Today’s Devotion
Topic: El Bethel.
Text: Gen 35: 1, 6 & 7.
1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. Amen.
After he cunningly received the firstborn blessings from their father, Jacob knew it was just a matter of time and his brother Esau would revenge. So he “…left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel (House of God), though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God” (Gen 28: 10- 21).
Now so many years had passed and Jacob had become very successful. He who was a fugitive and wanderer has now become a numerous and powerful nation. As Jacob and his family journey back from the land of Paddan Aram where he had lived and worked, God appeared to him saying “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” Then they set out to Bethel, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them. There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel (Gen 35: 1-7).
Beloved, remember where you have been in times past and begin to make your way back to Bethel. Talking about the very place of uncertainty, hopelessness and dejection where a stone became your pillow.
Remember how you begged God to help you come this far; how you begged Him to protect you and provide for you. How you vowed to make Him your God forever if He watched over all that concerns you. Now the Lord has done more than you ever prayed for. You are alive and blessed. You are no longer a fugitive, but a holy nation and a royal priesthood.
Begin to make your way to Bethel. Back to the place you covenanted with God. Get rid of all the foreign materials and gods that you have gathered along the journey. Purify yourself to meet your God in prayer, for this is the time to honour your vow by making the Lord your God forever and walking in His ways.
Begin to pray now (especially into this new year). Activate the covenant you have with God and beg Him to continue with you to the very end. He is El Bethel (the God of Bethel), by Whose hand we still are fed; the One who through this weary pilgrimage has all our fathers led! He will help you through each perplexing path of life. You shall never walk alone.
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