Promise of Self-Provision

I know it’s not just me. I’ll read a passage of scripture, and it will land in a completely different way than it once did. There have been times I’ve listened to a sermon or podcast that highlighted some small detail that I had previously just skipped right over, and an entire chapter came alive because of it. I know it’s not just me.

As many of you know, I grew up in the church, but there was a pretty big disconnect with me and my understanding of God’s goodness and grace. The Sunday School lessons of the Old Testament stories were filled with action and adventure and the New Testament was filled with kumbaya and miracles. But I was stuck in confusion. God does not change – He’s the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17). But I was not seeing much kumbaya in the Old Testament.

I’m fairly certain that, in my childhood, I heard that all of the Old Testament points to Jesus and God’s plan of salvation. Maybe you’ve heard that the Old Testament is a type or shadow of what was to come (Hebrews 10:1). I never understood it until I was in my late 20’s. As I started to understand a bit more of God’s grace, I started seeing it in all of the old Sunday School stories and more.

One of the most well-known Old Testament pictures of Jesus is when Abraham offered Isaac (Genesis 22). In Sunday School, it was always depicted that Isaac was a little boy, but the reality is that he was probably closer to mid-twenties – or older! For a deeper look at this classic, check out my post One Opinion Matters. We see in scripture that Abraham and Isaac went through the steps leading to Isaac being offered as a sacrifice. Abraham was trusting and obeying God’s direction, and Isaac was trusting and obeying Abraham. Here I am struggling to get my kiddos to clean their rooms!

But God stopped Abraham from plunging the knife in his son and provided a substitute. There are so many ways that this one event points to Jesus, but here’s my favorite:

And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. Genesis 22:8 NASB

God will provide the lamb. The distinction between the lamb that Abraham mentions and the ram that God provided is simply a matter of age. This is a picture of Jesus, as an adult, willingly carrying the cross. Isaac, as an adult, willingly carried the wood and allowed his father to tie him up and place him on the altar. I know that if I were Isaac, I would need some serious counseling after that.

But it’s the God will provide for Himself part that keeps rolling over and over in my mind.

Months ago, I was reading a commentary about Noah and the Ark (Genesis 6-9:17). I was reading more on this particular story because of something I heard on a podcast that had grabbed my attention. And I couldn’t help but see the similarities with the two separate stories.

Most of us know the story of Noah and his family… and of course the ark. The world had become so corrupt and so wicked that God was a tad upset. It actually says that God was sorry He had made man on the earth. I looked it up (because that’s what I tend to do) and the word for sorry comes from the Hebrew word nâcham (Strong’s H5162) and means to be sorry, to pity, to comfort, to regret, and to avenge.

But God also saw Noah. Noah found favor in God’s eyes (Genesis 6:8. That word favor also means grace – so cool!). Scripture tells us that Noah was righteous, blameless, and walked with God. As most of us know, God gives Noah the warning of the flood coming, the judgment that would literally rain down and destroy all of mankind and instructs him to build the ark.

It took over 100 years for Noah and his family to build the ark. They – and all the animals – entered the ark to be protected from God’s judgment and wrath. They entered the ark – they entered grace – and God closed them in (Genesis 7:16).

I really don’t mind boats, but I absolutely hate the sense of vertigo – or sea legs – after returning to dry land. I can imagine that with the fountains of the earth bursting open and the floodgates of the sky pouring down (Genesis 7:11), I bet Noah and his family were rocked around pretty hard inside the ark. I bet there were more than a few times that they fell down, busted a knee or got scraped up.

But they didn’t fall out, did they? Just like Noah and his family, we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior – we enter grace – and we’re sealed (Ephesians 1:13). Y’all, I fall down all the time! I can trip on thin air and walls are always jumping out in front of me. I read a social media post about a clumsy person having their pronouns as oops, ouch, and oh no – and I completely relate to that! But no matter how I fall or the numerous times I fall down, I can never fall out of His grace.

It took about a year for the flood to come to an end. Noah and his family and all the animals came out of the ark on dry land and made a sacrifice to God. I would definitely have some wobbly steps after such a long time on the water! But what is it that comes next? God knows we’re all habitually falling down (especially yours truly), but He also knows we’re forgetful, so He sets a sign in the sky as a reminder that He won’t destroy the earth with His judgment through a flood.

As I studied this story through, Noah and his family literally shut in the ark by God, and then God placing what we know as a rainbow in the sky to represent His covenant He made with us, I find myself overwhelmed by His goodness. Remember that I started looking into this because of a podcast I listened to? The speaker made the observation of the word we get rainbow from.

The Hebrew word is qešeṯ (Strong’s H7198) and means bow (for hunting, battle), archers, bowmen, strength in bending, iris, and rainbow. Not sure who knows anything about archery, but the bow is curved with the two ends connected by a string or wire. If you were to shoot an arrow, you would be pointing the curved or rounded side towards your target.

When God hung the bow in the sky, the curved side was pointing up. When we see a rainbow in the sky after a bit of rain, the curved side is pointing up. Perhaps the flood was judgment – righteous and just as it was – and it was delivered by a weapon of war… a bow. But when it was done, perhaps the bow hung in the sky is a picture of Who was going to take the next arrow.

The fact that it was hung in the sky, pointed towards the heavens, speaks to me. Jesus took the judgement of all the sin and shame upon Himself. He made it possible for us to be tucked safely in the ark, sealed in His grace, by taking all of the arrows of God’s wrath towards sin.

He provided for Himself a lamb for sacrifice.

Since hearing that podcast and going through the research that followed, I’ve seen a few rainbows. I have to say that I have a new appreciation for what it represents, what it communicates to my clumsy self. No matter how I fall or how many times I fall, that bow will never be aimed at me. And it will never be aimed at you either. I hope this blessed you and brought an old Sunday School story to life in a new way.