About 10 or so years ago, I walked into a used bookstore.  While browsing, I found Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. I had always been captivated by Mandela’s stance on peace and reconciliation, so I purchased the book with every intention of reading it once I got home. However, years passed, and I never got around to reading the book. Fast forward to 2021. I took a leadership course, and for the assignments, I had to write about various leaders. One of the leaders was Nelson Mandela, Fortunately, I had his autobiography sitting on my bookshelf. I began reading.

When I saw how this book that I had purchased years ago had become instrumental in helping me to complete my assignment, these words from the hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness flooded my thoughts: “…All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!” Who would have thought that 10 or so years later, I would use this book to complete an assignment? Not me! Therefore, the words from the hymn really brought home to me the message that God is a provider, and He provides exactly what we need when we need it. In my case, the book was provided years ago. There have been other instances too where I have proven God’s ability to provide, so this is not me spiritualizing something so simple as walking into a bookstore and purchasing a book. This is me recognizing that in small, great, present, and future matters, God provides ahead of time or just in time.

Abraham would agree with me, for when Isaac pointed out to him that the lamb for the sacrifice was missing, Abraham said, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8). And it was so, for when the lamb was needed, God provided: “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” (Genesis 22:13). Scripture is silent on when the provision was made. The ram could have been there all along or it could have been provided at the very moment that the angel stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, but the “when” does not matter. What matters is that God provided. Hence Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, which means the Lord will provide.

If you have a need, remember, God is Jehovah-Jireh. He will provide. Scripture says, ^“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).