“There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!” ( Psalm 43: 4).

Cattle keepers are different from agriculturalists. They live unsettled lives migrating to and fro where ever pasture happens. This lifestyle of theirs is also common these days to people who move through various cities and nations depending on where the next job is. And, in moving, of course people take what is dearest to them.

As a cattle keeper Abraham led a migratory life. Now wherever he moved it was clear there was something uppermost on his mind. When the Lord appeared to him at Sechem, and gave the land to him “So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him” ( Gen 12:7). And when he later moved up the land, “There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord” ( vv 8).

This habit of his continued on as later when he split with his nephew Lot, “So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord” ( Gen 13: 18). When he obeyed God to offer up his only son Isaac for a sacrifice, “Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood” ( Gen 22:9).

Altars we can say were very much part of Abraham’s life. They served for him a place to worship God, praise and also intercede for favor. While we can say we live in a dispensation where we know, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” ( John 4:24), this does not hinder us from identifying and having altars to serve as a point of reference in our walk with God, just as Abraham did!

Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I come to your altar of praise and thanksgiving, as I pray for your favour upon me and the work of my hands, this I pray in Jesus’s name!