God made a covenant with Jacob twice. He all promised to Jacob and his descendants prosperity. Meanwhile, Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him and poured out a drink offering on it.
What features these two covenants is that in the former one Jacob claimed, “…of all that you give me I will give you a tenth” (Ge 28: 22) and in the latter covenant God gave Jacob a new name—Israel, meaning “May God prevail.”
The new name aimed to remind Jacob of the ups and downs in life. No one can be freed from trials. We suffer, struggle, but God will ultimately prevail.
2 意見:
God made a covenant with Jacob twice. He all promised to Jacob and his descendants prosperity. Meanwhile, Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him and poured out a drink offering on it.
What features these two covenants is that in the former one Jacob claimed, “…of all that you give me I will give you a tenth” (Ge 28: 22) and in the latter covenant God gave Jacob a new name—Israel, meaning “May God prevail.”
The new name aimed to remind Jacob of the ups and downs in life. No one can be freed from trials. We suffer, struggle, but God will ultimately prevail.
雅各的家庭出了問題陷入愁困當中,上帝便回應了雅各:『起來,上伯特利!』
相信上帝的人仍會跌倒,在沮喪無助的時候,上帝會讓人重新站起來。
伯特利對雅各而言是很特別的地方,那是他第一次感受到神的恩典,也是神應許他同在的地方。上帝要求雅各重返伯特利,而且是帶著家人一起回去,這是因為上帝要解決雅各和他家人的靈性問題,藉由除去心裡有形或無形的偶像,並褪去罪惡的外衣來回到潔淨的心。
要帶領家人信主並不是容易的事情,如果無法常常親近主,回到自己的伯特利,這樣還可能會讓家人跌倒,但是神是憐憫的神,只要願意起來上伯特利,不管路途上多少困難,多少陡峭的山崖,上帝都會與你同在來渡過屬靈的黑暗期。
張貼留言