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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.”
So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
From there he went on toward the hills 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 called on the name of the Lord.
Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Genesis 12:6-9
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Abram was on a journey to a place unknown, a place where God promised to lead him and his family. You’ll remember that he left behind all his property, property that was his inheritance, to obey God in a display of total, uncompromising trust.
And so at the age of 75,
the scriptures tell us that Abram was seventy-five years old when he “set out
from Harran” with “his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had
accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran”. We read where they
traveled to “the land of Canaan” and “arrived there” (Genesis 12:1-5).
So what happened in Canaan?
We find out as we pick up this story in Genesis, chapter 6, beginning in verse 6:
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.
The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.”
So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
From there he went on toward the hills 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 called on the name of the Lord.
Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. Vv.6-9
Once in Canaan, we see in our passage where “Abram traveled through the land as far as the great tree of Moreh at Shechem”. What follows this is important because we read where “the Canaanites” inhabited the land “at that time”.
Of interest, you will remember that Canaan was the offspring of Noah’s son, Ham, and the people who would bear his name, the Canaanites, were a notoriously, ungodly people. They were idol worshippers who went as far as sacrificing children to appease the false gods they served. It was also common practice to seek messages from their gods through nature and so it’s believed that the “great tree of Moreh” was a site of Canaanite worship.
With this, we find Abram claiming the area for the one and only God, the Lord God Almighty who appeared to His servant and promised to give the land of Canaan to him and his offspring. We read where he “built an altar to the Lord”, a place that would serve to worship the true God of all people.
After this, the scriptures tell us that Abram was on the move again with his entourage, traveling “toward the hills east of Bethel before he “pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east”. There, he built a second “altar to the Lord” before calling on His name to honor Him with worship and adoration.
And then, he set out on another leg of the journey God had him on, heading “toward the Negev” and eventually Egypt as we will see in tomorrow’s message.
Before we get there, I don’t want us to lose sight of what Abram did here. For every time he stopped and set up camp in Canaan, he built an altar to the Lord, a place dedicated to worship God, the Maker and Master of all created things, in an ungodly land full of sin and wickedness.
Today, we also live in a world that is becoming ever more ungodly in its own right, a world where sin and evil seem to be celebrated and even encouraged. There are 8 billion people in the world and only 2 billion are Christian. That should show us the environment that we as Jesus followers find ourselves in.
So what are we to do in this cultural dilemma that we’re immersed in?
I would suggest four things.
First, we, like Abram, need to remember that God is with us and for us (Romans 8:31).
As Abram and all who were with him journeyed through Canaan and beyond, God was with him every step of the way to provide guidance, provision, and protection. He does the same for all those who are His children today.
Second, God will lead us where He wants us to be and see us through what He wants us to do.
Abram had no idea where this God-initiated trip was going to take him and his traveling party but he still placed his faith in God and went where he was told. In return, God made sure he would have everything needed to carry out His will and accomplish His purposes.
Often, we don’t know where our life journey will lead and where God will take us but we should never lose heart or hope. Rather, we should always remember that our Lord doesn’t bring us to anything that He isn’t going to see us through.
Third, anyplace we find ourselves is a good place to set up an altar for worship.
Abram stopped where God wanted him to stop and when he did, he set up a place of worship, even in places where God wasn’t even acknowledged or followed.
You know, we can do the same in our own lives. For we can set up an altar in any place and at any time, dedicating the space to worship our Lord and I believe we should do that within every opportunity whether in our cars traveling or at work or shopping or, well you know, anywhere because God is present wherever we are. He always has been and always will be.
Finally, God has promised us a land unlike any we know through our belief in Jesus as Savior, a permanent residence in the new Heaven and earth still to come.
Abram and his offspring were promised the land of Canaan and as we follow the history of the Israelite nation from this point forward, we see how God indeed kept His promise as He always does.
He has also promised eternal life to all Christ believers (aka Christians) in what will be a newly created Promised Land that we read about in the final two chapters of the Book of Revelation. It will be the best life ever, a life reserved for His offspring, His children who are co-heirs to this magnificent, everlasting Kingdom with His beloved Son, Jesus (Romans 8:14-17).
This truth gives us just one more reason to follow the lead of Abram and set up an altar wherever we might be to give thanks and worship our Lord.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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