His Sovereignty Began in Genesis

  
This past year was my first year in BSF, Bible Study Fellowship, and we studied the book of Genesis. In the first lecture of the year, my teaching leader said that “Genesis was written to tell the Israelites that their lives were held in the hands of a sovereign God, rather than in the stars or the many gods of Babylon”. As we studied each chapter of Genesis, I marveled at how God overcame the sins of men and continued to show His grace, mercy and most of all, His sovereignty. My favorite example was with Abraham & Isaac on Mount Moriah. Just as Abraham raised the knife over his beloved son, the angel of the Lord stopped him and provided a ram to take Isaac’s place. At that moment, Abraham renamed the place Jehovah-Jireh, “The Lord will provide”. In the midst of his relief and joy, Abraham looked to the future and called it “The Lord will provide” rather than “The Lord did provide”.

This thought had a great impact on me. Abraham was testifying about the Lord, saying that God had provided for his every need so far, and he was confident that the Lord will provide for his every need in the future. So confident, in fact, that he renamed the mountain Jehovah-Jireh, to remind future generations that the Lord will continue to provide, just as he had for Abraham. As I let this sink in, it was as if God was asking me “How can you look around at all the blessings I’ve given you, all the evidences of my love, all the crazy circumstances that I’ve orchestrated in your life and NOT believe that I will provide for your future?”

I was so excited by this revelation that I wanted to rename my house Jehovah-Jireh! I opted instead to design something for my refrigerator that reminds me each day of God’s sovereignty. As I was designing, I remembered a piece of artwork in my mother's house that says "All that I see teaches me to trust God for all I do not see." The saying fit so well with my theme, that I included it in my piece.