A Road Back to Renewal

“The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.” Genesis 12:7

“From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.” Genesis 13:3-4

Personal failures in life are a reality. They are inevitable. They can be sensed in a range of circumstances, from something small like telling a white lie to something more serious that causes pain for ourselves and others involved. When we feel that failures have taken a grip on our life and we are heading toward that downward spiral of shame and guilt, how can we change the course? What is the first step towards renewal? In Genesis 13:3-4, the answer for Abram was clear: You go worship God.

In Genesis 12, God promises Abram (a.k.a. Abraham) that He will bless him and all the earth will be blessed through Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). We call this the Abrahamic Covenant. God appears to Abram to reaffirm His plans, and Abram responds by building an altar to worship God (Gen. 12:7-8). And here’s where the story gets interesting. Because of a famine, Abram and his family move down to Egypt. Fearing for his life, Abram lies to Egyptian officials that Sarai (a.k.a. Sarah) is not his wife but his sister. She is then taken into Pharaoh’s palace, away from Abram. But God being faithful to His covenant to Abram intervenes and inflicts great plagues to Pharaoh’s household. Pharaoh recognizes the source of his affliction and releases Abram and Sarai.

Abram in many ways failed to trust God. Even after God revealed to him the great promise of Genesis 12:1-3 (read it!), Abram lacked trust and took matters into his own hands. Can you imagine what Abram was thinking while Sarai was in Pharaoh’s palace? Can you imagine the guilt he must have felt for telling the lie that placed her in Pharaoh’s palace? Can you imagine his feeling of disappointing God? What would his conversation with Sarai be like as they were leaving Egypt? Would there be any way to justify his actions? Everything was a complete failure.

The key observation in the next part of this story is that Abram is not enslaved by his failure in Egypt. I don’t see the story about Abram struggling with his failure. I don’t see the story moving towards how Abram’s life was consumed with depression or discouragement because he had failed God. That is not what I see! After coming out of Egypt and experiencing personal failure, he goes back to the SAME PLACE where he FIRST built an altar to the Lord, a place where he worshiped God, a place where he met God, a place that was holy to him. And I believe it is here that he was renewed in his heart for God and His promises.

Why didn’t Abram just build another altar and worship God? Why did he go back to the same altar he built before he left for Egypt? For Abram, the altar between the land of Bethel and the land of Ai was a special place where he experienced God in a real way. And in going back to that same place of worship, I believe that it strengthened his soul.

If you are coping with personal failures in your life, can I suggest to go back to the Lord in a way that you best connected with Him. This can be a place where you met God in a special way, or it can be engaging in the spiritual disciplines that caused greatest intimacy with God – praying, fasting, reading the Word, solitude. All of these can be a means for renewal that results in a greater love for God!