Israel’s Renewal

Read Genesis 35

Our passage today begins with God calling Jacob back to Bethel for a moment. Now Bethel was the place where God first met with Jacob and revealed himself to him in the dream of the stairway to heaven. It was also where Jacob made a promise that if God was with him, provided for him, and kept him safe that he would worship God. Now, many years later, after God has continually watched over Jacob and his family, God is leading Jacob back to himself and it begins by Jacob returning to where he first met God. Do you ever go back and take time to reflect on the places where God has personally met with you in your life?
One of the first things that Jacob does is to throw away all of the foreign gods, and purify his family and himself of who they were before. They even changed their clothes; which was a symbol in ancient times for changing your character. This is an important example for us as we continue to seek God daily. What are the things that we have let slip into our hearts in place of God? If we are to get back in right standing with God not only do we have to get rid of these things, but our attitude toward them also has to change. Then Jacob begins to fulfill his promise by building an alter to God at Bethel and beginning his life of following God.
God’s reaction to this I think is rather interesting. God comes to him right away. Jacob has just barely turned around and already God comes rushing in with his mercy.God doesn’t require Jacob to be a saint before he reveals himself to him. It is the same way today for us. God is on the lookout for those who are looking for him. God first reminds Jacob that he is no longer who he was but his new name and identity is Israel. Now we know that Jacob had already been renamed Israel by God a few chapters earlier, but apparently he was still living as though he was Jacob and needed God’s reminder that he was in fact a new person. This is also important for us as believers; we have to remember that God is constantly at work in us making a new creation out of us.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
As if that weren’t already enough God blesses Jacob and gives him the inheritance of his father and grandfather.
This passage is about a moment in the life of Jacob, a turning point, but even more so it is a passage about the nature of God, which we get to see through the life of Jacob. God is gracious, quick to come to those who seek him, full of mercy, creating a new and beautiful person out of a life filled with strife and deceit. That is some of the great nature of God that we get to see in just a moment in the life of Jacob.

Take a moment today and reflect on how you see God working in your life and making you into a new creation. Also, reflect on how you see the character of God and ask him to help you refine your view of him.