Calling On The Lord

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

CALLING ON THE LORD

Gen 12:8-9

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

NIV

First, it is interesting that Bethel in Hebrew can be interpreted as the ‘House of God’, yet we think from some research it is simply a place now located in Palestine. It is also interesting to think about a pitched tent. Having been in Israel and seeing the tents of the Bedouins and how big they were, almost large enough to have several rooms, we wonder if this was the kind of tent Abram and Lot had. If so it was not a small feat to pitch a tent and we are not told how long he stayed there, but the important point is that Abram built an altar to the Lord and called on the LORD. No matter what is going on in life, it is always good to call on the name of the Lord. We believe both Abram and Lot would be shepherds or at least owners of large flocks of sheep. The people they acquired in Haran would be the flock workers, the shepherds, or the watchers. By now, Abram had to be a wealthy man, having people working for him. However, he always called on the name of the LORD, no matter what was going on in his life. Of course, he was following the direction of the LORD and perhaps wanted to know what he was supposed to do after arriving in the hills east of Bethel. Once again, this allows us to gather a clue as to how our lives should be. Although we do not have tents, we pitch our homes in the place God directed us. We set up our living space in the city, the neighborhood where God has directed us. We have found a place of worship, an altar of sorts where he has brought us. We call upon his name there, but is once a week enough? As we have thought before, there should be an altar in our hearts, one that we have built onto the LORD. It is with our mouth we confess Jesus is Lord, but it is with our heart we believe, and so the change in our lives the day we confess Jesus is Lord, our heart changes its focus. We no longer desire the things of this world, but our desire is to live for Jesus, so in that sense, the altar we have is in our hearts. It is in our hearts that rings the melody of heaven’s harmony as we call on the name of the LORD. This should always be the story of our lives, calling on the name of the Lord.