GOD WILL BE SEEN

Hi there. Welcome to Don't Miss This, a scripture study podcast with Dave Butler and Grace Freeman. Each week, we point out things in the scriptures that we love and think you don't want to miss. Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm Dave Butler. I'm Grace Freeman. Welcome to Don't Miss This, our weekly scripture study class. All right, you guys, today, I guess the whole Bible is a continuation, told all one big story of salvation and rescue from beginning to end. But in particular, today is a fulfillment of promises made last time. So last time we focused, If you didn't get a chance to watch last week's lesson about a God of promise and just that phrase we'll use a lot in church called the Abrahamic covenant, just the collection of promises that God gives to us that we can anticipate, that we can expect. So today's kind of a continuation of that. We see some fulfillment of some of those promises and really some pictures of the kind of God he promises he will be and what that looks like in regular stories and in messy stories and stories of every kind. So it's just super awesome. The picture that we have, we have a timeline piece this week. Our free timeline that we have, I'm going to hold up the smaller one right here because it's easier than holding up that gigantic one. The gigantic one's fun. Print out these free timelines of either size. You can either print them out finished or you can be adding pieces along if that's something you like to do on a Sunday or something, or when you study the lesson, just to, that is in our newsletter every single week to download. You can get that at don'tmissthisstudy.com, or you can find that to print out on our app. If you don't know, we have an app that hopefully that helps, you know, everything is in one spot. And there is a daily section in the app that just helps create nightly devotionals that are simple and significant. Turn it into just a couple verses to read one or two questions for discussion. So that's awesome. If you want that, it's on don'tmissthestudy.com. If you're just needing help with, hey, we want a nightly devotional time for scripture with our family, that is going to help you out. So let's put this piece on. It is a ram. This comes from the story of Isaac. So last time the picture represented Abraham, This represents Isaac. Next time will be Jacob. And let's put this guy on there right in its spot. Oh, you guys were just loving our timeline. We're just loving our study. Yeah. Okay. Let's open up to Genesis chapter 18. And there is this concept that's introduced here in the book of Genesis. I mean, in, yeah, in the book of Genesis in 18 called radical hospitality. and it's something that you're going to find all throughout scripture. And it was a way of life for ancient people. And I, you know, I just, there's something about this kind of lifestyle that I don't know where it came from. I mean, I know it's a reflection of, of the heart of God, because if I were to describe him, I would say he lives with radical hospitality, with open arms and welcomeness. And so I just love seeing it in the culture of the people. But there's a couple of lessons that I think are really great with that. If you begin in chapter 18, I just want to point out this first. It says, and the Lord appeared unto him, meaning Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And there's something I just love about the fact that Abraham is about to have one of his most significant spiritual experiences with these angelic visitors. Some Bible scholars think one of them is even the Lord himself who comes to Abraham's home. And I just love that it happens in the heat of the day as he sat in the tent door, just the most ordinary, regular Wednesday afternoon that he's sitting there wishing he had a lemonade and God shows up and will promise him one of his most significant promises to him. They will have this experience with the living God on a Wednesday at 3 PM when the sun is its hottest, just sitting right outside the tent. That's what you want to mark in my scriptures. That's the first thing that I underlined is just, and the Lord appeared. And that is what he does. That's it. The Lord appears on ordinary days. That is a promise in scripture to me. That is an explanation of who he is. He shows up. Yeah. And there's just something about that. You don't have to wait for a Sunday for the Lord to appear. You don't have to wait for conditions to be fantastic and great and perfect for the Lord to appear. He just lifts up his eyes and he sees these three men who stood by him. And then look at Abraham's response. This is the epitome of the hospitality code. He ran to meet them and he bowed himself down toward the ground. And he says, my Lord uses honorific titles for them. If I found a favor in your sight, please stay here. I'll get a little water in verse four and let me wash your feet and please go rest yourself under the tree. We only have one in the backyard and I'll fetch a morsel of bread and comfort your hearts before you go on. And it says in verse six, he ran into the house, into Sarah, hastened in. And he says, make ready quickly, three measures of fine meal, the very best flour that we have, the ones we were saving for Christmas, get those out and knead it and make cakes. And he ran to the herd and he fetched a tender calf and a good one, the best calf that we have in the herd. And let's dress it. And he took butter and milk and he stood by them under the tree just in case they needed extra honey or whatever. And they did eat. And first of all, I just wish to live with that kind of radical generosity and hospitality that whoever it is that shows up at my front door, I would treat as if they were the queen of England. And I yearn to live with that kind of, let me give the very, very best I can to whoever it is that passes by. I was riding on a bus in Jordan one time on a trip we were taking to the Holy Land. And our guide there was saying to me, do you know what the rule here is in Jordan? And I said, what is it? And he says, If a stranger comes to your home, you give them a room and you give them a meal for three days before you ask any questions. Then you can ask them, where are you from? Why are you here? What is going on? I'm not suggesting that for safety reasons or whatever for everybody, but I just love the heart of hospitality there. that, and the reason is, is in those days, they didn't really have hotels or places of safety. Or if you were a traveler, which so many people were, you would find yourself in situations where you were reliant upon other people's generosity and hospitality for your safety and for your survival. And so it kind of became the code of living. And I just am so drawn to this idea of needing each other and knowing the only way that I'm going to be safe and that I'm going to make it is if I have the generosity of my neighbor and my neighbor has the generosity of me. And I love that. I love that that is the way that they lived no matter who it was. Now, I don't know at what point Abraham realizes these are special guests and that they're divine guests. And maybe that's why you see him kind of go above and beyond and get the milk and get the butter, you know, for these because of who they are. but in particular, I love the way that Abraham and Sarah invite these divine messengers into their home, especially in particularly if one of them is the Lord. And as they come in, they're going to come in with miracles and they're going to come in with promises. This is where they promise Sarah that she is in one year's time, when they come back, she will have a baby in her arms and teach in that verse 14, is anything too hard for the Lord? And I just, when I read the beginning of chapter 18, I compare it to the beginning of chapter 19, which is the story of Lot. And these same divine visitors go visit Lot in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. And you can kind of see that he lives with that law of hospitality and code of hospitality, but just not in the same way. You'll see hesitancy. You'll see, maybe you can just leave real quick in the morning and there's just a difference there. And this is what I think. And I think this section of chapters shows us really well, that God is intent and relentless in wanting to bless every single one of his children and provide for them the very best and the very greatest. But he allows us the dignity of choosing what measure of his influence will allow into our homes and into our lives. And I think the reason Abraham and Sarah see miracles happen is in part because they invite with vigor and with open arms the spirit and the presence of the Lord into their home. And I think you'll see, he wants to bless every one of his children, but it's almost like he gives us the dignity of choice to say, how much of my influence, how much of my presence do you want? And I just wonder what it looks like to live with radical hospitality for all people and particularly for God. Well, and I think those words that you see, almost like the hurry in it, ran, hastened quickly. And right now I feel like my life is so chaotic that it almost makes me hate those words because I like oh I actually want those three words to be vacation relax put my feet up That like what I like in my soul I like, oh, that sounds so nice. Until you read that story and you're like, oh wait, they are not in a hurry just to simply be in a hurry. They are in a hurry to help. They are in a hurry to see and get closer to Jesus. And I just think that like, I like want to pause and look at my life and I'm like, I think that we like use that word busy as such like a stamp of approval. Like, oh no, like I'm so busy in my life right now. And it's like, yeah, but busy doing what? Busy, what are you busy with? Like I'm just like busy doing chores and I'm busy doing errands and I'm busy filling my schedule. And when I read this, it just made me want to stop and think like, wait, I actually don't want to fill my schedule. I want to run to Jesus. I want to run to the rescue. That is how he lived his life. He had the option of what kind of relationship he wanted to have with the Lord and he ran to it. Yeah. And I think it's interesting because there is, I like that the hospitality code is inviting God in. Several times in scriptures, God says, I take it personally the way that you treat other people. And one of the greatest ways to show love and show hospitality to the Lord is to show it to other people. So it's interesting that that Bible scholar I read who said, chapter 18, that one of those visitors was the Lord himself, but he doesn't really know it yet. But disguised as somebody else is, I think, a picture of what life on earth looks like. That it's him saying, as you take care of these other people, it's as if you're taking care of me. I quoted William Booth last week, who's apparently a new hero of mine who started the Salvation Army. And on one occasion, he got to go visit, have a visit with the King of England and sign his autograph book that the King of England had for everybody who held court or whatever. And in that autograph book, this is what he wrote. Some men's ambition is art. Some men's ambition is fame. Some men's ambition is gold. My ambition is the souls of men. And I think you see that at the beginning of chapter 18 of what it looks like to live with your ambition being the souls of men and just how it's equated, right connected to this is the Lord that your ambition is. Right? They're just one in the same. And the miracles that we experience and the presence of God that we experience as we live out this ambition are shown in this chapter. And you love it. Your heart is won by the idea of that hurry, that he was in a hurry to help, a hurry to get closer to the Lord. And what's so interesting is just one chapter later, you get a glimpse into almost, it feels like what is the exact opposite. And chapter 19 starts and you get a lot. And it's interesting because it's a similar story. The Lot actually gets two angels as well, two holy men that come and visit him. And they start, you see in verse number one, and Lot sees them and he gets up to meet them. Just the same as Abraham does, except for you'll notice the difference. Abraham sees them and runs to them. Lot sees them and rose up to meet them. And he bows his face toward the ground. And he says, okay, here we go. Which first of all, like already, you know, like it's not like bad. Like Lot didn't like run away from them by any means. But he looks and they start talking. And you will see. And he said, behold, now my Lord's turn in. I pray unto you into your servant's house and tarry all night and then get up and stay and go like, you can stay at my house. But then like, once you're done, go ahead and get out. Like, that's going to be it. Like stay, you have a place to go. But once you're done, you're good to go. And they said, wait, wait, wait, we actually want to stay a little bit longer. And then you start seeing this conversation with them. And Lot starts getting a clue, a glimpse into what's going to happen to the city he lives in, Sodom and Gomorrah. And it's going to be destroyed with fire and rain. It's like rain of brimstone. And you're scared of everything that's going to happen. And it's terrifying. But what is so interesting is that it's almost as if Lot has the exact opposite response as Abraham. Abraham hurries and rushes and gets straight to help. And Lot looks for any excuse to stay. and he lingers and he stops and you see. And it's so interesting to me because finally, even like the tone that you read this in, in verse number 14, finally when Lot goes and looks at his son-in-law that married the daughters and he says, listen, get up. Like finally, it's like time to go. And when you see that word, like it reminds me of like the alarm in the morning. And it's like, hey, get up. It's like, it's no longer like you're in a hurry to go. It's like someone's waking you up to go to the airport at five in the morning. And you're like trying to find an excuse to stay. Like get up and get out of this place because the Lord's going to destroy the city. And the angels are hurrying and they're like, hurry, you've got to actually go in verse number 15. That's who's hastening Lot is the angels. Lot isn't hastened. The angels are. And then in verse number 16, this is like the highlight for me. And while he lingered, that's it. It's the lingering instead of the hurrying. And it's interesting because you know the story of Lot that they leave and the city gets destroyed. and it's all a mess. And we're going to get to that a little bit more. But what I think is really interesting is you see Abraham hurry and rush for a relationship with the Lord. And you see Lot lingering in his old life and finding excuses to stay. And in your head, like in my head, instantly I let go and I'm like, yeah. And then everything gets destroyed and Lot's wife turns back and it's all a disaster and everything's a mess. But that doesn't seem to be the story that is laid out in front of us in chapter 19. What you see instead is God never stopping the rescue. And you can go through, and I think this would be such a cool story and such a cool study, because so often this isn't the study that you look for when you hear the story of Lot and his family. We like look at the fact that they looked back. We look at the fact that they were slow. Yeah, that you shouldn't have lingered, that you shouldn't have gone there in the first place. Yeah. And prevention is great. Yeah. Right? And is that a story? Is that good things to learn? Yes. 100%. But I think the most important thing to do in scriptures is read and learn what you learn about the Lord. That is to me, scriptures are introducing us. Not like I'm never going to meet law in my life, but like I believe in the same God that existed in these pages. And that's why I care about learning. And when you go through and you learn about him. And can I just say this? It's just interesting. The beginning of 18, God appears to Abraham as he sits in his tent in the ordinary place. And then in chapter 19, God appears on the porch of Lot while he's in his house of sin. And I just think that is powerful, that the Lord will appear in the ordinary, and the Lord will also appear in our places of sin and mistake too. So good. And I would just say that should be the study of chapter 19. As you go through, look for the words and the evidences that point you back to a rescue story. That's the story of the Old Testament is a story of rescue, just like David said at the beginning of this lesson and go through and find evidence of that. You're going to see it in verse 14, get up and get out of this place. That is the promise of a rescue. Wherever you are in your house of sin, the call is you can still get up and you can be rescued. You can leave this place. That is a picture of the gospel in verse 14, actually. Um, the more you go, the more you'll see arise, get out of here. You'll see, um, you like there's, um, the words escape over and over and over again. And I think to me, that is the story of, of chapter 19 is that in our moments and our houses and our cities of sin, when we are in the worst, when we are on the night before destruction, the message from the Lord is you can still escape. you can still get out of here. There is still a chance to be rescued. Yeah. And in that chapter 18, I mean, I think we're encouraged as we read 18 to say, oh, hasten to the Lord, open up your heart, open up your home, open up your family to his presence and his gifts and his miracles. And there will be laughter, right? We get that again in chapter 18, like we talked about last week, that there will be blessing, that there will be miracles, that there will be reminders that nothing is too hard for the Lord. But I also, and that's true. And that is fantastic. I just love learning in 19 about God who's like, and for those who are not ready to do that yet, I will pursue after them and I will run and I will hasten to them. I think there is, there's this verse I was reading in the new Testament in, um, when Jesus walks on the water and the fishermen are out there and, one of the lines in that story that stuck out to me was just the Lord came unto them. And I hear a lot of lessons and they are good lessons. And I love emphasizing it to my own kids that we should come unto Christ, that we should pursue Christ. But I also think it's equally as important to remember that he comes unto us and that he pursues us as well. And even you see the part of that in chapter 18, start at the end of chapter 18. So that study of chapter 19, I think you should start it in 18. And this conversation that Abraham has with the Lord about that city that he's like, that I am, I need to wipe out. Remember that word that we learned from the flood story, wipe clean the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's gotten too grievous. It's now unmerciful. I can't ignore the cries any longer of the innocent. And Abraham starts to negotiate with the Lord in verse 24. And I love that he says, I love that Abraham is just seeking and looking for all the good in any good that is there. When God examines the human heart, I think he looks at it in the same way. Peradventure, is there 50 measures of goodness inside this heart? And he says yes I will spare it for 50 people And Abraham says peradventure there be 40 And he says yes I will preserve it for 40 And what if there 30 I will preserve it for 30 And what about 20? Yes, I will preserve it for 20. And verse 32, what if there are only 10 righteous people in that entire city? And the Lord says, I will not destroy it for 10 people's sake. And the chapter ends there, but I think it could continue one verse longer. And we know that that pattern would continue. If Abraham were to have said, and what if there was only one? And the Lord's response, I'm certain would have been, yes, for the sake of one, I would save that entire city. And that begins to show us the kind of rescuing heart that he has and that you're going to keep seeing all throughout chapter 19. And we know, honestly, probably one of the most famous parts of Lot's story is what happens with his wife. And that is going to be in chapter 19. And they're all leaving. They're all escaping. Lot has his whole entire family and they get one command. And it came to pass in verse 17, when they had brought them forth abroad that he said, escape for your life. Look not behind thee. Look, don't look back. That's it. That's all you have to do is just simply not look back. And I think that the best commentary on this story, maybe of all time is from President Holland. I think it's called Look Not Behind the Talk. And there's also the silliest, goofiest little video that it's like a new year's video. And it's called the same thing. In the diner? Yes. I love that video. It's the best video the church has ever made. I'm not even kidding you. It's my favorite one. I stand by it. I will say that all of the time. And if you, I think it's a really good lesson for anyone on earth, but especially for teenagers, watch that video. It's so short and it's really good. And it like, it's like really fun quality. Anyways, you'll love it. It's really good. But the whole purpose of the video is saying like, maybe the reason he said, don't look back isn't because of anything other than like, trust that God has something better. Stop looking back and you'll get trapped in the past. Look ahead and trust that God has something better. And I just think of so many times in my life, really, really good times when I just, I'm just so nostalgic at heart. It is who I am as a person. I like remember one time I was driving like on a road trip with friends and we were like listening to country music and I started crying and all my friends were like, why are you crying? And I was like, because I'm just going to really miss this moment. And they were like, it hasn't even ended. Like get a hold of yourself. And I still do know exactly where I was on the freeway. And every time I like take that turn, like I still want to cry thinking of that moment. I did miss it just so you know. Okay. And I still do miss that moment, but I am the most nostalgic person of all time. I think there's goodness in that. And I think there's beauty in that. And I think there's so many important lessons you can have in remembering, but, um, I think it's, I think that there's some moments that that can be a trick and a trap that we can get so caught up in what we have experienced that we might miss out on what God could provide for us. And that is the story of Lot's wife to me, is believing that the only reason God will ask you to leave somewhere is because he's promising something better. When he asks you to leave the relationship, he's promising a better one. When he asks you to leave the job, he's promising something better. When he asks you to walk away from the sin and the things that are holding you back and the habits, he's promising there's something better ahead. That is the story of Lot's wife. Walk away, don't look back because we believe in a God who promises better. And I think there's that guy in that video who actually says a line that just sums that up where he's just like, the problem with Lot's wife is she didn't believe that there could be something better than the life she was leaving behind. Because clearly there was something that was drawing her back to that old life. The reason that she went back, you know, or looked back, whatever it is. And that she couldn't believe that. And it's interesting because when you see the way that Abraham acts in chapter 18, you get a pretty clear picture. It's like, I think someone you really admire or like is coming to your house, which is why you're acting like that. You can just tell, you know, by how much your mom made you clean the house, like how important the person coming was, you know, to your mom, right? Sometimes you just have to tidy your room And sometimes you have to like vacuum under the bed or whatever, whoever's coming. And there is something about this, you know, this, this, this idea of, um, she doesn't turn. I mean, she doesn't follow. I mean, she follows a little, but she doesn't keep following because she doesn't trust who God is. And I think if somebody is trying to, um, increase their ability to, to surrender, they first need to increase their ability to trust and to learn who he is and what he has to offer and who he can be. Because if I'm saying to Lot's wife, I think you should leave and go to a new place. Her question is, who's asking? Who's the one asking? And that's one of the beauties of this book is Abraham, before we get to 18, has had experiences with this God who has promised and followed through and fulfilled and been so good to him. And so if you ask me to do anything in chapter 18, I'll do it because I trust you and I trust your goodness and I trust your promises. And so I think as we think about like our obedience, that is rooted in how much trust you have in the one who's asking and in how good he is and what he can actually do with what he says he can do. So those are just great chapters side by side next to each other. We're going to not do much with chapter 20 today, but we do want to take 21 and 22 and put these two different stories next to each other to show this, the character of this God who provides. If you go to your study journal, this is the Digging Deeper page. There are two boxes here for the story of Abraham and Isaac and also the story of Hagar and Ishmael. I think the writers of Genesis put these two in purpose right next to each other where you have this parent and child in this story where they're both is going to be a great need and a cry for help in both of these. if you look at the instructions of this, Abraham and Isaac is in Genesis chapter 22, and it says Hagar and Ishmael, Genesis 16 and Genesis 21. So we're going to be in Genesis 21 first. So 21 starts out so happy and great because Isaac is born and that promise is fulfilled, just like the angels or holy people said was going to happen. And then there is this, I don't know what happens. It's a dispute between Sarah and Hagar. It's not the first one that we see. And at the end of that, they just kind of feel like the best course of action is going to be for Hagar and Ishmael to leave the house. And so Abraham wakes up in the morning and he packs in verse 14, bread and water and gives it to them and sends them out. And they wander into the wilderness, it says. And then in 15, the water was spent and she puts her child underneath one of the shrubs. They've run out of food. They've run out of water. And here is this mother who takes her son and sets him down underneath the shade of one of the trees and goes off and says, let me not see the death of this child. And she sat over against him and lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad in verse 17. And the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and says, what's wrong, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand, for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the boy to drink. And God was with the lad and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. And this story is just so sweet on multiple levels. One, this woman, Hagar, is considered by some, as you read it, to be an outsider. Outside the covenant land, she is a foreigner. In biblical times, she is a woman, which is considered less than. She's just this secondary character, culturally speaking. and yet in chapter 21, not only does God hear her cry and answer her prayer, which is first and foremost evidence that all of us are a part of the human family, that God looks down. And the fact that these two stories are right next to each other is pretty compelling because the descendants of Hagar and Ishmael will become a majority of the Arab Muslim world that we know today. And the descendants of Abraham and Isaac in the next story will be descendants of the Jewish and Christian nations, peoples. And I think it is so telling, prophetic and powerful that those two stories are right next to each other and they both will include an answer to prayer. A reminder that God hears the cries and the prayers of all of his children, even those who feel and are labeled as secondary in the culture that they live in. Hagar actually becomes the first person in scripture to give God a name. In every other story so far, God has come with his own name. And he says, I am the almighty. I am the beginning and the end. the ones that we have seen. In this particular story, she gives him the name Elroy, which means the God who sees, the God who sees me, who saw that boy in verse 17, where he is. I know the situation that you are in is what this story reminds us I see the wilderness that you are walking through And she is able to see the Lord by seeing this well that he gives her a well that springs up or was already there, I don't know, out in the wilderness for her. And I love reading this and thinking and asking myself, where's my wilderness place right now? Where is it that I didn't plan on being? This was not on the goal page for Hagar on January 1st. She did not think she was going to be this traveling single mother in circumstances where all the food has run out of the pantry. That is the wilderness she did not intend to be in. But God provided a well in the wilderness. He didn't take her out of the wilderness, but instead gave her a well in the place that she was. And I believe that about God. And if we are in a place of wilderness right now and praying to get out of that wilderness, perhaps we can borrow Hagar's prayer and say, Lord, open up my eyes to see the well that you are providing in this wilderness place. And I just, I love this story. I just, culturally, she's just seen as somebody that God would not have any time and attention for. And this story corrects that misunderstanding about who he is. and it's not the only time in the in these two chapters that God provided just like David said it's like the most you get a glimpse I think it's so beautiful that you get a glimpse of God providing for a mother for a woman in the middle of nowhere that should be so overlooked and then right next door in chapter 22 you get one of the most famous and well-known verses and stories of God providing. And I love that both of them are right next to each other, almost as evidence that is like no matter who you are or what your story looks like, it can look completely different. The Lord will provide. And Genesis chapter 22 is the story of Abraham and Isaac. And it's one that you have heard and you know, and it is one of the most beautiful types and shadows of God and his son and a beautiful sacrificial relationship and moment for us that like is as you study this in your personal study, you will find things that will change the way you see the Lord's sacrifice for you for the rest of your life. That's just true. It is so beautiful. It's such a beautiful shadow of that. As you read, you will love that. And can I just say, I just think it's really powerful that something I read this week about this chapter is it's a really slow story. It's in slow motion. A lot of times in Genesis, I mean, chapters one through 12, we're covering 2000 years of history. And now all of a sudden we stop in chapter 22. And remember it was like a year past between, you know, in chapter 20 or whatever. And we get to 22 and it is a slow walk to Mount Mariah. There is more detail in here that on purpose is slowing this story down and letting you do, like Grace said last week, use your imagination and feel the emotions of what is happening here. And that's such a gift, this chapter, to do that, to take us out of the place of the gospel principles manual on the chapter of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And that, You know, people just talk about it as almost like this event or this thing. And to read a story like this that slows you down to help you see the love and the sacrifice and the trust that is in that story. It's like, don't forget this was a father who sent his son. Don't forget that when you talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ. And I think that's what it does better than anything else. It opens you up. It opens up your eyes to the emotions of the father. And you can feel it when you read it. You can see it, the heartbreak, of the fear, of the sadness, of the realization. You get a glimpse of that with the son as well. But I think that the heart of the father is spelt out word by word in this page, and you cannot miss it. You will know his heart better as you study this chapter. And you'll go through and you know, they get there and they finally get to the mountain and Isaac starts having these realizations and you get the promise. You start seeing Isaac start figuring it out and Abraham knowing and the sacrifice of a son and a father who realizes it. And Abraham looks at that boy, looks at that boy who's aware of the sacrifice. And he says the promise, my son, in verse eight, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they, both of them went together. The Lord will provide a lamb. And you know, the story of the son who gets down on the altar and he's laying there ready to die. here am I, he says, I will do it. I will be the sacrifice. And then in verse 13, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and beheld behind him a ram caught in the thicket. And the Lord did provide, not yet for the promise that Abraham spoke of. The Lord looked at Isaac and Abraham and he said, I will give you exactly what you need right now. And he gave them a ram. He said, here, let me save you in this moment. But there is a bigger need for providing. There's a bigger sacrifice that will be had. And that time a lamb will come. The lamb will come. It will be later. A ram first for your needs right now. A lamb later for the needs that only the lamb of God can provide. That was on its way. One for now, one for later. And a God who provides evidence throughout this entire story that he looked down at an individual story and he said, I will provide what you need right now in your individual mortal life and give you a ram. And I will look at a bigger need that you have to overcome death and overcome sin. And I will send you a lamb for that as well, in just as heartbreaking of a sacrifice. We believe in a Lord that provides both. He sees Hagar and he provides for her. He sees Abraham and Isaac and he provides for them and he sees all of mankind and he provides for all of us as well. We believe in a God that provides. And it's so sweet to me that in verse 14, Abraham calls the name of that place, Jehovah Jireh. And if you look at that footnote and if you see your poster, that's actually the verse from the poster today. The Lord will see or provide. And that evidence of the providing, the evidence of the gift, the evidence of a God who will be exactly who you need him to be, will be had with every time someone says the name of that mountain, they will look there and they will remember they have a God that provided. That mountain will stand there as evidence of a God who provides. And I think it would be such a cool conversation and discussion with your families, with yourself and your journal, with the people you study with to grab that poster, the word of the week poster, the words provide, and to sit down and to talk. When are your moments that the Lord provided for you? Where are the moments in your life that he gave you exactly what you need? And like Hagar, where are the moments that the Lord looked down and he said, the Lord has heard your voice exactly where you are on that mountain or in your car driving or at your kitchen doing the dishes or at your desk at the math test. Where has the Lord provided for you and to sit down and have that conversation? Yeah, I it's so I mean, this that mountain that they go away, the Lord sends him three days away from his house. And sometimes you think, why did you walk three days away? He took him to a very particular mountain, Moriah. And on that mountaintop, King David later on in the Bible will buy that mountaintop because of the story of Abraham and Isaac that happened there. Because it was so special to him. It's been passed down. So he bought it. And his son Solomon will build a temple there. And then years later, that temple will be destroyed. And another temple will be built in its place. And that is the temple of Jerusalem. And there in the shadows of that temple on the outskirts of Mount Moriah is a hill called Calvary and a garden called Gethsemane. And in verse 14, Abraham says, the name of this place is Jehovah Jireh, which is in the mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. The Lord will provide. The Lord will be seen in this place, whatever it is that somebody needs. Like you were saying, even if it's death and hell itself, that is the problem. God will provide. God will be seen in our wilderness places. And how awesome this whole week to just watch for that. In all those places that you were saying, Grace, that where is God seen and where is he going to provide for us? So just such awesome stories that really, really show their heart. Can I just say this verse real fast before we end is that verse six and verse eight together. And they went both of them together. Just this is a chapter is a shadow and a foreshadow to the how committed the father and the son are. that they look at each other and say that we'll do this together. We will provide, we will rescue together. It's just so sweet to read and think about. So hopefully you have a great experience studying that this week, and we'll see you next week. If you want to follow along in everything we're doing, you can find us on Instagram at Don't Miss This Study, at This Week's Grace, and at Mr. Dave Butler. And if you want to subscribe to the app or get our weekly newsletter, all of the information can be found at Don'tMissThisStudy.com. See you next week.