CALL TO DWELL IN GOD’S PRESENCE

READ: Genesis 35:1-15 (NKJV)

1. Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
2. And Jacob said to his household and to all who [were] with him, “Put away the foreign gods that [are] among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments.
3. “Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.”
4. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which [were] in their hands, and the earrings which [were] in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which [was] by Shechem.
5. And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that [were] all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6. So Jacob came to Luz (that [is,] Bethel), which [is] in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who [were] with him.
7. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.
8. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.
9. Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him.
10. And God said to him, “Your name [is] Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel.
11. Also God said to him: “I [am] God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
12. “The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”
13. Then God went up from him in the place where He talked with him.
14. So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.
15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

THE MESSAGE:

God was set to bless Jacob, confirming His promises to his fathers: Abraham and Isaac (v.9-15). But for Jacob to experience these blessings, he must not only arise to go up to Bethel, he must also dwell there (v.1).”He who dwells in the secret place of the Most-High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psa. 91:1).

Jacob must now deal with every hindrance constituting a weight to his ascendance unto the holy hill, the house of God and make it his dwelling place. Even his household was not left out -they must rid themselves of all strange God’s, maintaining purity in its true essence (v.2). Praise God, he made it to Bethel and was transformed beyond what words can describe (vv.9-12). Would you arise and answer the upward call of God, making His secret place, your abode? You must rise up now to put away all idols that have occupied your time and energy; be determined to seek until you find him in his holy hills, “for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”(Psa.133:3b). Create time to dwell with God today.

PRAYER: Father, may I dwell in your house, behold your beauty, and enquire in your temple.