Return To Bethel

 

There was this poster I had on the wall of my bedroom as a young boy. It was a beautiful picture of the sun setting over the ocean, waves washing up onto the shore and a long stretch of beach with two sets of footprints in the wet sand. At one point in the distance the two sets of footprints disappear leaving only a single pair. The writing on the bottom of the poster read something like “Lord God, you have always walked with me side by side but now why have you abandoned me?”  The writer was referring to the two sets of footprints ending leaving only a single set of footprints in the sand. God’s reply was… “I never left you, why I was carrying you!”

How many times in life have we felt like we had the bull by the horns? Safely guiding and directing our own lives while really running from a very large herd of bulls that were in close pursuit. How many of us over the last three years had put our trust in our bank accounts only to have it completely shattered by a weak and reeling economy? How many of us feel like we can stand alone on deck as the captain of our own vessels?

As we travel through the Holy Land we observe Isaac’s son Jacob as he has a family reunion with his brother Esau. Keep in mind that Jacob some thirty years earlier was fleeing from his brother as he had tricked him out of his birthright. Now as Jacob comes to the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan, Jacob’s only daughter Dinah is violated and defiled by Hamor’s son Shechem. Jacob’s sons seeking revenge trick the men of Shechem to be circumcised.  As they are recovering from the procedure, Simeon and Levi brothers of Dinah come boldly upon all the males of the city and kill them by the sword. As they plunder and loot the entire city of all their livestock, women and children Jacob begins to realize what his sons actions are going to cost him.

In Genesis 34:30 we read “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me.” Here we have the “fear factor” kicking in. It seems that when things are going in our favor that we can get over confident of our own abilities and that is when we stumble and fall. It’s in these times when we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel that trouble overwhelms us. When hardship befalls us where do we turn for help? Many times we turn to some distraction in the hoping it go away. Sex, drugs and alcohol are but a few of our familiar friends who seem to be there for us to cling to. But they just prolong our agony and make things worse.

In Chapter 35:1 of Genesis God speaks 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.” Jacob is obedient to God and instructs his family to put away their foreign gods and to begin to purify themselves. Jacob says in Genesis 35:3 “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.”

God is instructing Jacob to return to Him; to return to the place where he first met him face to face at Bethel. God is always waiting there for us, especially when we lose our focus and the darkness sets in. Our heavenly Father has only always desired the best for us and is waiting for us to return to Him! Just as God instructs Jacob to return to Bethel, which means house of God, God wants us to always seek Him especially in times of trouble. God loves us as a father loves his children. Maybe your earthly father mistreated you or abandoned you but your Heavenly Father will never do that, He is trustworthy.

So it’s just like the image on the poster that gracefully hung on my wall; where two sets of footprints disappear leaving only one set. God carries us through the hard times, through the dark times through all our trials and tribulations. Because God exists outside of time, He can see both the beginning and the ending. So I encourage you today to return to the house of God and ask Him for help. Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of good courage, for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”