Genesis 35:1, 9-15
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.”
After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.
For our final day with Jacob, we spend some time with a passage that is full of reminders. There’s the reminder of Bethel and God meeting him there as well as the reminder that he was fleeing from Esau. There’s a reminder of God changing his name. There’s a reminder that takes us way back to creation and the garden. There’s a reminder of the promises made to Abraham and Isaac and a promise made again to him. There’s a reminder of the altar Jacob set up and this time, Jacob anoints it. There’s a reminder of him naming the place again and what it means.
Reminders are good. They are healthy. There’s a wholeness to be found in going back. We’ve learned along the way and we’ve grown and things have changed and in going back, we have an opportunity to anoint the moments and experiences that have shaped us. The good, the bad, the easy, the difficult, the running and the wrestling, all of them have something to offer us. Saying that God is faithful is an academic exercise. Believing it is an expectation. Knowing it deep in our souls because we can look back and mark that faithfulness is something else entirely. Holding it all at once and finding His faithfulness in and through it… that is how we can be faithful.
In this same place, almost a lifetime ago, Jacob made his own promise. “If God will be with me… then I will…” There were a lot more words back in Genesis 28, but here’s the gist. It’s covenant language. Jacob sets out these things he wants God to do. It’s a list of what “God with me” looks like. And he puts a lot more on God than he commits to himself. God will always bring more to it than we do. It’s necessary to keep that perspective and it’s also ok to be that specific. This approach can seem so foreign to us. We’re supposed to be grateful for whatever God gives. We’re not supposed to bring the laundry list/check boxes to the Lord. Yet here it is in Scripture.
All those years later, Jacob can look back and know without a doubt that God did it all. All those years later, Jacob returns to the same pillar and anoints it with a drink offering and with oil.
What can you look back on and anoint today?
Reflect:
On the scripture. On your own journey. Hold the reminders and the memories that come back to you.
Journal:
Name your altars. Name the places where God met with you and the times when He revealed Himself to you in some way. The reminders, memories, people, and places that you can anoint.
Pray:
1) A prayer of anointing on them.
2) Your “If God will be with me” prayer. Pray sincerely. Pray deliberately. What does “God with you” look like? And what will you covenant back to God in return? How will you honor His faithfulness to you?