Tearing Down the Altars Within

Before God sent Gideon to confront Midian, He first told him to tear down the altar in his father’s house.

Personal. Close. Familiar.

That part of the story in Judges 6 has stayed with me deeply over the past few weeks.

A few years ago, the Lord dealt with me about old journals I had carried through multiple moves and decades of my life — especially journals connected to my first marriage.

At first glance they were just journals.

Memories. Prayers.

Painful history.

But the deeper truth was harder to face.

Somewhere along the way, the journals had become connected to my identity.

To self-protection.

To the need to someday be understood.

To vindication.

And suddenly I realized we can make an idol, not only out of success or pleasure, but even out of our wounds.

The pain.

The struggle.

The fear.

The excuses we make for why we cannot change or why we behave the way we do.

The story we tell ourselves about who we are because of what happened to us.

Sometimes we don’t cling to strength.

We cling to the identity formed in brokenness.

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But Gideon’s fear was never meant to become his identity.

And neither is yours.

God called Gideon a mighty warrior while he was still hiding in a winepress. Then God told him to tear down the altar in his household before confronting the enemy outside of it.

Because sometimes freedom begins with surrendering the false identities we have carried for years.

God revealed it…

but I still had to respond.

What once became an altar to my pain and need for vindication…

I had to go into the attic.

Carry the boxes downstairs.

Walk them outside and throw them away.

God transformed into a testimony of redemption, freedom, and healing for other

Deliberate obedience.

And standing there beside that dumpster, I realized something:

God was not asking me to erase my story.

He was asking me to surrender every identity smaller than the one He created me to walk in.

Gideon tore down the altar in his household.

Then he confronted the altar in his town.

And the wood became fuel for sacrifice to the Lord.

Victory over his adversary came next.

The very places where we once struggled, hid, feared, or felt ashamed can become the places from which God builds compassion, wisdom, authority, and freedom for others.

Nothing surrendered to Him is wasted.

I believe God is inviting you to do the same.

Won’t you let Him reveal the false identities you have carried for years?

And surrender the pain, the fear, the excuses, and the lies you have believed about yourself?

Won’t you abandon finding your identity in what wounded you and begin embracing who He says you are?