El Bethel

Gen 35:3 "Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone."

At a time when Jacob feared for his life God came to him in a dream, reassuring him that He was going to keep his promise and make his descendants as the dust of the earth and that He would "…keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you…" Gen 28:15. Now, over twenty years later Jacob saw this. Jacob was going back to that place where God met him and gave him these promises. Jacob went back to that place where he took the rock that he laid his head on and created an altar. Now he created a new altar and renamed it "El Bethel". The original name was "Bethel" or house of God. Now Jacob realized who God was. Now Jacob had experienced God's faithfulness. He saw that God kept His promises. He saw that God had been with him this entire time. Now Jacob knew that his focus was not to be on the house of God but rather on the God of the house of God…El Bethel.

Focus. It is huge. So many times my focus is off. I center my attention on the task that is in front of me. I center my attention on the goal that I want to achieve. I center my attention on the thing that I have to accomplish for that day or that week. I focus on fulfilling God's purpose in my life…and that is not bad. I should be concerned about tasks, and goals and God's purpose, but not at the expense of losing my focus on the One who is the center of it all. Jacob originally centered his attention on the house of God, or the place where God met him. After many years, he realized that his focus was not to be on the place but the Person, because it was the Person of God who was with him in the way that he went during that time. It was the Person of God who kept His promises. It was the Person of God who answered him on the day of his distress. It only took two decades to come to this conclusion, but he got there, realizing that he needed to focus on the God of the house of God.

This is a major reminder to me. There are all kinds of things that are floating around in my brain right now. There are all kinds of things that are vying for my attention. I need to realize that only one thing deserves my full attention, my full focus and that is the God of the house of God…El Bethel. When He is first, when he is my focus, when I fix my eyes on Jesus, everything else will fall into place. (Matt 6:33) Jacob saw it, so will I.