Title: When You Suffer, Think of YHWH
1. YHWH Jireh (YHWH prepares)
When Abraham was one hundred years old, he was commanded to take his son to Mount Moriah, make an altar, and slaughter him, and offer more pieces as a sacrifice. When this command was given, Abraham must have experienced anguish and pain in his heart. I can't not obey God's commands, and if I do, how can I catch my children and tremble to death? At the height of his agony, he would seem dead. However, when he was about to take his son to Mount Moriah and tie him to the altar and kill him with a sword, God gave him the answer. (Genesis 22:12-14) "The angel said to him, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, do nothing to him, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Now I know that you fear God." (13) Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there was a ram behind him, and his horn was caught in the bushes. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in his son's place. It is said that it will be prepared on the mountain of the LORD."
In the extreme situation of killing his son, in the last situation, God opened the way of escape. God had a ram hung on a vine instead of his son, so that he could slaughter it and offer it as a sacrifice instead of ears. Ladies and gentlemen, when we face hardships and trials like this, God has surely provided a way of escape. It is to prepare a lamb to be slain in his place as a sacrifice, just as the Lord had worshiped him.
(1 Corinthians 10:13) “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. “You say.
Because the Lord knows that we are weak, He does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.
(Psalm 103:13-14) “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
For he knows our constitution and remembers that we are dust.” God has mercy on us because he knows that we are like leaves blown away by the wind and like earthen vessels that break when thrown away. He will not allow you to be overpowered and will make a way out in the time of temptation.
(Hebrews 2:18) He is saying, “Because he suffered when being tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Because our God knows everything in advance, He prepares it in advance. For those who love the Lord and depend on Him, God has already prepared this life before the ages. Because our lives are recorded in YHWH's book before we were born, if we believe and obey, God has prepared a way for us to live.
(1 Corinthians 2:9) “As it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man has conceived of all that God has prepared for those who love him.” How can we know one step ahead? Therefore, God has already foreseen what our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, and our heart has not conceived, and has prepared the way in advance. That is why He did not allow us to be tempted beyond what we were able to bear, but prepared the way so that we would be able to bear the test. Even in his agony, Abraham knew that God was a God who had prepared in advance. When I went up Mt. Moriah with my son, he went up with firewood. father is fire and sword
I went with Then, as the son was going, he suddenly said to his father, "Father, there is a fire and a sword here. Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" How painful must your father's heart be at that time? In the midst of this, Abraham said by faith, "God provides a sacrifice." In other words, God stopped at the moment of offering Isaac as a sacrifice, and God Himself prepared the sacrifice. In this way, you, our God, prepares a way for us when we suffer.
That is why He listens to us so that we can bear it. Then why do suffering come to us? Because suffering makes us mature. Unbelievers do not change even when adversity approaches. The more an unbeliever suffers, the more rebellious, rebellious, and evil he becomes.
Look at the snake, no matter how much it sheds its skin, it is still a snake, and when it sheds its skin, it does not change into something else. But when a butterfly or cicada emerges from the pupa, it transforms into something completely different. This is because, as believers in Jesus, when we enter into the pupa of suffering, the grace of Jesus Christ is with us, so when we come out of the chrysalis of suffering, we come out completely transformed. Saints are transformed and mature when they go through the tunnel of suffering. I remember the experience when I was in elementary school. Growing up in the countryside, when I was in school, I passed a paddy field. But when spring comes, a seedling is planted, and a sleeping dragonfly climbs up from the cocoon and comes out through the rice stem. One day, when I looked closely, I fell asleep in a cocoon.
I'm trying hard to get out of my seat, but it doesn't come off well, so I just put my head out and suffer constantly
So I will show you mercy and