WELL DIGGERS - LEARNING FROM JACOB’S BETHEL EXPERIENCE 6. BETHEL IS WHERE WE LEARN TO FEAR GOD

The fear of God is not a popular subject in many churches these days. If we have no fear of God we will have no sense of the need to repent of our sins. Multitudes of church goers have never felt any real remorse for the sins, nor have they felt they need to repent of the many sins they commit that offend God.

The holiness of God is also not a popular subject in most churches. However, I don’t think it is possible to have a serious encounter with God, even the love of God, without a sense of our own unworthiness. I think many so-called Christians and church attendees have created their own God--a god that fits right in with their liberal lifestyle. But the god they serve is not the true God of the Bible. The god they have created for themselves has no problem with their watching questionable movies or dressing in clothes that promote the lust of the flesh. The god they worship has no problem with people who live in homosexual unions. They even endorse gay marriages by attending their weddings. The tolerance list goes on and on.

However, the true God of the Bible is a holy God. He states in 1 Peter 1:16: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

Jacob discovered the holy presence of God at Bethel. Isaiah’s vision and encounter with God caused him to say and feel he was “undone” (read Isaiah 6:1-8). Perhaps for the first time he saw himself for what he really was and cried out: “Woe is me! for I am undone: because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5). He felt as unclean as a leper.

True revival can only be measured by the depths of repentance and the depths of the fear of God.

Why did many Christians in America refuse to vote for a God-fearing, constitution loving candidate to be president? Instead, they chose a man who believes he does not need to repent. They think he may be better for their pocket books.

If we want God to bless America, we had better pray that America will repent, including our leadership. Our pocket book is not as important as the state of our souls.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell