Jehovah Jireh

“And the manna stopped on the next day after they had eaten the old grain of the land. And there was no more manna to the sons of Israel, but they ate the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:12)

God had sent manna for the Israelites to eat because they had no food to eat in the desert. God miraculously provided what they needed. “And the sons of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a land in which people lived. They ate manna until they came into the borders of the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 16:35) He is Jehovah Jireh, the Provider. Once they arrived in the Promised Land, they found grain there to eat. Our Scripture of study reads that they ate old grain. What this means is that it was stored grain from the previous harvest, not that it was old as expired or stale. There was no more need of the miracle anymore. The manna stopped and the people could eat the grain of the land of Canaan.

What we see here is that God was truly Jehovah Jireh to the people of Israel. When they wandered in the desert for forty years, their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out. Our shoes look shabby after a year or so of wear. I imagine that trotting through the desert might be hard on shoes. Yet their shoes lasted forty years. Moses told them, “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not become old on you, and your shoe has not become old on your foot.” (Deuteronomy 29:5)

This has implications for us. We want a miracle for our situation when many times one is not necessary. Our situation may require a change in attitude or action on our part which we are not willing to make. But the Lord is not going to provide a miracle when we don’t need one or when one is not required. But His compassion and love miraculously will provide for us what we need when there is no way that we are able to get what we need. Many are the testimonies of people who had nothing to eat and miraculously God provided. I’ve heard the testimony of a man who didn’t even have a dime to buy anything. He was walking somewhere when he found a $5 bill on the ground. There’s the testimony of a mom who didn’t have any money for school clothes for her two daughters. She found a box next to a dumpster and in the box were clothes that fit her two daughters for school. God is still Jehovah Jireh. “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap, having neither storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them. How much more are you better than the birds?” (Luke 12:24)

We first find that God is a provider when Abraham is told to sacrifice his son. Abraham was willing knowing that God had made a covenant with him for generations through Isaac, the promised son. (Genesis 22:1-6) He tells his son, “And Isaac spoke to 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? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they both went together.” (Genesis 22:7-8) Abraham was convinced in his heart that God would keep His covenant. He didn’t know how or what, but even if he did kill his son, God was able to restore him because of His promise. And just when he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel stops him. (Genesis 22:9-12) God then provides the sacrifice. “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 in the stead of his son. 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.” (Genesis 22:13-14 KJV)

We have a promise also from the Lord. “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) Just like Abraham believed God’s promise in the face of desperate need and was obedient, we too must believe God and be obedient. It may be that God would ask you out of your need to provide for someone else. Having God’s promise we can be obedient even if God asks us to give another our last meal, our only coat or whatever the Lord asks you to do. It’s faith that even if we do give our last meal or our only coat, God will provide what we need.