The Hebrew word raah (from which yireh is derived) means “to see.” In this case, it is translated as “provide.” Since God sees the past, present, and future, he is able to anticipate and provide for what is needed. Interestingly the English word “provision” is made up of two Latin words that mean “to see beforehand.” When you pray to Yahweh Yireh you are praying to the God who sees the situation beforehand and who is able to provide for your needs.
Moriah, the site of Abraham’s thwarted attempt to sacrifice his son, has been traditionally associated with the temple mount in Jerusalem. Today Mount Moriah is occupied by a Muslim shrine called the Dome of the Rock. Jesus, whom John the Baptist called “the Lamb of God,” is thought to have been crucified just a quarter mile away from Mount Moriah. It was there that Yahweh Yireh (yah-WEH yir-EH) provided the one sacrifice that would make our peace with him.
Praying to Yahweh Yireh
Anyone who has ever been a parent knows how satisfying it can be to provide for the needs of their children. To give a child a home, food on the table, love, guidance, a good start in life—these are basic needs we love to provide. But even the best parent can’t meet every need—to be accepted by peers, to find a perfect spouse, to be healed of a serious illness. With our limited vision we cannot see even a millisecond into the future. And even if we could, we would likely misdiagnose many of our children’s deepest needs.
Fortunately Yahweh Yireh sees each of us clearly—past, present, and future. Because of that, he knows what we truly need. Though most of us might love to be matched with a “perfect spouse,” for instance, he knows our deeper need to be perfected within the context of the imperfect relationship we have already chosen.
God’s methods for providing can be so confusing. Why don’t I have enough money to pay the bills? Why doesn’t he heal me of diabetes? Perhaps God is simply parenting us “with love and logic,” helping us learn from the consequences of our own poor decisions. But there are worse things by far, disasters not of our own making. Why doesn’t God provide a way out of these?
For such there are no easy answers, except to look at the life of Abraham, a man who could not have understood why God asked for such a sacrifice but who trusted him anyway. Because of that, Abraham experienced God’s provision in a profound way. Today, let us pray that God will open our eyes to the way he still wants to provide for us. Let us decide to trust him. And let us thank him for the way he has already provided for our deepest need--our need for a Savior to help us find our way home.
