“Where is my altar?” oftentimes is a question we forget to ask ourselves. We get caught up in the mundane things of life and become easily distracted. But knowing where we have built our alter is so fundamental to our relationship with God. And sometimes it can be challenging to recognize where and how we have built our altar.
So let’s dive into the importance of our alter and things to watch out for when building it.
For reference, Exodus 32 is where I am sharing from. This is during the time when God called Moses up to the mountain to pray and Aaron was left with the people.
Now, Moses was on that mountain for 30 days. That is a long time! Not to mention for those having to wait. They didn’t have things that we have now to occupy their time. And sure they had friends and family but 30 days with the same people day to night….can be challenging.
Of course, they became bored and tired
I would too!
In the midst of that, they lost their faith in God and Moses. So they decide to go to Aaron and ask for something else to worship. Now when I read this, I was like, “Really, that’s the best idea you people could come up with!?”
Not only were they tired and bored, but they became desperate also.
We read that Aaron gives in to their desperation and decides to build them a golden calf. He didn’t carve this golden calf out of wood or make origami with paper. No, he tells the Israelites to bring what they have so he could build this false god. Aaron was proud of his creation and made sure his workmanship would be known among the people. So they would know who created the very thing they worshipped.
But this false God wasn’t enough. They wanted an altar built before this golden calf to give sacrifices.
But their actions didn’t stop there. The Bible describes that they then began to engage in sexual sins as well. The story continues and shows us the power of prayer, God’s mercy, God working when we can’t see it, and the importance of a leader/shepherd that prays and will stand in the gap for you. But for the purpose of this specific topic, I won’t go any further.
The main theme we see here is the flaw of man.
Desperation.
Often times we want a quick solution so our desperation leads us to make rational choices.
Before we know it altars are being established in places they shouldn’t be.
WHERE IS MY ALTAR: Lessons To Learn
1: Misplaced Hope
The Israelites became so hopeless that they wanted something to worship and pray to about their situation. Once again they thought that God abandoned and failed them. So they worshipped a false god thinking that it could do more for them than God! (I still can’t wrap my mind around that but ok, moving on.)
Do you ever get to thinking that God isn’t doing his “job” or that he’s failing you? So you take matters into your own hands. Not by making a golden calf, at least I hope not. But by putting your hope in your career, friends, significant other, or even yourself.
It is easy for us to get disillusioned by the idea that we can make our future the best thing ever. So we ditch faithfulness, we ditch trust, and we ditch God. We become our own masters. I won’t sit here and say that if you do a good deed, you won’t reap good things.
That’s biblical! But what I will say is that no matter how good you think you can make your future, God can do even better!
2: Peer Pressure
This may be a typical topic to discuss but it’s typical for a reason. Everyone can relate to this in some way or another.
And the fact is, even our leaders can fall under peer pressure. Aaron was Moses’s right-hand man, he should have known better, he should have spoken up and said, “No!”. But he didn’t. Instead, he gave in to what the mass wanted and allowed his flesh to relish in their pleasure.
The biggest thing that stood out to me while reading this is, just because everyone else is ok with something, doesn’t mean you should be. Whether it’s at school, in your family, and I will be even so bold enough to say in your church.
The bible tells us in 1 John 4;1-6 to test the spirit. Meaning, just because a pretty opportunity is set before you does not mean it is the will of God for you to take it. The enemy knows how to play dress-up too.
3: Sell Not
When building the golden calf Aaron told the Israelites to bring any gold they had so he could use it.
How does that apply to us? This is how.
The enemy will take any and every opportunity he can to take something of value from you. You may think it’s innocent or small. But he will use that to be your downfall. Just like that golden calf was the Israelite’s downfall.
They gave their valuables and ended up worshipping something, not of God.
Proverbs 23:23 tells us to buy the truth and sell it not and then Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts.
Why? Because we have value and we have to be careful to not allow our flesh to turn it into sin. Something not of God and worse, above God.
4: Hunger
The Israelite’s hunger was the wrong kind. We are to have a hunger for God but they had a one of flesh.
Once the hunger was fed it was satisfied for a only moment. But then it came back and it came back wanting more.
We see that it kept wanting more. We started with a golden calf and ended with lust and perversion.
How?
Our flesh will never stop. It always wants more and It will push and push to see how much it can get.
Even if it leaves you dead. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). And the one thing standing between your flesh and him is the Lord.
Each one of these things affects where and how we build our altars. Altars are significant because they are meant to be a place where we go before God to connect with him. Where we worship, lay our shortcomings before him. They must be built for him and only him.
God instructs us to have our own relationship with him. Not to live off of another’s testimony, blessings, or teachings. We have to know his voice for ourselves too! Be careful to not allow the things of this world to cause you to become desperate for things not of him.
Put your faith and trust in him.
Even when you have to wait on the Lord.
Establishing altars that are not for him can lead to a path of spiritual disasters.
But I also don’t want to discourage you, if you have. God is greater!
And because God is, ALL THINGS are made new!
God Bless,
Remember to BU,
Samantha Nicole
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