Revisiting "Bethel"

What a wonderful Sunday! It is beautiful outside (albeit windy). I have quite a bit to get done on my weekend still but wanted to share the message from church this morning. It was a very good one- one that I needed to hear.

Our reading came from Genesis 35:1-15

At first I couldn't figure out where Pastor was going to go with this reading. I would type it out for all to read but I hope you have a Bible or you can use biblegateway.com to read it online. 

Bethel means House of God. Or it can be thought of as where we first met God. Pastor asked us to recall that place we were when we first 'met' God; when we realized we needed Him. It could be a physical place (many recall kneeling at an altar, or beside their beds, asking Jesus to be their Savior) or just the memory of the time. In verse 6 of the chapter we read that Jacob was in Luz, which is Bethel. This place he named many years earlier, in chapter 28 of Genesis. This place, Bethel, is where Jacob had first met God. In his talk, Pastor refers to Bethel as the place were we first met God.

It is good to go back to "Bethel" because when we do that we are refreshed, reminded, reassured and reconnected. (Yes, he likes to use alliteration to get his message across- I like it myself)

When we go back to "Bethel" we are refreshed. In Genesis 35:2 we see Jacob telling his family to get cleaned up and to put away their strange gods. A nice note here is that back in this time, bathing was not a frequent occurrence. But when Jacob was instructed by God to go back to Bethel he felt the need to clean up; to be fresh. Jacob's actions were in anticipation of going to back to Bethel but I think that when we think on that day and/or place, it helps us to purge out the unclean. It refreshes.

At our Bethel we also are reminded of the distress we were in when we came to God. In chapter 28 of Genesis, Jacob was on the run from his brother Esau, who wished to kill him. Jacob was distressed; he slept with his head on a rock. You have to be pretty low to sleep on a rock... (of course the Egyptians used them all the time... I wouldn't wish to!). God came to Jacob in this time of distress and Jacob made promises to God. This was a point that Pastor made sure to reiterate. The vows we made when we first met with God are just as relevant now as they were then. We should have them in the front of our minds. They should not be forgotten. When we go back to Bethel, we are reminded of our distress- why we needed God- and also of the vows we made. We are also reminded of the wonderful salvation that was given us by God.

If we think back to the distress we are also reassured that God can handle anything. There is nothing too large for God to handle. We cannot do it on our own. In Genesis 35:11 we read "And God said unto him, I am God Almighty..." Jacob was reassured. We are reassured that God will be there for us.

Finally, we are reconnected with God when we go back to Bethel. When we first were at that place the fire and passion we felt for God was intense. The closeness we wanted was wonderful. As time goes on though, we may separate ourselves from God. He never turns from us but often we do from Him. We are reconnected with God and His plan for our lives when we revisit Bethel. In Genesis, Jacob had gone back to Bethel and he was refreshed, reminded, and reassured. The reconnection though was something that was so important for Jacob because in verses 16-20 we read of Rachel's death. Jacob had to endure something horrible but because of God, he was able to come through it. 

That was the lesson in church today.

This was a great lesson today. And timely. Just last night I kept thinking on the word complacency. I think that in the United States we are complacent. There is a danger but we have such comfortable lives that we fail to see it for what it really is. We are like the Laodicean church in Revelation. We are in need of nothing and therefore do not call on God any longer. We in America are lukewarm. 

It is a tough thought- being complacent, lukewarm. It means that more is required of us. It means stepping out of our comfort zones. Doing more for Jesus. Doing more to declare the God of heaven. It isn't something to take lightly but I'm sure that it will definitely cause turmoil. Jesus said he did not come into the world to bring peace but instead to bring division.

Personally, it is very tough. It makes me want to do so much more but at the same time, I must say, it makes me somewhat sad to think of all the comfortable things I've become used to that I need to give up. Tough indeed.