If you’ve been around church for a while, especially hearing preachers my age, you’ve probably heard a sermon called “Back to Bethel.” It’s a classic!
Where does that title come from? It’s from Genesis 35, where God tells Jacob and his whole family to go “back to Bethel.”
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” (Genesis 35:1).
I think we’ve all been at a place of spiritual dryness and decline. I know I’ve definitely had my share of those moments.
Sometimes, we need God’s voice telling us, “Remember where we first connected? Let’s go back there and get things back on track. This is what going back to that experience may look like:
- Seek God’s Presence: “Back to Bethel” can look like intentional actions to seek God’s presence again.
During dry and barren spiritual times, we can ask ourselves if we have stopped doing what brought us a sense of God’s nearness.
God is gracious and often will quickly restore a sense of His presence once we begin doing what we have eliminated from our lives out of hurry, business, or sin.
- Renewing Spiritual Strength: Just like our bodies need nourishment, our spirits need spiritual sustenance.
Rudy Ross often talks about praying for God’s daily bread. He knows that a daily meeting with God is a source of spiritual food.
When we neglect our “daily bread,” we become weak and vulnerable to temptation. Restarting Bible reading, prayer, and worship rebuilds our spiritual strength, equipping us to face life’s challenges with faith and resilience.
- Restoring God’s Perspective: Regular prayer and worship help us focus on God’s truth. It shifts our perspective from a limited understanding to God’s infinite wisdom.
Henry Blackaby often speaks of aligning our lives with God’s will. Going “back to Bethel” through various spiritual disciplines will return us to a place where we can hear and do God’s will.
Coming Clean
Part of returning to a close relationship with God involves removing the things that separate us from Him.
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes;
then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone” (Genesis 35:2-3).
Our “back to Bethel” experience should reflect Jacob’s instructions to those with him.
- Repentance and Cleansing: Spiritual decline often involves straying from God’s ways.
Restarting worship and prayer creates space for honest self-reflection and repentance. It’s a time to confess our sins, receive God’s forgiveness, and experience the cleansing power of His grace.
This allows us to move forward with a renewed heart and a clean slate. We can rely on God’s gracious promise of a new beginning in our relationship with Him.
If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
- Sincere Repentance – One chorus from years ago said: “I have decided to follow Jesus . . . No turning back, no turning back.”
The company of people with Jacob surrendered their connection to objects that kept them distant from God.
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem (Genesis 35:4).
Jesus taught the seriousness of eliminating anything that would keep us from fully following God’s will.
“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matthew 5:30).
We can sin as readily with one hand as with two, but the seriousness of Jesus’ admonition should be noted. The company that traveled with Jacob surrendered valuable objects before they came to Bethel.
What is God calling us to surrender as we return to a close and intimate relationship with our Savior?
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 