Inspirational Thought of the Day:
God reveals Himself to us when we truly seek Him.
Scripture of the Day:
Genesis 35:3, 7
“We are going to leave here and go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who helped me in the time of my trouble and who has been with me everywhere I have gone. 7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel because there God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.”
“El Bethel”, translated “The God of the house of God” or “God of Bethel” was a special place to Jacob. God met Jacob at a time when he was confronted with a looming danger and the reality that he deserved consequences for his past behavior. Fear was palpable.
It is in the hard places of life that God reveals Himself to us in a way that we desperately need Him to. He is our sufficiency, our very present help in time of need. But we likely would not encounter the aspect of God that He demonstrates in that moment had we not been brought to our own El Bethel.
We detest being put in a position of brokenness, but without it, we would not know God in the intimate way He brings about in the fire. We would not appreciate the incredible beauty of our God if we knew everything about Him from the beginning. By nature, we seek our own independence and take His grace for granted. But when life gets hard, He has our attention and we are aroused from our stupor to realize we have gotten off track again.
Broken with seemingly no promise on the horizon, God reaches us in that place and calls our hearts home to His promise.
Sometimes we need to take a pilgrimage to the places where God spoke to us in a deeper way. Maybe it is looking through our journals, reflecting on His activity in our lives, or maybe actually visiting a place where God made Himself known to us in a way He had not before.
At the height of my suffering, I pled with God to remove my pain. I did not understand why I had to be in that very harsh place. Like Jacob, I went to God and cried out for help. God answered, but not in the way I anticipated. Our way is temporary, worldly and self-centered. His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts higher than ours. His purposes always deeper, always eternal.
As we seek to lay our burdens and triumphs at the feet of our God, that place becomes Holy ground where we will never forget our interaction with a Holy God who causes us to rise victorious, surrounded by His love and faithfulness. Our fears lying in the dust, our outlook changed forever.
Where is your Bethel? Go and visit there with your God. He knows you completely and is waiting for you to come and know Him more.
1 Corinthians 13:2
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Lord, thank You for being our place of refuge, our hideaway, our faithful God. Help us to run to you at all times and remain in Your fellowship and grace.
An ever present help…
Oh how tenderly and so unexpectedly Jesus gives, reveals, showers, displays, lavishes His undeserved love to, for, on us!!
Small towns in the mountains, two specifically have been “Bethels” for me! More than once I wanted to give up entirely, yet JESUS saw me and, thank you beyond description God, didn’t, wouldn’t let me go!!
Amen. He never lets go of us – thank you for that reminder! His love is unconditional – even when we are unlovely, he never breaks a vow or a promise. Forever faithful! Thanks for coming by and sharing. God bless you!
It is amazing when we look back at the hard times in our lives how God carriers us through and closer to Him. We need to remember those times not in bitterness but rejoicing how God helped us. Thanks for sharing.
Tom,
Yes it is. Wish we could see it at the time – sometimes we do, by His grace! I love how you mention not remembering in bitterness. So true. When we are aware of that insidious emotion creeping in, that is such a blessing. Thank you for coming by and God bless you!