already there.
Genesis 22:2 And he [God] said, [to Abraham] Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
God told Abraham to take his son, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him for a burnt offering on a mountain that I will show you. Now, for him to obey that, the only option he had was to take his son, and go to the land of Moriah. Very simple.
Genesis 22:3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
Genesis 22:4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
There is so much symbolism in this story, it's hard to ignore. Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day. This is a prophetic picture of Calvary. But I'm sharing on being led by the Spirit. So, I'll stay on track.
It says that on the third day he lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. He recognized it. This was the first time he knew exactly where he was going. God chose the location and the time it would take to get there, and the exact mountain to go to. All Abraham had done was to be obedient and do what the Lord told him to do.
Genesis 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the [donkey]; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
Abraham's faith was speaking. God told him to take his son and offer him as a burnt offering, but Abraham said, we will go over there and worship, and WE, both of us, will return.
The Bible tells us at another place that Abraham had in a figure, in a mental picture, God raising Isaac from the dead, because the Lord had told him that in Isaac would his seed be called. That couldn't happen if Isaac was dead. Abraham was focused on the promise God had already given him.
Genesis 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
The wood was laid upon Isaac, Abraham's son, even as the cross was laid upon Jesus, God's son. There is so much symbolism here.
Genesis 22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
I think that Isaac was starting to suspect that something's up in this situation. I see the fire, I see the wood, but where's the lamb?
Genesis 22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Genesis 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Isaac was certainly old enough to have fought off his 125-year-old father. But it appears that he stayed silent. The Bible says about the Messiah that as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. Another symbolic picture of the obedience of Christ at Calvary.
Genesis 22:11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
Genesis 22:12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Genesis 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering [instead] of his son.
Where did that ram come from? Well, it was already there the whole time. It says that Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw it, his eyes were opened to it. God had provided for Himself a burnt offering.
Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
The name, Jehovah Jireh, means the Lord whose provision shall be seen. The provision was already there for Abraham. But at the right moment, he saw it.
Let me ask a question. Is our provision already somewhere in our lives and we have not yet recognized it? Is it perhaps hidden for us somewhere and we just haven't seen it yet, like the coin in the fish's mouth?
Take some time today to get quiet before the Lord and calm your heart and ask Him to open your eyes to the provision you have been asking him for, the provision that He has likely already provided, but you haven't yet seen it.
Listen for His still small voice, wait for the whisper of His gentle instruction and leading, and look for the provision that is not far from you, the provision that is not hidden from you, but is hidden for you. Ask Himto open your eyes to it.
