As I walked to the car, I prayed over and over, “God, what are we going to do? Please help us.” I had met with the director of my daughter’s preschool about our past due balance. They had been very understanding of our situation, but it was right before Christmas and they needed us to pay our balance in full so that they could make payroll.
What frustrated me so much about the situation we were in is that it was no fault of our own. It wasn’t like my husband was out of work. He was just not getting paid for the work that he was doing. His job had switched over to a new pay system at the beginning of October. There was a glitch in the transition process and since that time we had not been paid. It was now the end of December.
The past few months had been so difficult, worrying about where money was going to come from for groceries, gas and our house payment. We had just enough at this point to get us through the end of the month with a little left over for Christmas presents for the girls. Now it looked like we were going to have to use the Christmas money to pay our back preschool tuition.
I don’t think my mood could have been any blacker as I pulled up to the mailbox. My spirit was crushed and I railed at God, asking Him how much longer we were going to have to live like this and how could He be so unfair. As I sorted through the mail, I saw what looked like a bill from one of our credit card companies. I opened the envelope to find a check in the amount of $325.70. We had overpaid a previous balance and they were sending us a refund.
Can you guess how much we owed to the preschool? Exactly $325. It was like Yaweh Yireh, the Lord Will Provide said, “Here is the money you need and I am going to throw in .70 just to show that I can.”
As I handed the director our payment the next day, I told her, “God wanted you to have this money.” There is no doubt in my mind that God performed a miracle that day. What happened was so incredible that even if I had never had any previous encounters with Him, that one event would have been enough to prove His existence.
As I look back over those difficult months, I can see how Yaweh Yireh provided our NEEDS, again and again. No, we weren’t able to buy fun new toys, new purses or go out to fancy dinners. But those aren’t needs. We always had food (even if it was Chef Boyardee) and shelter. Most importantly we had Him walking with us through every difficult step.
Yaweh Yireh’s method of providing may not always make sense to us. What about the family that does lose their house or the child who will go to bed hungry? For circumstances like these there are no easy answers, except again to look at the life of Abraham. Abraham who willingly obeyed God when He asked him to sacrifice Isaac, the child that he had waited for all of those years. Abraham did not understand what the Lord was asking him, but he trusted Yaweh Yireh to provide.
At the last minute Yaweh Yireh stayed Abraham’s hand and provided a ram for the sacrifice. Thousands of year’s later, less than a mile from where Abraham was willing to obey God in all things on Mount Moriah, Yaweh Yireh again provided a sacrifice, a sacrifice that would meet the greatest need of all of man kind; forgiveness of sins.
This time the sacrifice was His very own son, Jesus Christ.