Worship: Abraham’s Worship

In this article, we are going to explore Abraham’s role in how the Old Testament portrays worship to God. Abraham showed that he worshipped God through responding to God’s revelation and responding to Yahweh’s commands. 

In Genesis 12:7-8 and 13:14-18, God promises Abram the land that he sees, the land that will belong to his family for generations. In response to Yahweh revealing his plan and promise to Abram, he builds an altar at the location it happened. We don’t build an altar today but this was a significant act in ancient times. It not only marked a location where God revealed Himself to man but it also served as a reminder of God’s promises. The act of simply building it testifies to the human’s faith in the promises of God. Believing and living because we believe in God’s promises is worship to God. 

In Genesis 22, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his only blood son, Isaac on an altar on a mountain as a burnt offering. This command is daunting to say the least and most find perplexing. For the purpose of our study, I want to focus on v.5 when Abraham considers this act worship, “We will worship”. Abraham clearly sees this offering as a form of worship. Abraham also notes that they were coming back after a short while, as if Abraham knew God would provide an animal sacrifice instead of his son. This form of worship is up on a mountain, representing getting closer to God-space and Abraham is about to give an offering but God provides a ram instead. Trusting in God to provide for us is a great form of worship. 

Abraham’s actions proved his faith in God and therefore worshipped God through his actions. We may not be building an altar every time we receive a revelation from God or going to a mountain top to give offerings to God but those are examples of worship that we see from Abraham’s life. In today’s world choosing a time and place to remember God’s promises and spend time in His word and prayer is a form of worship.