Verse for the Day, 30 April 2014.

Genesis 35:1-5  God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."  (2)  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.  (3)  Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."  (4)  So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.  (5)  And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

The actions of Jacob’s two sons, Simeon and Levi have endangered the whole family, in this chapter we read of how God works so as to preserve and protect Jacob and his family. Jacob is commanded by God to go and settle in Bethel. God’s instructions go further than just telling Jacob to move to a different location, Jacob is also instructed to build an altar and worship God. Jacob’s response is evidence of his growing relationship with God and his spiritual maturity. He rightly discerns that he and his family cannot worship God whilst some of them still cling to their idols and others of them have blood-stained hands. Jacob appears to understand that God is a holy God, and therefore those who approach Him to worship Him must also seek to come with clean hearts and hands. There is then a need for the whole family to deal with and repent of their sin, and to remove the idols from amongst them. Jacob instructs his family to do exactly this and takes the necessary steps of physically taking the idols away and burying them.

As Jacob and his family leave, it becomes clear that the people of the surrounding cities had been planning to come after Jacob’s family, but God in His grace intervenes causing His terror to come upon them. The people having seen this would have realised that God’s hand was upon Jacob, to go and fight against Jacob, would be to go and fight against God. Jacob states to his family that God has faithfully answered him on the day of his distress, rescuing him and faithfully watching over him through all the years. Whilst Jacob was aware of the many ways God had done this, there had been other occasions when God had done this but it remained hidden from Jacob’s sight and knowledge. This passage is one such occasion.

There is much to encourage and challenge us in this passage as believers in Jesus Christ. The encouragement is two-fold, firstly just as Jacob desired to draw near to God and worship Him, Jacob could only draw so near, he could cleanse himself as best he knew how, but he could not truly cleanse himself. We have great reason to be encouraged by the fact that Christ has enabled us to draw near to God; to be able to come right to His throne, Christ is the one who has brought us near to God. Christ is able to bring us to God because He has cleansed us and consecrated us through His work on the cross. Secondly, because Christ has brought us near to God and caused us to become the children and people of God, we will know the same protection and faithfulness that Jacob knew. There are times when this protection and faithfulness of God is evident to us, but most of the time it is unseen and unknown to us. God as the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 121 is a God who never slumbers nor sleeps, but keeps a constant watch over His people.

The challenge for us is also two-fold. Firstly, we are to continue to place our trust in God and develop a constant thankfulness for His daily protection and faithfulness. The second challenge is for us to understand the importance of the constant pursuit of holiness. If we desire to draw near to God and live lives that honour and glorify Him we must walk in holiness, avoiding the mistakes of Jacob and his family. We must understand that deceit, falsehood, anger, hate and idolatry are destructive and damaging to our relationship with God. We cannot indulge in them and then think that in the next breath we can draw near to God in worship and praise. God is gracious and forgiving and thus if we do fall into this sin, we can come in humility and repentance, but it is vital that we seek to put our hearts right before God, prior to worshipping Him. We are to give ourselves and our lives to the worship of God, which means that we are to give ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, of Christlikeness.

Holy and Faithful Father, we thank You for Your constant faithfulness towards us and protection of us. We pray that You would help us to be more mindful and thankful for it, especially when it is so often unseen and unknown to us. We thank You most of all that we know Your faithfulness and protection because of Christ, who has consecrated us and brought us near to You. Help us by Your Spirit to be people who always seek to be near to You, walking closely in the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.