Jireh
Jireh by Elevation Worship and Maverick City Music has been on repeat for me during the last few months of last year and also into this new year (ahh! 2021 is over and I still cannot believe that).
“YHWH Jireh” was the reassuring word Abraham gave his son Isaac as they were climbing up the mountain to make the sacrifice of Isaac’s life (Gen 22:8). This term means in the Hebrew, the Lord will provide; the Lord will see to it (Walking with God, p 49).
I am now twenty-nine years old. Some might say that is still very young. Others might call me the dreaded word—“old”. Yet, I do believe twenty-nine is a lot in “God years”. What I mean is that, although I may not yet be able to claim the wisdom of an elderly grandma, I do claim the wisdom that comes with twenty-nine years of God’s steady provision and generous love.
I had my first serious conversion and encounter with the Lord around the age of thirteen. That was sixteen years ago. Yet, even before that, I do remember instances, glimpses, into God’s glory and His goodness. He was preparing my heart to be open to His advances and invitation.
That beginning may seem so long ago now, but really it’s not. If I could go back in time to that day, to that choice to get on the bus and respond to a friend’s invitation to attend that retreat in NYC, I would do every bit all over again—hopefully, better—but nonetheless I would keep my choice and I would choose it over and over again.
Recently, at a time of worship and prayer with my husband, Peter, my brother, Basilio, and a few other friends, the song of praise on my lips became: “You’re my best choice.” It later evolved by the other worshipers in the room into, “You’re the only choice”. Either way you look at it, it is the truth. In a moment of complete honesty, I could say with all certainty and boldness that choosing the Lord, choosing to follow Him, to live my life for Him, has been the best choice I have ever made.
We were reminded that night that, of course, our choice of God is preceded by His choice of us (Ephesians 1:4).
The humbling fact is that as we choose to follow the Lamb (John 1:36-37), we realize that He was the one that first invited us to follow Him, that moved our hearts to be open to Him, that He was the one that created us for Himself, and how restless we are until we rest in Him–right, holy Augustine?
I only came to sit down and write today as a way of processing my deep gratitude for twenty-nine years (and nine months) of existence, and sixteen years of knowing and following the Greatest Treasure I have ever known. There’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like a life lived with God.
I’m probably “preaching to the choir” here with whomever it is that might actually read these words. However, if I’m not, if there happens to be one person that is uncertain about following Christ, that is feeling unsure about whether or not a life like this will be worth it, if there is someone wondering if there can be any meaning found in this life, in the suffering, in the rejection and heartache on this side of heaven, I pray you read within my words an invitation from the Lord directly to you: “Come, follow me.” (Matthew 4:19)
When you follow Him, you will never be the same and you will find that there is no better life than this one, which is an anticipation of the full, eternal life that is to come.
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Grace and mercy will follow me all the days of my life