God calls Jacob to leave where they're at and go to a different place so he can meet with God. As we go before God he wants us pure and holy. Jacob instructs his family to get rid of the false gods. When things become more important to us than our relationship with God then it makes it hard to spend the time with God that we need to, plus it makes it hard to hear God's voice. Sometimes we just need to get away from our surroundings so we can take the time to really be with God and listen. Getting away with God could mean going to a new place far from where we're at or could just mean finding that chair in an isolated area to sit before the Lord so you can draw near to him and hear his voice.
1. I'm thankful for God's word.
2. I'm thankful for his truth.
3. I'm thankful that he is willing to share his truth with me.
4. May I make good choices to ensure that I'm being holy and pure before Him.
Genesis chapter 34.
After all the evil done to Dinah, her dad Jacob never took charge to deal with the evil against her. It appears fear, once again, was upon him for he let his sons handle it and never questioned their plan. Then when the two sons killed all the men, Jacob is afraid of what will happen to Him and his family. The sons were controlled by anger and hate and when you are controlled by anger and hate you'll do anything to another person. It appears that fear controlled Jacob and if controlled by fear you often do nothing. There must be a balance. There must be consequences when evil is done. You can't stand by and do nothing.
What I found interesting about Shechem is he seemed very spoiled. Like he is used to getting what he wants. For example he wanted to have sex with Dinah so he raped her. Then he wanted to marry her so he demanded his daddy get her for him. He wants it so badly he pleads that he'll do anything. His attitude is I'm spoiled so I can do anything I want. Therefore I don't need to take responsibility for my actions or be held accountable for them.
So I come to these three thoughts:
1. We must be aware of our actions and how they affect others.
2. We must be willing to take responsibility for our actions and be held accountable.
3. We must be willing to suffer the consequences that come with being irresponsible.
God speaks to Jacob again in chapter 35. Jacob experiences both the loss of his wife, Rachel and his father, Isaac in this chapter. I’m reminded that God is with us during all that we have to face in life. We should be thankful for His Word. Aren’t you glad that He speaks to us through the Bible? We need to listen and trust Him.
Here’s the link for He Spoke.
https://youtu.be/_Ml9LWuMwBk
His daughter raped, his sons mass murderers, Jacob’s family is a mess. What does our God of unbelievable grace do? … He tells him to go back to where he first met Him – where he was saved in Bethel. What a beautiful message to us. Where sin abounds, grace abounds (Romans 5:20).
Jacob had another loss in this chapter. Verse 8 gives us an insight to his emotions when his nanny, Deborah, dies. He buried her under the oak of weeping (Allon-bachuth).
I’m thankful for this challenge, I now spend more time concentrating on one chapter at a time. Rereading it over and over
And after reading everyone’s responses ,(they are great!) it reminds me just how new I am in my walk with Christ.
Satan tries to keep me busy, this is a great weapon for me to defeat him sharing Gods word.
Love Jacobs name change …
Sad for Racheal death during child birth.
God’s forgiveness is always there. May we all find it and lay down our idols to focus on Him.