Return & Revisit
I remember my parents taking our family back to some of the places we lived when we were growing up. There were some incidents that happened at some of the places and these incidents didn’t necessarily define me, but they were markers along the way of life as a kid. I remember going to the home place where I broke my arm and was pushed onto a cactus. I remember another place where a cow about killed me until my Dad rescued me. (I had really made that cow mad!) Then there is the place where I lived the longest and through my teen-age years. I have so many memories of my life that are connected to places where I lived along the way. One special place in my heart is the college (now university) where I earned my under grad degree. I came face to face with God there. I remember well the night that I felt the presence of God all over me and I believed in Him for me. It was there that my faith became my own.
I’m not sure why the Lord told Jacob to go back to Bethel where they had wrestled, but He did and Jacob obeyed. Check this out…
1 Then God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.’
6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother. (Genesis 35:1; 6-7 NIV)
I believe that when I revisit some place and markers in my past, I get greater clarity as to where I’m going in the future. The Lord used so many places and people in my life growing up that have prepared me for who I am today. I miss my home state of Kentucky and I’m a bit envious of people like my wife who grew up in a rural area and lived there pretty much her whole life. The markers for her are close by.
One of my favorite parts of this passage is that God said “Go” and Jacob went. He was obedient. His relationship with the Lord was deep. He was faithful and obedient. I need to revisit the markers along my journey to keep me close to the Lord. There might even be another marker that takes place today that I’ll revisit years from now.
Pressing On!
Dwayne