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, ...