Throughout the Bible, we see people and groups of people build an altar to worship God. There are times when God commands it, and other times, they are simply compelled to do it. Why is this important, or does the difference even matter?
I think this is to show us that sometimes we don’t feel grateful, but we do it anyway because it’s what God calls us to do, and other times, our feelings propel us because our hearts are right with God. But the request, command and response are always so His presence can be seen among us and remembered by us. For example, In Exodus 20:24, we see Moses’s response: 24: “‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.”
In Genesis 12: 7–8 (ESV), we see Abram’s response: “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there, he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
They each faced a crossroads where God was asking them to do or not do something, act a certain way, or respond a certain way, but it all began with the heart—a Humble, Obedient, and Grateful Heart.
Each one had to HUMBLE themselves – They had to set aside their pride, their natural instinct to fight or flight, to be right, to overcome, and to “do it their own way:
Then, each one had to choose to be OBEDIENT: God always has a plan, and it’s not just the glorious production of the final curtain call. His plans have very specific details that continue to give us an opportunity towards a heart change. If we try to manipulate God’s plan, change or tweak it because we think it would be better a different way, we become like Jonah, who says, I’ll go, but I don’t like it because they don’t deserve your mercy” and therefore, the enemy’s hearts were changed yet Noah’s wasn’t.
Lastly, the altar is built because of a GRATEFUL HEART: A tangible reminder of God’s faithfulness through the good, the bad, and the ugly. The altar is a reminder that His promises will never fail and always come to fruition. A humble, obedient, and Grateful heart has no issue with putting his/her face to the ground, giving all the glory to God, recognizing and thanking Him for His presence. A humble, obedient heart can see and remember what the Lord has done, but a grateful heart looks past what He can do to who He is and His presence.
Noah was the perfect example of this. God took a humble man who He knew would set aside tradition, people-pleasing, and self-righteousness and be obedient to the very last step regardless of the earthly consequences. God gave him specific instructions on how to build the ark and told Noah exactly how to do it. Noah’s humble heart allowed him to obey every step, every action, and every reaction. God’s presence was all over Noah and his family. Do you know the FIRST thing Noah did when he got off the ark? He built an altar to worship God.
Noah: Genesis (NIV) chapter 8: 13,18 tells us “After the flood subsided and the ground dried, Noah and his family went forth from the ark (8:13, 18). Immediately, before doing anything else, Noah “built an altar to Jehovah and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (v. 20). As a result, “Jehovah smelled the satisfying fragrance” of these offerings (v. 21).
Alters are funny things. They can be dangerous if not built and responded to appropriately. The point of the altar is to recognize God’s rightful place in our lives; it is a place to acknowledge God’s presence and a place to remember what He is doing, has done, and will continue to do. It’s a place to remember His presence above all. If we remember what He has done, trusting what He will do is much easier.
Building an alter for ourselves is where we get into trouble- when we place anything other than God on the altar. Whether we think it’s a house, a job, a career, a boat, a promotion, a spouse, or a child, the sum total is we are placing ourselves in God’s rightful place. We are saying what I feel, that my circumstances are greater than Your plan and that my rights are more important than who You are. The point is always to give God His rightful place in our hearts and to change our hearts toward Him and then to others.
Humble+ Obedient+ Grateful= A Changed Heart
When our ministry signed the dotted line and walked in faith to a new building, our leadership gathered together to pray over each room. It was important to me to do this before one thing was brought in. I wanted the Lord to lead us in every way. We each had a stone on which we wrote a scripture or a reminder of His faithfulness, and we put them in a glass jar. I look at the jar every day, and I am reminded of the path that God has taken us on, but more importantly, I stand in awe of His daily presence. That is His greatest gift, and I don’t want to miss one second of it. So, each day, I will humble myself and surrender my will (It has to be every day for me because I know me, and I am a child who still wrestles). I will walk by faith and not by sight to what He calls me to do, and I will take stock of all that God is doing and has done. I will stand on the promises yet to be and give thanks for His presence through it all.
Humble+ Obedient+ Grateful= A Changed Heart
