Dwindling Dwellings

 “Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”” ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭35:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Shechem experience for Jacob has been a great unsettling and humiliating disappointment. Although this experience represents a typical example of instability and insecurity that comes with life’s experiences, it often provides access to a Bethel experience for those who are sensitive to God’s intervention. Unfortunately, many believers have a distasteful disposition to their dwindling dwellings in Shechem, and a complete closure to the possibility of God’s call to “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there”. But all wayfaring pilgrims have a lot to learn from Jacob’s Shechem experience and his inevitable dwindling dwellings. Apart from being sensitive to God’s call, he responded promptly by mobilizing his household to “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments”. No doubt, dwindling dwellings in life comes with the garments of worldliness, compromises, idolatry (the worship of foreign gods through changes in lifestyles, socialization, and materialism). Believers must be consistently sensitive to God’s call to go up to Bethel, if they must retain the garment of righteousness on their way to Zion.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Loved Life

  “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. ”” Galatians 2 : 20 - 21 NKJV Loosed lives often fake liberalism as freedom of expression and privilege to be controlled by societal influences. But in actual fact, this fake liberalism is an expression of an absence of the love that matters, i.e., God’s love. God’s love brings grace through the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So, when Apostle Paul shared the testament of his loved life as “ I have been crucified with Christ “, it confirms that a loved life is a crucified life; and not a copied life. Unfortunately, in our fast-paced world with complex worldviews on diverse subjects, a copied life is faced with complicated opinions on diverse cultural, political, an...
Read more

Peaceful Pathway

  “ Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. ” II Thessalonians 3 : 16 NKJV Truth be told, the pursuit of righteousness is simply and straightforwardly the following of the right pathway, not necessarily the safe, the polite, and the popular pathway. Little wonder Martin Luther King once said, ‘On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, “ Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “ Is it polite?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “ Is it popular? ” But Conscience asks the question, “ Is it right? ”’. Unfortunately, finding the right pathway is not up to philosophers, psychologists, and politicians in our world, to whom there is no such thing as absolute truth. Whereas, the pursuit of the right pathway is the following of the One who says “ I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me ( John 14 : 6 )”. Jesus is the only Giver of peace; He gives grace, guidance, and ...
Read more

Wrangled Way

  “ Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways. ” Psalms 119 : 1 - 3 NKJV There is no doubt that those who abuse the grace of God have little or no understanding of the concept of the narrow way. For  “ Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it ” ( Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬-‭14‬).  The narrow way cannot be widened because it is not only strait , it is extremely wrangled. So, when the scriptures proclaimed the blessedness of “ the undefiled in the way ”, it merely commends their consecration to righteousness and commitment to the wrangled way. The wrangled ways are the divine molding wheels for forming God’s children into His effective a...
Read more