A WORD IN SEASON TO THE WEARY
December 13🕯️🕯️🕯️
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord” (2 Cor. 6:17).
God had asked Jacob to go to Bethel, saying, “…now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred” (Gen. 31:13). But Jacob was tempted to obey God partially. He yielded, and halted at Shechem. It was here that his daughter Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land and was defiled by Shechem the prince of the country. This was Jacob’s fault. We cannot blame Dinah. She was young and inexperienced. Her parents ought to have known better than to behave as they did. Parents are for the most part responsible for the behaviour of their sons and daughters. Very often, they are the very ones who lead their children into sin; they allow young men to stay in their house, quite unmindful of the danger of their own daughters. One day they will have to give an account to God for their folly. If Jacob had proceeded on his journey in obedience to God’s command, Dinah would not have been left open to temptation.
Jacob had now to face another temptation as we read in Gen. 34:8,9. Hamor, the father of Shechem, came to Jacob with a proposal for his son Shechem, to marry Dinah. Simeon and Levi intervened and by a subtle trick destroyed the men of the land (Gen.34:25). Even then, Jacob was not thinking of leaving the place. Perhaps he thought that since the men had been killed it was quite safe for them to continue dwelling there. Again the Lord spoke to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel” (Gen. 35:1). There at Bethel, Jacob could understand the purpose of God. “Bethel” means “The House of God”. It is there we can understand the deep purposes of God. Many people do not know this secret. They are content with the blessings of the past. They are deceived by the world and its prosperity and as a result they keep away from the House of God. Unless you take your full share in the House of God in fellowship, worship and in service, you are liable to fall into many dangers. People give different kinds of excuses. Some say they are busy buying lands and building houses. Others say they have to look after their children. And when on a rare occasion they get ready to attend some spiritual gatherings they find some worldly friends or relatives coming to visit them, and so they stay behind to entertain them. They say, “We can go to the House of God next Sunday.” When next Sunday comes they are hindered in some other way. When parents are so careless regarding their devotion to the Lord and love for His House it is no wonder that their sons and daughters are carried away by the lusts of the world and fall into defilement and sin.
