30/03/2026
MONDAY MANNA 📖 🔥
( _Revival Hub 61_ ) 30/03/26
*Setting the house in order - put away your strange gods*
Psalm 20:1 says, *The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee.* God is our shield, He is our refuge, and He is our defender in the day of trouble. David says here that our God who defends us is the God of Jacob. This tells us that just as God defended Jacob likewise He will defend us the same way.
In Genesis 34 Simeon and Levi killed Shechem and his father Hamor because Shechem defiled Dinah their sister. It was a savage revenge attack. This incident caused great stress on their father Jacob. Genesis 34:30 says, *And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.* Jacob feared that his family would face retribution and reprisals from the Canaanites and Perizites and those who lived there, he feared that he could be killed too. While facing this difficult situation God intervened and spoke to him and gave him instructions to go to Bethel and dwell there. Jacob knew that God alone was his shelter and protection in the time of trouble. Notice what Jacob said to his children and members of his household. Genesis 35:2-3 says, *Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments.* 3 *And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.*
Jacob told his family members to put away all their strange gods. This was a call for revival within his family, Jacob wanted to make sure that there was nothing in the way to hinder God's presence and protection for his family after his sons committed such a horrific crime. Jacob was setting his house and home in order. The Spirit of Prophecy says, *In the home the foundation is laid for the prosperity of the church. The influences that rule in the home life are carried into the church life; therefore church duties should first begin in the home.* Ellen White, Adventist Home. p318-319.
So how did Jacob's family members respond? Genesis 35:4 says, *And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.* Members of Jacob's household hearkened to him and gave up all the strange gods which were in their poseession and it's significant to note that the Bible specifically mentions that they also gave up their earrings which was in their ears. When a revival and transformation occurs from within it will be revealed in the way we dress, thus ornaments and other items such as ear rings are to be discarded. Items like ear rings which people place on the outside to enhance outward beauty amounts to nothing in the sight of God. Proverbs 31:30 says, *Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.*
After the strange gods and ear rings were put away notice what God did for Jacob and his family. Genesis 35:5 says, *And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.* Do you see what's happening here? The *terror of God* was all around the cities, and the people who had any thought of revenge or any thought of attacking Jacob and his family did not do it because there was a sense of holy fear that came upon them and they feared and dreaded that if they attacked Jacob and his family then definitely something bad was going to happen to them. This fear prevented them from attacking Jacob and his family, that's the terror of God. That's how God intervened and nobody dared to touch Jacob and members of his family.
We can have the same assurance of God's deliverance and protection from our enemies and those who seek to hurt us, God only asks of us to put away all our strange gods.
~Elder Floyd
