“God always has a ram in the bush”. When I was a child my mom use to say that saying. Have you ever heard it being said?. I could not figure out what in the world she was talking about. As an adult, I learned that it is scriptural:
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
Abraham had been summons by God to take his promised son to a mountain and sacrifice him there. It was a test of Abraham’s faith and loyalty to God.
Many of you remember years ago when there was a test of the emergency broadcasting system. They’d say, “This a test of the emergency broadcasting system. Don’t you’d wish that you could get that warning in life when something hits you unexpectedly and throws you for a loop? If you realize that it was just a test, then you’d probably respond a little differently. Apparently, Abraham, the father of faith, was aware that this was only a test, because the scripture says:
And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
genesis 22:5
Did you see that? He told his servants to remain while Abraham and his son, Isaac went forward to the mountain. Then he said, we’ll be back. Abraham was fully persuaded that whatever God had in mind on that mountain, that he was going to return with his son in tact even if it meant that He would have to bring him back to life.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
genesis 22:9-12
There’s a Christian song whose lyrics says “He gives and takes away”. I realize that that is a popular notion, and that even Job himself said it, but Job also said that the worst thing that he feared had come upon him. And if you fear a thing (fear trumps faith), you will draw that very thing that you fear to you.
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. You see, fear is a spirit, and what you have to do with evil spirits is renounce them and cast them out. Otherwise, they will cause negative consequences in your life that were allowed because you chose to walk in fear of what the devil can do instead of walking in faith of what God can and will do when you decide to trust and believe Him.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
genesis 30:19-20
We choose whether we walk in fear or faith:
16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
deuteronomy 30:16-17
God is a jealous God. He requires from us total obedience, reverence, worship and faith. And this is exactly what Abraham possessed in his life, and therefore when his testing time came, he passed the test.
We have to be prayerful that we are not reverencing, worshiping other things (and we know this when we ask Him if we are doing it or not), or putting them equal to God in our lives. Because when we do, we open ourselves up to demonic attack, and the enemy will execute his plan if we are not allowing God’s Word to rule and reign in our lives.
So whether we are being tested as in the case of Abraham, or a full-blown attack as in the case of Job, the answer is the same. We are to walk in faith fully persuaded that God is Who He says that He is and He is well able to deliver us out of the hand of the enemy.
So, when we say that God is in control, that means that He only allows the devil to go but so far according to what our confession is (fear or faith), and He is faithful to cause everything that the enemy worked against us to work for us (Romans 8:28).
Walking in faith means believing that He always has a ram in the bush because He absolutely does!
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
I corinthians 10:13
There Is An Expiration Date On Your Situation
There are times when we are so caught up in our situation, that we fail to see (or ask for) God’s ram in the bush. That was the case when my Mac went out, and the only thing that I could see was pain. I did not see my daughter’s Mac that she had stored right in my desk cabinet. It took me two weeks to see it! During that time I was just focused on how I could fix it myself, waiting for the tool in the mail to accomplish the task, and dreading having to take it to a technician (who could not help me) once I discovered that there is nothing that I could do.
Does God Care About Me?
Not only does the Lord love you with an everlasting love, but He also gives you great consolation in your sorrow; He can create beauty from your ashes, and we are to hope in His promises (II Thessalonians 2:16, Isaiah 61:3). “Hope is commonly used to mean a wish. Its strength is the strength of the person’s desire. But in the Bible, hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised, and its strength is in His faithfulness” (online library.wiley.com).
The Lord demonstrated His loving care for us when He sent His Son to die for us (John 3:16) and to keep us in that loving care all the way to our final resting place. It is through the power of His Spirit and His Word that we ultimately draw near unto our Heavenly Father and receive His promises into our lives as we read, speak and pray His word daily.
Pray this prayer daily for the strength to read the Bible and begin to believe God for the promises in His Word:
O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. Father, I thank you for being Jehovah-Jireh, the God Who always provides everything I need according to your riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. Help me to always walk in faith, believing You Who has begun a good work in me will perform it until the end.
These days I am happily pecking away on my daughter’s laptop (my ram in the bush, as I prepare to replace the battery on mine-I finally diagnosed the problem)!
And you know what? The Lord has a ram in the bush for you. It does not matter what your situation is: Jehovah-Nissi has scheduled your victory because every problem has an expiration date on it when you hold up your shield of faith and trust God for His promises to you!
<<<Sign-up to Download Your Free “Bible Verses for Faith” PDF here>>>
Grace and Peace,
Silvana
