Genesis 12: Build an altar

OK first off, if Neil or Sue are about to read this then STOP! The following is really the basis of what I am going to share at cell group next week, and I don't want to spoil it for you now! Anyone else: read on!

12:1 & 2 1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nationand I will bless you;I will make your name great,and you will be a blessing.

We can see here how Abram had to give up everything he had before the blessing came; like I previously examined with Noah, if we do our part then God will do his part. The notes in my Life Application Bible quite rightly say 'Don't let the comfort and security of your present position make you miss God's plan for you'.

12:7 So he built an altar there

This was really the big thing for me, and a true revelation. Again, from the notes, an altar is a reminder of God's goodness. When God is good to us we should build an altar so that in future hard times we can look back and remember the goodness of God, telling ourselves that if he got us through it in the past, he will surely do it again.

It is so easy to forget God's goodness, and be plagued by worries on issues he has previously come through on. This altar thing has made me think of actually creating or buying an object when God does something really big for me, and placing it around my house as a reminder. Not to be mistaken with an idol, I just think this very practical idea would be very helpful to someone like me who has been at battle with worry my whole life!


12:11-13 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live.Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

Abram saw the situation and used his own logic and reasoning to come up with a 'solution' to the men killing him and taking his wife - saying she was his sister. Of course, it all seemed to be going OK, but then it turned terribly wrong:

12:17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.

Here we see Abram's plan backfiring, and it just made me think how we must not reason - do what God says, not what YOU think! Us intellectual types can often figure out a 'fix' for everything, but that's not the point - God is the one we should rely on.