God Appears To Jacob (Gen. 35:9-15)

04/23/2007

SPIRITUAL DAIRY

My Worship Time                  Focus:  God appears to Jacob

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Genesis 35:9-15

            Message f the verses:  “9  Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.  10  God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name." Thus He called him Israel.  11  God also said to him, "I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you.  12  "The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you."  13  Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.  14  Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.  15  So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.”

            As I read this section it all sounds so familiar to me, as if it had happened before, and that is because it had happened before in different periods of Jacobs life, but now it all comes together, and Jacob becomes Israel now not only in name but in action.  Israel means, “God prevails,” and Israel was not only Jacob’s new name given to him by God, but it would be the name of the nation that would come forth from Jacob, and it is what the nation is called today that survives in the Middle-East today as a promise from the Lord. 

            Dr. Wiersbe speaks about the drink offering that Jacob poured out that is described in this section as really an offering of one’s self completely to the Lord.  “It was a symbol of dedication, the worshiper’s life poured out for the Lord.” 

            God also reaffirms His promises to Jacob in this section, which He had given to him on different occasions.  Jacob is now back in Bethel, where he had first had the dream and poured oil upon the rock that he has slept on after leaving his parents home, and now he can go on with his new life with a new name and a new purpose.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.  This is a quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s book and it applies here in this section of Scripture, and it also applies in my life too, as the Lord has been doing a work in my life that will make my life more pleasing to Him as long as I listen to His voice and obey Him with all of my heart.

The Word of God has been convicting, challenging and refreshing to my heart as I read and studied it this morning. 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to see my wife and I through these very challenging days, to learn contentment through these difficult situations, and to seek the Lord to direct my path as the Proverbs say.

Supplement to today’s SD:  This comes from yesterday’s Sunday school lesson.

What one must do to involve change in life. 

1. Prayer  Philippians 1:9-11  “9 ¶  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
2. Focus on the Lord:  1Corthians 10:14  “14  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”  It is good to remember that an idol is ANYTHING that takes the place of God, and hinders one’s worship of God.  This is how the Greek dictionary describes the word flee:  a.) to flee away, seek safety by flight

b.) metaph. to flee (to shun or avoid by flight) something abhorrent, esp. vices

c.) to be saved by flight, to escape safely out of danger

d.) poetically, to flee away, vanish”  The tense of the verb is prolonged activity so it does not just mean to flee once but to continue to flee.

3.  Study the Word

4.  Practice