Repair Your Altar

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. ” (Isaiah 43:2, NLT). 

Through any distress and loss that you face, He is with you. The waters will not rise above the strength that only He can bring forth in your life. Oppression will only strengthen and refine you. When you advance through these rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. He will be your haven—your safe harbor. Whatever your sorrow or pain, it does not last forever. Whatever your heartbreak or despair, one day it will be over. You will not be burned up. You will be refined as gold.

His peace comes when you repair the altar that has been waiting far too long. It has been broken in stages as His call to fall upon your knees has been repeatedly ignored. Have you believed you had more pressing needs than spending time with Him? Have you placed Him and His call on the back burner so often that now He seems too far beyond your reach? His altar is a place of sacrifice and one of obedience. It waits for you. It calls you. Oh, if only you had fallen upon His altar each day! It would not have taken a moment of crisis for you to realize your fragile state and that peace could be so elusive. But here you are, and in this moment you realize what you have lost.

The altar waits for you. It has never grown tired of your delay. The promise of His love and peace is still just as real. Fall upon your knees in absolute surrender. The anguish you have felt will soon anticipate His promise of joy to come. Grasp His promise that “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b, NLT). And remember His strongest children are those who in the night of weeping—after leaving their pain upon His altar—confidently believe in the promise of joy in the morning. Come and repair what has been broken.

(Copyright 2017 Lynn H. Lacher)