A Time to Worship: Genesis 17:1-3

The worship of God is the righteous person’s chief pursuit.  Can anyone promise more than God can deliver?  Can anything satisfy more than God?  God does not call us to stand in worship services every moment of every day, but He does call us to worship.  The tricky part of being a follower of the Almighty God is figuring out how to make every act we do an act of worship of Him.

More than a decade after Ishmael was born, God returns to Abram.  We don’t know whether God visited Abram in the intervening time or not, but if He did it isn’t recorded in scripture.  God continues to be patient with the fulfillment of His promise. 

I’m sure He had His reasons, if nothing more than to teach patience to Sarai and Abram.  The older the couple got, the more miraculous the birth appears.  While I don’t believe God makes people wait upon His promises to be mean and make a point of how only He understands timing, finite beings are more concerned about the passage of time than infinite beings.  We have a limited number of seasons to accomplish things on earth.  That makes us impatient.

When God comes to Abram at this moment, he teaches Abram a new name for Him.  He calls Himself El-Shaddai, a name we don’t fully understand.  Shaddai could be a word etymologically related to the Hebrew word for strong; it could be rooted in the Hebrew word for mountain.  Since mountains are huge rock formations ancient people often worshipped as a source of strength, we typically translate El-Shaddai as the God Almighty.  God’s name reminds Abram God is the one who holds the power.  He has the power to make His promise come true, even as Abram and Sarai age.  He has sustained them to this point; He can continue to sustain them.

Abram’s response to God is a beautiful response.  Abram falls on his face.  This act brings two thoughts into one.  Abram is not worthy enough to stand in God’s presence.  God is righteousness.  God is perfection.  God is the creator.  There is nothing God cannot do or be, and Abram knows it.  Abram falls on his face to show deference to God.

Falling on one’s face is also a way of describing worship.  Abram is in the presence of the God who called him from Ur, who called him to Canaan when he didn’t know Canaan existed, who forgave him after he sinned in Egypt, and who gave him the promise of heirs.  God has ceaselessly demonstrated His grace and his provision, so Abram falls on his face in worship.

In this picture, I see my ideal response to God.  Abram’s righteousness leads him to worship.  Abram acknowledges he is in the presence of the Almighty God.  He stops what he is doing to worship.  The worship of God is the righteous person’s chief pursuit.