After believing the promises found in God’s Word and choosing to walk in obedience in their present testing, Christians can grasp the meaning of Jehovah-jireh.  The King James Bible says, “And Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh…” (Genesis 22:14 KJ)  After Abraham was found faithful in the test, he enjoyed God’s provision for the sacrifice to be made on the altar as a replacement for Isaac.       

In order for you to be able to express a life that says, “My Lord is Jehovah-jireh,” it is imperative that you understand the meaning of the name.  In Genesis 22:14 we read of Abraham giving the place a new name in the honor of God, a name for the encouragement of all Christians to the end of all time, a name which would enable them to walk in cheerful obedience to the Lord’s call upon their lives.

The names of God are His self-identification expressing various aspects of Hid being.  In Scripture, the names and person of God are inseparably related.  In the Hebrew language, the term for name (onoma) is derived from a verb that means to know.  Therefore, a name from a Biblical perspective is given to a person or place so others may know how that person or place is to be known.  “Name” in Biblical usage correctly describes the person, place or object and indicates the essential character of that which the name is given.

          Nathan Stone had spent a great deal of hard study regarding the Names of God.  He writes, “There are a number of names compounded with Jehovah.  Naturally these names owe something of their significance to the name Jehovah itself, which reveals the God of revelation, the God of moral and spiritual attributes – of righteousness, holiness, love, and therefore redemption.  The God who stands in special covenant [with the people of God]…  Most of these names of God arise out of some historical incident and portray Jehovah in some aspect of His character as meeting human need.” Jehovah-jire (yireh) is a wonderful revelation of God’s character meaning, “The Lord will provide… to see or to provide or to foresee as a prophet. God always provides, adquate when the time comes.” (Nathan Stone)    “It means ‘the Lord will see to it’ literally… ‘the Lord will provide.’” (Thru the Bible) Often the meaning of this name is expressed in the well known word, “Providence.” “Providence” means to provide. It means the hand of God is in human events. (Thru the Bible)  The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says providence involves foresight; “Applied to God, providence obviously includes the Divine foreseeing, but God in foreseeing has an even fuller and broader reference in view of the Divine overruling.  Providence, then, is the preservation, superintendence, and teleological direction of all things by God.  It is the Divine governance whereby all possible events are woven into a coherent pattern and all possible developments are shaped to accomplish the divinely instituted goal. Regarding individuals, …the whole sweep of history stands under the providential ordering of God, so the individual life within history… [may be] called to faith, built up in discipleship and service…”

          It is in times of crisis, trials, and testing that the child of God needs to destroy the flesh, recall all that the Lord has done and let the Holy Spirit speak through him the Name, Jehovah-jireh.

Do you have revelation of the meaning of the Lord’s Name, Jehovah-jireh?  The importance of knowing the meaning of this name cannot be overestimated because of the striking evidence found throughout Scripture of God’s faithful provision.