Celebrate! May 31, 2025 Devotional
May 31, 2025
GENESIS 35:1, 6-7 | 1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
6 Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
Milestone moments are worth remembering. They provide perspective on how God is at work in our lives. In this passage, Jacob is commanded to set up an altar and to create a physical location commemorating his wrestling match with God. (See chapter 32:22 and the following) Jacob’s ambition had alienated his father and his brother Esau, as well as his father-in-law Laban. He had been determined to engineer his own material blessings in life and put the real blessing of relationships far down his list of priorities. All his relationships had been full of manipulation and mistrust. Having stolen his brother’s blessing, he finally seeks a blessing from God. Injured in his wrestling match with God’s divine emissary, he finally on the path to wholeness, in spirit and relationships.
Some milestones we mark come from the sometimes painful lessons God teaches us in order to purify our hearts and shape our characters.
When have your struggles put you onto a better path?
Gracious God,
Help us remember not just moments of triumph but also the moments of correction. Shape us for heaven.
Amen.
