Sunday, January 17, 2010

Jacob’s Encounter with God at Bethel

Genesis 28

Jacob journeyed from Beersheba on the northern path to Haran.
I’m sure he wondered what he would find when he arrived at Rebecca’s clan.
He stopped late after travelling long; his weariness was extreme.
He arranged his bed and as he slept, he experienced an awesome dream.

He saw a ladder reaching to heaven where angels went up and down.
He saw the LORD standing at the top and heard a glorious sound.
“I am the God of Abraham. What you see here is your land.
I will be with you all of your days. You’re safe in My mighty hand.”

Jacob awoke with a sense of awe and knew he had heard from God.
He also knew too much of his life was lived behind a façade.
Acknowledging this divine encounter, he poured oil upon the rock,
For this was the place God spoke to him, a place to pause and take stock.

Jacob gave a name to that place—Bethel—the House of God.
Here he began to seek God’s face, forsaking the ways of a fraud.
“Jehovah will keep me, meet my needs; bring me back to this place,
So I must serve Him faithfully, His plans and purpose embrace.”

Jacob arranged that very rock as a place to remember His Lord.
Never would he renounce his God nor His instruction ignore.
In his dream he knew he saw heaven with his very own eyes.
From that moment on to honor God, he vowed he would give a tithe.

In those days when one gave a tithe, it exalted the other as superior.
The giver clearly acknowledged the fact that he was the one inferior.
That’s what happened to Jacob that day, for his life had been selfish for sure,
But here at Bethel he began to convey a desire to be made mature.

How about you, my respected friend? Is your heart for God undivided?
Do you desire to know your God and by His Word be guided?
God is able to change our life, so Christ in us can be formed.
Like Jacob the crafty selfish deceiver, we too can be transformed.

© Copyright George M. Cuff, All Rights Reserved

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