Getting better acquainted with The Divine.

It was dusk in the St. Louis ghetto; I was alone with my 5 year old in the old mansion that was being used for a Teen Challenge Center. David phoned to say that a young man was on his way to join the program and would I please admit him. Only 2 weeks in America and brand new to Teen Challenge, I didn’t know what was expected of me and the hasty explanation was that I had to help the young man recognize his own helplessness and God’s willingness to help him. All the Teen Challenge staff including both Brent the director and David the new director were at a church somewhere leading a service and would be home very late.

The young man came: over a cup of coffee he made it fairly easy for me to ‘admit’ him, by telling me that he was addicted and had been trying to kick the habit without any success. Someone had told him that if he came to Teen Challenge he could get off the habit. He concluded by asking me how we got people off. I explained that we didn’t but God did. “He helps people who call on him for help. Would you like to ask God to help you get off drugs now?” I asked in my still strong English accent and refined manner of speech. “Just talk to God in your own words.”

“Hey Man, I’ve got this habit and I want to kick it, and I’ve tried but it’s got a hold of me. This woman, she says, you can do something for me, so please, get me off if you can.”

I was shocked: calling God ‘Man’ was denying his deity: that was blasphemy!
The whole prayer lacked any sort of reverence. In Japan I’d heard God called Kami sama; in England we addressed God with many respectful adjectives before his name. I hastily ‘backed up’ the young man’s prayer by appealing to God by name and addressing him with reverence.

When the staff of Teen Challenge returned from the meeting they’d been leading they explained to me that ‘The Man’ was the name for an authority figure and that actually the title was quite respectful, for someone who didn’t know any other name for God.

Abram built at alter when he reached the place he was called to go to. Later he built another alter, further South, this time the record says that he called on the name of the Lord. He wasn’t the first man to do so, after Cain killed Abel there appears to have been a great silence on earth, until Enosh was born, “Then, says the Bible, men began to call on the name of the Lord.” ‘Call’ meant as many things in Hebrew as it does in English, but calling out to address someone, praise them or request help were some of the meanings.
So the inclusion of ‘called upon the name of the Lord,’ at the second altar but not the first may indicate progress in the relationship between Abram and the Lord. We older people know about that. Over many years we’ve proved that God is kind to all who call upon him and so we call more often now, and with more confidence. Like Abram circumstances threaten us, he was threatened by famine and hostility; we know that we are invited to call upon God for help. Lastly, was Abram ever lonely? He belonged to no local tribe, the language was different where he was to where he came from, and he had no sons to make plans with. Many older people are lonely; their family is far away, they do not live where they grew up, they miss old friends. Abram called upon the name of the Lord, and God watched over him and protected him. He will do the same for us