Building Altars

Psalm 78:2-4

"Stories we heard from our fathers,

counsel we learned at our mother's knee.

We're not keeping this to ourselves,

we're passing it along to the next generation—

God's fame and fortune,

the marvelous things he has done."

Lately I cannot get the idea of altars, and building places of remembrance of what God has done and promised to do out of my head. After preaching a sermon about it in our church a few weeks ago, I went to Northern Pentecostal Camp, where well known evangelist Marie Miller was speaking, and she pretty much preached the same sermon. I believe this is something God wants our generations to hear!

How will our families ever know what God has done if they do not hear it? How will WE remember what God has done if we don’t set up places of remembrance, or make record of it?

When my son was younger, I would witness him doing something cute, or a facial expression, or words he would say, and think it would be impossible to forget it. It’s just not that easy. Good intention gets me nowhere! I can only remember what I have documented.

The Israelites’ story of deliverance out of Egypt, and consequently forgetting what he had done is lesson enough that it is easy to forget what God has done.

Throughout the entire Bible we see the importance of both building altars and recognizing what God has done, and being sure to tell our children of these things.

Abraham built many altars. Isaac and Jacob built altars; Joshua had the Israelites build an altar when God parted the Sea for the second time in their history, and the Lord said “it was to be a memorial for generations to come” (Josh. 4:7)

Good intentions get us nowhere. Unless we intentionally take note of the fantastic things God does, and the things He promises to do, we will not glorify Him the way we should, nor will we build faith and Christian heritage in the next generation. Whether it be journaling, building an altar of sorts, having family “story-time,” or celebrating important dates and events in our lives, we need to be in the habit of building altars to the Lord.

What are you and your family doing to remember?

Kourtnay