Praise the Lord. It is
getting a little warmer here today. Praise the Lord that Spring is not far
away. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful Wednesday fellowship and study. We
have been looking at how the Lord Jesus came to the disciples, interrupted their
lives, and called them to a life of great adventure. Often the Lord comes to us
seeking and looking for us. He declared that He came to seek and save that
which was lost. This is the nature of our Lord. He comes to seek the lost in
the same way that He came seeking for Adam and Eve in the
garden.
I get intrigued when I
reflect on the life of Jacob. Jacob did not seem to make much time for God. We
never read of any conversations about God or with Him before he left home. We
never read about him worshiping, nor any encounters with God in all of his life
up until the Lord surprised him one night in a very far away, lonely, desolate
place. Jacob had little time for God, because he had been too busy scheming and
planning how to get ahead. Too much of his time was wasted thinking only of
himself. There was no time for God, and there was no time for anyone else but
himself, but God was about to dramatically interrupt his self-centered
life.
Jacob was on the go all day, running from his problems. Finally, night came and he fell asleep, a rock for a pillow under his head, and above his head, the open heavens. As he is slept, God revealed himself to Jacob. In his dream there was what appeared to be a large ladder, or staircase of light, the top of which reached to heaven and the very throne of God. On it the messengers of God were traveling up and down between heaven and earth. They were delivering people’s petitions to God and bringing God’s help to the people of the earth. Jacob was one of the privileged few who saw with his own eyes the workings of the kingdom of God, the spiritual activity of heaven itself. Here God revealed himself and gave his promise to Jacob that Jacob would be the heir to the promises which God had made to his father Isaac, and his father Abraham before him. The Lord repeated those promises to him personally saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:13-15).
Jacob called the place Bethel, which in Hebrew means ‘House of God.’ This special place seemed to him to be the very dwelling place of the Lord. Jacob had met God. He wasn’t expecting to meet him. He wasn’t even thinking of God. It was purely grace. It was probably the last thing on Jacob's mind. He did not even want to meet God. He was only thinking of getting away from his brother. His mind was full of thoughts about where he was going and what was ahead of him, but God broke into Jacob’s self-absorbed world in an amazing way. God came to Jacob even when Jacob was not seeking God. God opened his world to Jacob, even when Jacob had closed his world to God.
This whole incident tells us something very important about the Lord. Isaiah the prophet quoted God as saying, “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’” (Isaiah 65:1). God is full of surprises. Just when you do not expect to meet Him, he comes to you. God can interrupt our self-centered lives in the most amazing ways. Think of the times in the Bible when God came into people’s lives in surprising ways. Moses was not expecting to see God, and he was certain that God was not interested in seeing him, but God had a surprise for Moses while he was out tending his father-in-law's sheep. Paul, on the Damascus road, had only hate on his mind when the Lord stopped him in his tracks and changed his life. Gideon was busy with his job, threshing wheat, when the Lord came to him and announced that he was going to use his life in ways that Gideon had never dreamed of. The list of Bible characters could go on and on, but there is enough evidence even in this short account to show us that God sometimes interrupts the ordinary in our lives to come to us in extraordinary ways. He is still doing it today.
In Him the Hound of Heaven,
Jacob was on the go all day, running from his problems. Finally, night came and he fell asleep, a rock for a pillow under his head, and above his head, the open heavens. As he is slept, God revealed himself to Jacob. In his dream there was what appeared to be a large ladder, or staircase of light, the top of which reached to heaven and the very throne of God. On it the messengers of God were traveling up and down between heaven and earth. They were delivering people’s petitions to God and bringing God’s help to the people of the earth. Jacob was one of the privileged few who saw with his own eyes the workings of the kingdom of God, the spiritual activity of heaven itself. Here God revealed himself and gave his promise to Jacob that Jacob would be the heir to the promises which God had made to his father Isaac, and his father Abraham before him. The Lord repeated those promises to him personally saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:13-15).
Jacob called the place Bethel, which in Hebrew means ‘House of God.’ This special place seemed to him to be the very dwelling place of the Lord. Jacob had met God. He wasn’t expecting to meet him. He wasn’t even thinking of God. It was purely grace. It was probably the last thing on Jacob's mind. He did not even want to meet God. He was only thinking of getting away from his brother. His mind was full of thoughts about where he was going and what was ahead of him, but God broke into Jacob’s self-absorbed world in an amazing way. God came to Jacob even when Jacob was not seeking God. God opened his world to Jacob, even when Jacob had closed his world to God.
This whole incident tells us something very important about the Lord. Isaiah the prophet quoted God as saying, “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’” (Isaiah 65:1). God is full of surprises. Just when you do not expect to meet Him, he comes to you. God can interrupt our self-centered lives in the most amazing ways. Think of the times in the Bible when God came into people’s lives in surprising ways. Moses was not expecting to see God, and he was certain that God was not interested in seeing him, but God had a surprise for Moses while he was out tending his father-in-law's sheep. Paul, on the Damascus road, had only hate on his mind when the Lord stopped him in his tracks and changed his life. Gideon was busy with his job, threshing wheat, when the Lord came to him and announced that he was going to use his life in ways that Gideon had never dreamed of. The list of Bible characters could go on and on, but there is enough evidence even in this short account to show us that God sometimes interrupts the ordinary in our lives to come to us in extraordinary ways. He is still doing it today.
In Him the Hound of Heaven,
Brown
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