A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY
December 7🌷🌷
“…the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him” (Deut.32:12).
In Deut. 32:7-14 God was reminding the children of Israel through Moses that as He had blessed them in the past as long as there were no strange gods among them, so also He would do in the future. God wanted them to remember this as they were about to enter the land of promise. It is very easy for us to forget the blessings we have received in the past and to miss the purpose for which we have been saved by God’s grace. But it is good for us to think more and more of the grand and lofty purpose for which we have been sought and saved by Him.
It was a constant failure among the children of Israel to forget God and His love and His purpose for them. They thought of Him only when they were in some need, some trouble or distress. But soon after their prayers were answered and their requests granted, they forgot the living and true God once again and went after strange gods. We also may have the same weakness. After we have tasted and enjoyed the love and faithfulness of God, if any object or person or desire or association lessens our love for God and weakens our faith in Him, then that becomes a strange god in our life.
God had blessed Jacob, but he could not go on further with the Lord after that, because there were strange gods in his household (Gen. 35:2,4). God had much greater blessings to give him, much more than he could have ever imagined; but he was not in a position to receive them. Even though we have received many blessings already there are many more which we have yet to receive from our loving Saviour, but He will not be able to give them to us as long as there are strange gods in our lives.
When God met Jacob at Penuel, He changed his name from Jacob to Israel which means, “A prince with God”. God had much more than all this to give to Jacob in order to bring him to Bethel, the proper place where He could meet Jacob and bless him. In Shechem Jacob had become very prosperous and had no lack of material things. Yet in God’s sight he was very poor spiritually, so He commanded Jacob to leave that place and go to Bethel. Spiritually, he was far away from Bethel. As Bethel was the place which God had appointed to bless him fully, Jacob could not receive the blessings until he came back to Bethel.
