Building Altars

Day 16 of 365...

Genesis 12-15

Gen 12:7-8 - "So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.  From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped Him."

Where do I build altars?  In the Old Testament, people built altars to remember what God did for them.  In some cases, they would name the altar so that their descendants could see the altar for years to come and be reminded what God did for their people.  Building an altar meant something to them.  Today, our society builds all kinds of altars...the right car, the right job, college football team, or maybe it's success,  the corner office, the perfect kids.  There are a lot of things I build altars for, but God is asking me to remember the things He's done.  Where are His altars?  While mental altars are okay, I think having a visual reminder of what God has done is more effective.  I'm not saying I need to go get some stones and build an altar in my living room, but I am saying that I should have a visual reminder of when God spared me from something or delivered me from something.  It would serve as a reminder of what God is capable of.  Plus, I can use it to tell the story to my kids, my guests and anyone who will listen.  What would that look like?  I don't know that I could answer that because I haven't done it yet.  However, maybe it's as simple as a cross on a wall that is bought after God delivered you from a sin that you were struggling with.  Perhaps it's a piece of jewelry, maybe a piece of pottery...I don't know.  I'm just shooting from the hip here.  I'd be willing to bet that if we all started building altars to God, a few things would happen.  First, we'd leave a legacy for our kids.  They would be reminded of what God is capable of doing.  Second, we'd continue to move forward in our relationship with God instead of regressing because we would constantly be reminded of God's provision.  Finally, we'd bring people along in the journey.  Anytime someone would ask a question about it, God would receive all the glory as we tell the story of His deliverance.  If we had that many reminders of God's power among all His people, we would definitely see God moving in our society!

Gen 15:6 - "Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness."

It's a pretty simple statement, but it's not so simple in application.  "Abram believed the Lord."  What is it that makes me question God when He says something?  God continually promised Abram that his descendants would outnumber the stars, but Abram and hi s wife hadn't had a child yet.  He was beginning to wonder how he was going to have that many descendants when he hasn't had one!  However, as the story points out, Abram trusted God at His word and that was that.  In my life, unfortunately, that's not all there is when God tells me something.  There are times when I take what God says and believe and that's it.  However, more often than not, I hear what God says and my initial response is to start asking questions.  Fear begins to grip my mind as to how I can do what God just told me.  That is when God reminds me that He just wants me to believe Him...bottom line.  There is no more delicate or intricate way of putting it.  God wants me to take Him as His word and trust Him.  It is then that God will credit that to me as righteousness.  I pray that God will give me the courage to do so.