Tearing Down the Altars

That night the Lord said to him [Gideon], ‘Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt-offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.’

Judges 6:25-26


I've read and heard and been taught this story numerous times, but this little incident has always escaped me. God told Gideon to go tear down the altar to Baal, the altar his father had built. In order to have our own authentic relationship with God, it may be necessary to tear down some of the altars we have been left.

Very often, those who have gone before us have left us altars to small, tribal gods like Baal. And even those of us who have received the awesome gift of an altar to a mighty, awesome God need to rebuild that altar for ourselves, based on our own experience with God.

And when we tear down old altars, others take notice. When it got back to Gideon's dad that Gideon had torn down the altar, his response was "If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been pulled down." I love it!

It's time to pull down altars. It is time to engage God for ourselves.

Abundance

A couple of weeks ago I was surprised by an experience of pure abundance. I was given a bag of candy on the occasion of my second anniversary at the church. That afternoon, I opened up and began eating it.

Now, how often does an adult buy a bag of candy for him or herself? In my case, not too often. And when I do, it usually comes with at least some guilt. Here I had a bag of Dove Promises that were given to me as a gift. They were mine, given to me, with no guilt attached. They were a joy to eat.

It felt good. It felt abundant. I realized that I don't usually live with a sense of abundance. I'm always thinking about what I lack, always looking at the gap. However, the truth is I have been given so much by an awesome, generous God. I can be thankful. I can keep my eyes on the abundance rather than the lack.