DAILY READINGS: Leviticus 2; Psalms 99-101; Acts 25:13-27
Then Jacob said…Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments. Genesis 35:2
Jacob’s spiritual journey was coming full circle. What began favorably at Bethel (Gen. 28) was soon sidetracked when he married and amassed his riches. His steps took him even lower at Shechem (Gen. 34), even after the Lord directed him back to Bethel (Gen. 31), and worked marvelously at Peniel (Gen. 32). Now he was returning to his spiritual roots and rising from his pitiful condition to the place where he had first found the Lord. But it required a clean break from the vestiges of his old life and the strange gods he served. It is the first revival in the Bible—and the pattern for all those wanting to come back to Him. —Mark Kolchin
Back to Bethel, I must go, back to Bethel where the sweet waters flow,
Back to the true life, my soul longs to know, Bethel is calling, and I must go.—B. B. McKinney