IF YOU WANT GOD TO HELP YOU
Genesis 35:1-12
We have read consistently in this series that God is our helper. We believe it and look forward to his great help this year and beyond. But it doesn’t just come on a platter of gold. You have a role to play in it. You will note that every promise of God comes with conditions. Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God and are careful to follow all His commandments I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth (Deuteronomy 28:1).
Here God intends to help to re-establish Jacob in Canaan. Jacob knew the conditions of walking with and receiving help from God. He outlined it for his family members thus:
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob, Genesis 35:2-5
There are four conditions outlined here by Jacob for the household to meet with God. They are very relevant if we want God to be our helper.
Put away the strange gods that are among you: You cannot serve God with strange gods in your life. Your allegiance must be to God and God alone. God must be number one in your life. Stop making God the last alternative. Let him be a priority.
PRAYER: Put away any strange gods in your life.
