Then the Lord Will Be My God

How does our God become the God of our children and grandchildren?

Jacob was on the run after stealing his brother’s birthright and blessing. His mama told him he needed to get out of town until his brother’s anger calmed down. On the way to the land of his mother’s upbringing, God spoke to him…

“I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you,”(Gen. 28:13-15).

It’s interesting that God doesn’t say that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. At this point, He is only the God of Abraham and Isaac. Would He be the God of Jacob as well? In response to God’s promises, Jacob says…

“If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God,”(Gen. 28:20-21).

Jacob is not being manipulative. He is not saying that if God does what he wants then he will worship the God of his father and grandfather. No, he is saying that he will depend on the promises that God made to him, and if God proves Himself faithful, then he will worship Him.

Fast forward to Genesis 35, and Jacob is returning home. On the way, he comes to the place where God spoke to him all those years before. Has God kept His promises to Jacob? God knows that He has been faithful, so He tells Jacob to build an altar for worship. And Jacob responds…

“Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone,”(Gen. 35:3).

God has proven faithful, and the God of Abraham and Isaac is now the God of Jacob too.

How does our God become the God of our children and grandchildren? We teach them to count on the promises of God as we find them in the Bible. We teach them to worship Him as He proves Himself faithful.