In the Old Testament we see numerous times when the people of God would set up altars or markers to remember something God had done. God spoke to Jacob and told him what He was going to do in his life in Genesis 35.
CSB17 Genesis 35:11 God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. 12 I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. And I will give the land to your future descendants.” 13 Then God withdrew from him at the place where he had spoken to him. 14 Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him– a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. (Gen. 35:11-14 CSB17)
The reason for setting up these markers was to remember what God had done. If you were to look back through your life and consider the times God had revealed Himself to you, done a work for you, you could consider those moments spiritual markers, as Dr. Henry Blackaby calls them. These are times when you know you saw the hand of God at work in your life.
As we approach our Homecoming as a church, we are really setting aside this time to consider our spiritual markers, times when we have seen God’s hand at work. When I consider how difficult it must have been for this church to move down the road from the old site, I see that as a spiritual marker. I see a time when people set aside their comfort and feelings about the past to move forward as God was leading. In 2013 when I came here, we were able to burn that note on the church signifying that we were and are debt free.
However, the greater markers are each life that has been changed for the Kingdom of God. When I think of people that would have spent their eternity in a lake of fire but have come to faith in Christ through the witness and testimony of this church over the years, those are the real markers worth celebrating! Indeed, God will continue to change lives through this church, and I pray that we would continue to let Him work through us.
I don’t pretend to know what all He is going to do in us and through us in the years ahead. However, I am convinced that God has much for us to do and time is short. As we celebrate what God has done here at Pleasant Grove let us not forget to look forward with anticipation to what He will do. Let’s work to be actively pursuing Him so that we walk in His steps and faithfully witness His glory to those we come in contact with. Indeed, let’s walk in our mission, “To make known the glory of God in Gilmer County and to all the nations!”
In His Amazing Grace,
Dan