David asked the rhetorical question, “Where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). The answer, of course, was nowhere. There was not a corner of the universe or even a hidden nook in the place of the dead (Sheol) where God was not present. And that truth delighted David’s soul.
Jacob felt the same. As he prepared his family to move to Bethel, Jacob reminded himself and his entire household that God had been with him wherever he had gone in the past, so this transition would be no different.
God was with them.
Jacob wasn’t just giving a pep talk, trying to hurry along the packing and the loading (Gen. 35:2-3). He was having a moment, so to speak, to recount the dark and fear-filled days when God had been with him, including days of distress that he had brought on himself through his deception and greed, and even the years he had been mistreated and taken advantage of. Jacob had been the violator and the violated … yet God had been with him wherever he went.
It was this truth, that God had never forsaken him, that drove Jacob back into a walk of obedience and trust. God’s goodness and kindness brought Jacob to repentance.
Wherever we are, and no matter whether it was obedience that brought us there or rebellion, whether it was through gain or loss, God is there. He is calling us. Wanting us. Ready to deliver and restore.
“Then let us arise and go up to Bethel,
so that I may make there an altar to
the God who answers me in the day of my distress
and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
Genesis 35:3 (ESV)