Meeting with God

DEVOTION

GENESIS

MEETING WITH GOD

Gen 35:6-15

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. 8 Now Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth.   9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel." So he named him Israel. 11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you." 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him. 14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.  

NIV

This was the first place God had appeared to Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother Esau after stealing his blessing. So he comes home more or less as he had been commanded to go back to the land of his father. We do not know why we are told about Deborah’s death and burial. She was the wet nurse who nursed Joseph. Perhaps a stronger bond to the family than just an ordinary maidservant, although two of them gave birth to son’s for Jacob. But our truth is in the meeting of God and Jacob. It appears God has to have several meetings with Jacob during his spiritual journey from being Jacob to being Israel. Although he had already received the name Israel when he struggled with God, his spiritual journey has been more or less like a roller coaster. Here God meets with him and renews the fact his name is now Israel and for the first time God affirms he is the God Almighty and blesses Israel telling him to be fruitful and increase in number, as he did with Adam. We shall see this all come to pass. When Israel goes down to Egypt there are seventy-two souls in his household. When the children of Israel leave some hundreds of years later they number over one million, all descendants of Israel. But our truth, our life lesson is in the meeting with God, and the need of it for the spiritual growth of Jacob to Israel. Our spiritual growth at times most likely looks like a roller coaster as well. We have dry periods, times when we lose sight of our direction or get distracted by various temptations. But God is always available to meet with in order to bring us along in our spiritual journey to the place he desires us to be. He may not come down from heaven as he did here with Jacob, but he is here with us in several ways. First and foremost he has given or sent the Spirit to dwell within us, to not just meet with us, but to live with us, in us. Then he also has given us his word, written by various men whom he either dictated to or inspired by the Spirit to pen. We have as much, if not more, opportunities to meet with God then men like Jacob. Although Jacob went about living a normal life, in fact, a lot of normal living took place, God always was there when he needed to make a change in Jacob. We too do a lot of normal living, each and every day, just doing life, but God is always there to intervene in our day to day lives when we need to make a change. But we have to be ready to listen. We have to not be so involved with the normal living we do not notice when God is speaking. He may not appear in some supernatural event, but simply speak in a still small voice, as he did when he spoke to Elijah. At least Jacob knew without a doubt he was meeting with God, as he stood before him. But we too can know without a doubt we are meeting with God every time we open his word and every time we go to prayer. Jacob built an altar where God had met with him. Some churches have built altars to symbolize a place in which to meet with God. But we build an altar in our hearts and minds for that is where God is actually meeting with us. How awesome it is to meet with God.