In verse 7, God appeared to Abraham, and Abraham’s response was to build an altar. In verse 8, Abraham continued his journey, finally pitched his tent, and then built an altar and called on the name of the Lord.
This is what we can learn:
- When we come face to face with God, all we can do is worship him. Notice how the same thing happens to Isaiah in Isaiah 6 and to Peter, James, and John in Matthew 17. Check out Revelation 5 too. God is worthy of worship because of who he is, not because he has done anything. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be grateful for everything he has done; it’s just that God didn’t do anything at all, he would still be worthy of worship--period. Further, when finite and frail humans are confronted with his overwhelming glory, worship becomes like digestion. Given the presence of food in our gut, we just digest it. No one ever had to teach us to digest food. Given the presence of God in all his glory, we just worship. No one had to tell Isaiah to fall down on his face.
Yesterday, during our time of worship, God’s Holy Spirit moved in our congregation. Nobody had to teach those who spontaneously broke out in loud prayers of thanksgiving how to do it or why they should do it. Nobody had to teach anyone in the congregation how or when to have the kinds of emotional responses we saw yesterday. Rather, we were confronted with the living God, and we were overwhelmed by him. Our response to him was as natural as seeing green when you look at grass; there’s just nothing else you could do.
And the fact that some were not worshiping is a sign of God’s grace. The very fact that he did not force his will on anyone that was unwilling to submit themselves gives us a glimpse into the heart of a God that respects the free will he gave to man--even when that will freely chooses rebellion. God is still holding out a hand of friendship, desiring that none should perish. But those that refuse will eventually submit; they’ll do it later rather than sooner. - Abraham’s coming face to face with God redefined him as a worshiper. He didn’t just have this nice passive experience with God and then go on about his business. Rather, in verse 8 we see Abraham proactively building an altar to worship God in faith, calling on him, instead of just waiting for God to show up.
We can learn a lot from verse 8 as we move on from yesterday. Coming so close to God should make us worshipers, so let’s be worshipers. Let’s be the type of people that don’t sit idly by, twiddling our thumbs, hoping that, just maybe, one day out of the blue, God will just decide to show up. Of course, God is going to just show up one day, but it would be much better for us if we’d been worshiping him and following hard after him before that day.
God pursued Abraham, revealed himself to Abraham, and turned Abraham into a man that lived a life of faith and worship. God pursued Abraham, and Abraham turned in pursuit of God. God pursued each of us while we were still in rebellion against him. We have been set free from our rebellion. We don’t have to run from God any more. Let’s now pursue him. The good news is that God is not very good at hide-and-seek; well he’s not very good at the hiding part. We serve a God that makes himself known. Everywhere we look we see evidence of his glory and power and majesty. And, he likes to be found by those he has redeemed. Those who can’t find him, fail to do so because they have closed their eyes to glory and splendor of his handiwork. Thankfully, he’s great at the seeking part: as he finds and saves more people, more people are called to seek after him.
