Bibledoorajar Looks More Closely at Returning to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”

2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.

              O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
               It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
              Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
             Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
              A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
             For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
             Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
             O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
            O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
            O Holy Night , O night divine!

          Placide Cappeaude Roquemaune in the year 1847.

At this time of year, all of earth is aware of the birth of Christ. Each of us in some way returns to Bethlehem and acknowledges our sin and error and the need for a means of rejoicing. We are compelled by the Christmas lyrics to fall on our needs and hear the angel voices that remind us to return to our first love--that joyful time when we accepted our Savior. He has indeed answered us in the days of our distress just as he did Jacob. Jacob knew his family could not continue in sin or wear the earrings that enslaved them to other gods. Today is a good day for us to join Jacob in burying such things. God is calling with a " thrill of hope", and compels "falling on your knees".