In His Mountain…

According to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Jehovah-jireh (or Yahweh-yireh, The Lord will provide), was a place in the land of Moriah. It was the location of the binding of Isaac, where God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham named the place after the Lord provided a ram to sacrifice in place of Isaac.

In His mountain,  the Lord provides. I subscribe to this divine  promise not just as a matter of conviction  but of personal experience of God’s provision in  my life. Well, God has been my Divine Providence since I came into being but I suppose that lately,  I have become more conscious of the manifestations of this promise in my life. Let me cite a few cases in point.

When  I lost the car I was driving to a bad vehicular accident in August 2010 (The owner decided to sell it after its repair.), one of my main concerns then was how to get to St. Francis of Assissi  Church at Jebel Ali, Dubai in time for the 7:00 P.M. Mass when I have to come all the way from Jumeirah 1, Dubai,  after 6:00 P.M.  The two places are around a 45-minute drive apart at a minimum. Getting a taxi from the Ibn Battuta Station at Jebel Ali  at around that time is always a frustrating experience. But  since ‘In His mountain, the Lord provides.’,  He tapped  a good friend to help me get to Church not exactly on time but at least not as tardy as it would be if I took a cab and without the exasperation of having to deal with insolent taxi drivers. When this same  friend went home for vacation to the Philippines in late December last year,  since ‘In His mountain, the Lord provides.’,  on that particular Sunday, despite the long queue in front of Ibn Battuta Station, I was able to get a cab quickly and the polite driver uncomplainingly brought me to the Church.  When after the Mass I noticed that there were many people waiting for a cab to bring them home, since ‘In His mountain, the Lord provides.’, He gave me a companion to walk along with toward Jebel Ali Hospital where after just a few minutes of waiting, an RTA bus came and brought us to the Ibn Battuta Station. When a few Sundays ago this same good  friend could not hear Mass for some reasons, since ‘In His mountain the Lord provides.’,  he sent an old and friendly Pakistani man to take me to Church for a minimal charge of Dhs10.00.

Just yesterday night, as my lady friend was running late and yet I had difficulty getting a cab from Ibn Battuta Station, a four-wheel-driven vehicle just stopped in front of me. The three Filipinas in the car offered to take me to the Church. I found out that they are members of the Choir and they knew that I was also going to Church that time because they always saw me sitting near the Choir area during the past Sunday Masses.

Had I started listing all these incidents since I first reached the ‘age of reason and of conviction’,  my list would have been endless at this point. Definitely, this recurrence of God’s provision in my life will go on with repetitious regularity and surely in those pursuits of mine that would please and glorify His name.