RETURN TO THE FIRST PLACE AND CALL ON THE LORD
After God rescued Abram from Pharaoh, having gone down to Egypt because of the famine, he returned to the old altar he had built near Bethel and Ai. There he once again called on the name of the Lord.
Abram had a habit of going “down to Egypt” whenever famine hit the land of Canaan that his descendants also followed. Although it may not always have been the case, “going down to Egypt” often represented Israel’s dependence on the world rather than on God. Abram, whose name was later changed by God to Abraham, was a man of great faith, but he was also a man with all the shortcomings of humanity.
However, Abram did not stay in Egypt, but returned to the land to which the Lord had called him. There he returned to the “place of the altar which he had made at first.” Perhaps the Bible refers to the “place,” because although Abram had returned, the altar had fallen into disrepair or had somehow been destroyed. Yet it seemed important to Abram that he return to the place of the altar he had made at “first.” Because sometimes we must return to “first” things in our relationship with the Lord in order to find our bearings again, especially when we have wandered off course.
In the letter that Jesus told John to write to the church at Ephesus, He warned that they had forsaken Him as their “first love” (Rev. 2:4). He instructed them to “repent and do the first works” (Rev. 2:5) again. After wandering off to Egypt, Abram returned to the first place he had built an altar to worship the Lord.
With the beginning of this New Year, do we need to do the same? Have we wondered off course and forsaken our first love? Let us return to the first place and call upon the name of the Lord.
PRAYER: Dear Father, our hearts are prone to wander, yet we would return to You. Forgive us when we wander and lose our zeal for Your calling on our lives. Strengthen us to return and do the first works that You have called us to do. Thank You for Your love and calling on us. In Jesus’ name, amen.