Distractions

Genesis 35:1-3 - God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments;  then let us arise and go up to Bethel, that I may make there an altar to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone." 

Jacob..for reasons we are never told…gets sidetracked.  He was supposed to go to Bethel all along.  Maybe it was the release of worry that his brother was still mad….maybe it was pride in the huge flocks and family God had given him…maybe he worried that the land of his father’s would not sustain both brothers if he lived there….maybe he just needed some time to be on his own…to prove to himself that he could handle life without  parents…without a father-in-law…without a brother.  But God finally spoke…and said, “Arise… go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."  God doesn’t have to tell Jacob twice….he immediately speaks to all the people God has blessed him with…all the servants and family….and he tells them to put away the idols they brought with them.

God is always watching us…sometimes he just looks over our shoulders…allowing our choices in life to dictate the next season of our life.  I believe in my heart that he knows the lessons we will learn from the decisions we probably made without his complete guidance …and like Jacob…and he allows them. He allowed the choices Jacob made to live in Shechem…bring sorrow and pain to his family…and to eventually bring calamity to the town itself. Jacob’s daughter is raped…his sons deceive and murder the whole town ….plundering the wealth and bringing the idols into their homes as good luck charms of sorts.  And the consequences of Jacob’s distraction is more costly than he ever dreamed…as he loses Rachel in the move back to Bethel as she bears him his last son.

God only allows so much pain before he speaks to us…and tells us that we have lived long enough on our own.  He speaks to us as he spoke to Jacob…and he says Arise….take up this task I have for you…and build me an altar…and worship me completely again. Just like the times in my own life that I relied more on myself than I did on God….when I allowed Satan to trick me into drinking with teens half my age for attention….when I allowed Satan to distract me into thinking a divorce was my only option.  The pain of those choices still is brought to mind today…and my children still suffer from my choice to leave their father. The idols of shopping and TV filled the loneliness….even got me compliments that boosted my battered self image….but in truth..they kept me from spending quality time with the father…they became good luck charms that helped me rationalize the choices I had made as good for me.

And like Jacob ….even when we hear him and follow his calling….life will still have some pain…like when I was sure that the decision to marry again was a blessing from God….and he only allowed me to share that love on Earth for four short months.  I am sure that Jacob drew closer to God as he buried is sweet love…in a land he would not be able to visit weekly. He left that grave and moved on to do what God asked…and allowed God to be his security blanket…his permanent good luck charm…as he moved forward to embrace the promise God had given to his grandfather Abram….and then to his father Isaac….and now to him.  He even embraced his new name Israel this time…and planted a love for God in his heart that was stronger than the distractions Satan placed around him.

Father…I thank you once again for the many lessons you have allowed in my life…many that seemed bad and  horrid…and painful at the time…but because you called my name…because you only let me fall so far before you spoke to me…I have found a greater purpose for your love. Help me now to go out and embrace my new name…my new task…and with a renewed passion for your love…be more aware of your presence…be quicker to pray to you for directions…give up any idol and distraction that Satan still tricks me with….follow you wherever you ask me to go.  Draw me even closer to you…so I can hear your voice even better…and walk with me as I search for what you want me to do. Amen.