God Sees To It

Today's Bible reading is long and my time is short, so, in the words of Inigo Montoya, "No, there is too much. Let me sum up." 

In Genesis 22:1-2, 6-14 God tests Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his only son, Issac. Abraham does as God says, and as he takes out the knife for the sacrifice...

Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes, I’m listening.”
“Don’t lay a hand on that boy! Don’t touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn’t hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me.”
Abraham looked up. He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Abraham named that place God-Yireh (God-Sees-to-It). That’s where we get the saying, “On the mountain of God, he sees to it.”
Genesis 22:11-14

Several things struck me about this reading, especially thinking about it in the context of Advent.

The first is, how often do we stop and listen to God? 

How many times do we feel God urging us to do things, and we ignore Him to do what we would rather do? I find this happens to me especially when I don't want to let go of something that I need to in order to move forward, or when I have some fear or anxiety surrounding the direction in which God is guiding me. 

How many times do we pray for something, but not spend any time actually listening for the answer? Or expect the answer now, or be unwilling to accept no or not now as an answer?

The second is "God-Sees-to-It." Do we trust that God will see to things in our lives? That God will provide for us, guide us, support us, walk with us?  In times of health crises, financial insecurity, and just plain not knowing how to move forward in life, I sometimes find it difficult to remember that God is seeing to my life. How much calmer I would be and how much more smoothly my days would go if I could just remember to breathe and trust God!