Our Bethels of Prayer and Our Faith
Today’s Bible Verse
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
(Genesis 28: 16, 17)
We all have our favourite places to pray. For many of us, it may be our room, and for some of us, it would be at the altar of our church. In between, there could be places that remind us of unforgettable moments of faith. These are places that we not only cherish but also yearn to visit once again and pray.
It could be a specific tree in the park and the bench under it. It could be the roadside at the end of a bridge. It could even be your school or university chapel. It could be a little hut on your farm. It could be the window sill of your hostel room. It could be a specific spot in the airport that you usually fly from. It could be an ashram or church on your regular travel route. It could even be the terrace of the apartment that you live in. These places become special for us after we have had experiences of answered prayers, unbelievable miracles and feeling of God’s mighty presence.
I have a place for prayer on the highway from Batticaloa to Oluvil in Sri Lanka. In 2014-2016, I regularly travelled from my home in Batticaloa to conduct visiting lectures at the South Eastern University in Oluvil. It would take me nearly two hours to make it on the motorbike. During these days, I regularly stopped under a tree at Ondatchemadam for a few minutes, prayed just by being seated on the bike, and continued the ride. I would stop at the same place on my way back and pray for two minutes under the coolness of that Neem tree. I call it ‘My Bethel’, and I still stop by and pray whenever I travel by that route.
Similarly, I have another favourite place for prayer at the Colombo International Airport. Throughout all the five years that I studied in Bangalore, the last few years in the UK, and the travels before and after, I would always stop by at this specific corner, either alone or with my parents or recently even when I travelled with my wife, I would always pray from there, and then move on to the check-in counters. In the early years, my mother always stopped by this place and prayed for me, and as time went on, I continued the same in the years that followed. This corner in the airport is another of my many Bethels, I should say.
There will undoubtedly be Bethels in your life too. And let us remember, these places symbolise our prayers and are essential to nurturing our faith. Sometimes we realise that every prayer we had prayed from these places never went unnoticed, and each of them was carefully and wonderfully answered by God in His time and according to His will.
Jacob was on his way to Harran. He was fleeing from home, escaping his brother Esau. Filled with insecurities and cluelessness, Jacob stopped for the night at a place on the way as the sun had, and as he set a stone under his head and fell asleep, he saw a dream. “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord” ( Genesis 28: 12, 13a) and the Lord promised Jacob of prosperity, safety, an assured return to home, and the unchanging presence of the Lord. The Bible says, “When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.’ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth” (Genesis 28: 16 – 22). This was the significance of Bethel in Jacob’s life!
First, Jacob became aware of God’s presence in that place.
Second, he was afraid and was in awe of it.
Third, he realised this was the house of God and was the gate to heaven.
Fourth, Jacob set up a pillar and poured oil on top of it.
Fifth, he named it “Bethel.”
Sixth, Jacob made a vow.
Awareness, fear, and awe, while realising, monumenting, naming, and vow-making. These were the things Jacob did at his Bethel.
Today, how important are the Bethels in your life of faith? Are you aware of God’s presence in your favourite prayer place? Do you regard that place with fear and awe? Do you see that it is a house of God and that is also the gate to heaven? Do you keep that as a place of remembrance and holiness? Have you named it? And, have you made your vow to the Lord from there? This would be a simple call to not take any of your places of prayer for granted. They are cherishable places where you talk with the Lord from where your prayers are taken to the Lord’s presence. You are called to grow in your faith, regard your places of worship as holy, and continue a closer walk with the Lord.
May the blessings of God the Father, the love and grace of Christ Jesus the Son, and the fellowship and guidance of the Holy Spirit, be with us as we continue to seek Him.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
🎶
"In the Garden"
by Rosemary Siemens
