The Lord hath made Room for Us-Rev.M.D.Rogers

Isaac was a man of faith as Hebrews 11:20 tells us, though there was not the same energy of faith that marked Abraham his father. When famine came to Canaan, Isaac went to the land of the Philistines, and the Lord appeared to him, forbidding him to go down to Egypt. In Gerar he sowed and his harvest from the Lord was great, and his prosperity aroused the envy of the Philistines. Departing from the city, Isaac pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and digged again the wells his father had digged before him, but the men of that place strove with him, and he left the well he had digged. It was the same at Sitnah; but at Rehoboth there was no striving, and Isaac said, "The Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land".
When Isaac came to Beer-sheba, the Lord appeared again to him, telling him not to fear, and renewing to him the promise made to his father Abraham of blessing and increase (Gen. 26:24). It was then that Isaac built his altar, and called on the Name of the Lord. Among the Philistines he had the protection of the Lord and increase of his worldly goods, but he had no altar there, for communion with God must be in the path of separation and pilgrimage to which he had been called as the son of his father Abraham. We can only properly call on the Name of the Lord as walking in the path of His will.
Abraham had already called the name of that place Beer-sheba, because of the oath between himself and Abimelech, whose servants had violently taken away a well of water from him; but the name is given afresh when Abimelech comes from Gerar to make a covenant with Isaac because he saw that the Lord was With him (Gen. 21:32; Gen. 26:33).
Jacob's Altars
While Jacob was still with Laban, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "I am the God of Beth-el . . . arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred" (Gen. 31:13). Answering to the divine call, Jacob set off for the land of promise, but he had many experiences on the way. Laban came after him, but God spoke to Laban before he came up with Jacob, warning him to be careful of what he said to Jacob. The angels of God met Jacob, and God Himself came to him before he met Esau his brother. On leaving Esau, he came to Shechem, and there pitched his tent, and bought a field.
At Shechem Jacob evidently intended to stay, for having purchased his field he built an altar and called it El-elohe-Israel (Gen. 33:20), which means, God, the God of Israel. Jacob's intentions were good, but it seems clear that he had not fully entered into the mind of God. It was Bethel that God had spoken to him of while still in Padan-aram, for had He not said, "I am the God of Bethel"?
The sad story of Genesis 34 is a warning to us of the sorrows that can come through coming short of the purpose of God for us as His saints. God allowed his dear servant to pass through his trials and testings that we might learn from His ways with him. Having allowed Jacob to learn the lessons of Shechem, "God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother" (Gen. 35:1). At once Jacob realises afresh that he has to do with a holy God, for he says to his household, "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments".
Although Jacob had his altar at Shechem, there had been the allowance of much that the God of Bethel could not allow to proceed, and this surely accounts for the solemn and sad discipline that came on the house of Jacob. There was the outward appearance of communion with God in the altar of El-elohe-Israel, but the God of Israel could not tolerate the idolatry that was evidently in the house of Jacob, and known to him. God had allowed shame and dishonour to enter the house of Jacob, and his sons had sought to deal with it in a fleshly way, only to bring fear on Jacob. God has to intervene to tell his servant the way to separation from evil and to divine blessing.
All that was dishonouring to God having been put away, hidden by Jacob under the oak by Shechem, the patriarch and his household go up to Bethel, as God had commanded. God put His terror on the cities surrounding Shechem, so that Jacob and his house were not molested by those who would have done him harm. Coming to Bethel, Jacob built the altar for which God had asked, and he called the place El-beth-el, which means, God of the House of God. The patriarch had now entered into God's purpose for him, that which he had spoken of so long before, when, fleeing from the anger of his brother, he had vowed, "If God will be with me . . . so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house" (Gen. 28:20-22). How good it is when the soul enters into God's purpose and acts in accordance with it.