The Mustard Seed Mill

When we look at the life of Abram, there are many things to note. Abram was called out of his country. We see many times when the Lord blesses Abram and reminds him of his blessing. We see God intimately share what He is doing with Abram. We see covenants and intercession between God and Abram. We see him succeed in major ways, but we also see some of his failures. Ultimately, we see God change his name to Abraham as a major declaration and reminder of the promise God had given him. 

There are so many things we can draw from the story of Abram or Abraham’s life, but today I want to take a look at one of his earlier documented stories with the Lord. 

The Lord had just called Abram to leave the land of Haran. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. He left to go to the land of Canaan. The Canaanites were a sinful people. They dwelt in the land in which God was calling Abram to go. 

As Abram is traveling, it says that Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem and the Lord appeared to Abram. The Lord said to Abram: “to your descendants I will give this land.” First, Abram didn’t have any descendants at this point, but secondly, it was the land of Canaan! There was a lot of evil and a lot to overcome in that land. What’s interesting to me in this scripture is how Abram responds. 

The scripture then says that Abram built an altar to the Lord in that place. 

Abram had been moving. There was undoubtedly some level of insecurity, questioning, uncertainty… Abram encounters the land of Shechem where the Canaanites dwell and he is in a land that doesn’t honor God. God gives Abram a promise. Abram builds an altar before the Lord. 

The altar was a place of worship, sacrifice, sanctification… It was a place of memorial for what God was doing. A physical place that represented an encounter with the Lord. Here, as Abram was in the midst of his journey, he builds this altar and is reverent before the Lord. 

We might think that this is where Abram would stay because God gave him a promise in this place. No. The very next sentence in this scripture tells us that Abram went on from that place to a mountain east of Bethel. Abram continued on his journey. 

In our lives, undoubtedly, God has moved us from one place to another. This can be physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally or otherwise. If we are listening to the Lord, we can hear his promises along the way. Sometimes we want to take those promises and expect that God is going to fulfill those promises right away because God spoke it. Sometimes He does! But more often, I find that walking with the Lord is like the journey of Abram. God gives promises along the way. He fulfills those promises, but He is also very interested in the journey and relationship with Him along the way. 

Abram set up a place of worship in the midst of uncertain circumstances. He didn’t dwell in that place, but he set up a remembrance of the promise of God in that place. 

In whatever journey we are walking through today, we can set up a place of worship and a remembrance of the promise of God. Though that land might not be fully yours yet and there’s uncertainty and evil all around, you can set up a place of worship and declare the presence of God in that place. 

Psalm 22:3 tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people. When we build an altar in a place, we are declaring God is the God of that place and we invite His presence to dwell in that place. We may or may not see the complete fulfillment of that promise right away. 

Abram set up an altar in the land Shechem. He worshipped God there. He invited God into that territory and he established a memorial in that place that would declare that the land would be his. That land wasn’t Abram’s right away, but the altar was a declaration of what was to come. We later see God bring Abram back to this place and fulfill His promise and many more. 

What is your Shechem? 

What is your land of promise or waiting? 

While we are waiting on the Lord, let us set up an altar and a posture of praise in that place of waiting while we continue on the journey to which God has called us for this time. Let us glory with God in the things He is continually doing in our lives, worship Him, and make Him God of even the places that are not yet conquered. Let us wait expectantly, with a heart of praise and reverence toward God, and let us see what only God can do!