Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Are there some special places where you have had very significant spiritual experiences, maybe even life changing encounters with God? Let’s go to one of those places today in our journey together. It wasn’t always a special place, in fact it was a very ordinary place, until a man on the run had an unexpected encounter with Almighty God. He was running from his past, his repeated failure, and even trying to run away from his pain. Have you ever done that?
His name is Jacob and we’ve been following his story lately in our journey. Yesterday we saw that Jacob left his family… Isaac his father, Rebekah his mother, Esau his twin brother, and began a several hundred mile trek north, to the hometown of his mother. His purpose was twofold. First, run away from his past and the pain he had caused many people. Second, see if he might find a wife in his mother’s extended family. Of course he didn’t believe he deserved a wife because he had a habit of being deceitful and manipulative. He’d hurt a lot of people! The record says “When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.” (Genesis 28:11) Now that sounds to me like a desperate man!
He had not stopped in a town or a place where a traveler might be given a bed and some food. He was evidently out in a field, alongside the road, laying on the ground. Why? I think it was because Jacob was so ashamed of himself, filled with so much regret and confusion about all his mother had urged him to do, that had demolished his family… that Jacob didn’t want to face anyone, didn’t want to answer any questions about who he was, or where he was from, or where he was going. Jacob wanted to be alone in his shame, his regret. Using a hard rock as a pillow tells me he hadn’t traveled much and had not planned well for this long trek. Remember I think we can call him a ‘mama’s boy’, who stayed close to home and his mother. (Genesis 25:27,28) This was rugged country, no match for Jacob.
But exhausted people can sleep anywhere, and evidently Jacob fell asleep on the ground and that hard rock fairly quickly! The record says: “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth and reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and He said “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, and you will spread out to the west, east, north and south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and I 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.” (Gen. 28:12-17) This my friends is monumental, historic, amazing!
Almighty, Holy, Creator God takes the initiative, very similarly to how He had many years before with Abraham. Jacob hadn’t asked for it, and Jacob not seeking God. Ashamed Jacob was running away, I’m sure convinced that whatever the great covenant promises were that God had made with his father and grandfather, surely they did not apply to him for he had disqualified himself with his terrible behavior.
But God takes the initiative and approaches deceitful, manipulative, wicked Jacob as he sleeps. Have you ever wondered why God sometimes communicates with human beings in dreams or visions? I think one reason is that we can’t argue with God when we are experiencing a dream or vision in our sleep! The record 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…” (Gen. 28:16) I don’t blame him, do you, I would have been afraid also, probably more like terrified! What could it possibly mean? Why, considering all the terrible things Jacob had done… why would God appear to him in a vision and say these remarkable things to him? Jacob was trying to run away, but obviously you can’t hide from God! But why didn’t God just kill him in his sleep or lead some wild animals to maul him? Why would God actually promise such great blessing, to such a horrible man, who had done such great damage to his family?
Does God sometimes allow terrible things to happen, or apparently bless what appears to be really bad people, and does that confuse you? This is one of the main themes of the Bible and it’s called GRACE. It means God’s kindness extended to someone who doesn’t deserve it. It’s also what the Bible calls MERCY, and that is God withholding His punishment or His judgment from a person who has done terrible things that we think really deserves God to punish them harshly. In Jacob’s case it was BOTH Grace and Mercy, overflowing in abundance!!
Jacob had heard many stories from his grandfather Abraham about this amazing, wonderful, all powerful God with whom Abraham has walked for many decades. Jacob was 15 years old when his grandfather Abraham had died, so I’m confident he’d spent many hours listening to the God stories, and asking Abraham lots of questions about God. I wish I could tell you that I believe Isaac had done the same, but I can’t. Isaac’s favorite son was Esau, not Jacob. And I don’t see evidence in the record that Isaac did much to lead his family in knowing Abraham’s God or even seeking to know God as his father Abraham had known God. Sadly, the spiritual passion of this family seemed to wane considerably after old Abraham’s death.
But God wasn’t giving up on this family. God had a plan… a really big plan, that would stretch out for many generations to come. God knew Satan would oppose His great plan in every generation, almost everyday, in every conceivable way. The demolished family of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacob was clear evidence of that profound spiritual war. But God does NOT give up my friends. God will keep working to accomplish His great purposes here on earth among us pitiful human beings. God was determined to see a Covenant people emerge from old Abraham and Sarah, even if he had to work with despicable Jacob!
Jacob was powerfully struck by the dream he had and God’s detailed, remarkable, covenant promises to Jacob. The record doesn’t tell us, but I can imagine Jacob sitting bolt upright after his dream ended, and looking up into the night sky, then getting up and walking around, rubbing his eyes, determined to understand what he had just dreamt. Maybe he even got down on his knees and thanked God and repented of the terrible things he had done. What we do know is: “Early in the 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 nearby city used to be called Luz.” Beth El means ‘house of God’. The word “Beth” in Hebrew means house. So you might know the town named Beth lehem means “house of bread”. “El” of course means ‘God’. Jacob gave this ordinary place a new name, Beth El, because he had encountered the living God there! For the rest of the history of the nation of Israel, many other amazing, significant events happen in this place called Beth El.
“Then Jacob made a vow saying, ‘If God will be with me and 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 house, then the LORD will be my God, and this place will be God’s house, and of all You give me, I will give you a tenth. Then Jacob continued on his journey…” (Gen. 28:20ff) Jacob was making a remarkable pledge to God here. This matter of a tenth had never been mentioned by God. Some call this a ‘tithe’ and God did not speak of that until several hundred years later with Moses! God had not asked this of Jacob, but this was Jacob’s generous response to God’s Grace & Mercy vision. Do you also see Jacob is following here in the footsteps of establishing a distinctive relationship with the God of his grandfather Abraham? When Jacob packed up the next morning and started walking away from this special place, he was a different man than he had been when he arrived here yesterday. Jacob had been overwhelmed by an encounter with God and it was beginning to change his life!
So my friends you know the questions I want to ask us all. . . where is your Bethel? The place you and God have had life changing encounters? What do you remember of those encounters and those places? How have those encounters with God changed your life? I have several Bethel’s, actually in a few different countries, including Israel. The place where I prepare this “Walking with Jesus” everyday is one of those sacred places where I have met many times with God! Life changing places of encounters with God are priceless treasures and I urge you to tell your family the stories of those places in your life. Take them there if that is possible and recount the stories right there where it happened.
Would you believe 20 years later, Jacob returned to this very spot, a changed man with a huge family…we’ll look at that story in a few days! For today, I urge you to take a moment and reflect on your “Bethel’s” and talk with God about what happened there as He met with you. Maybe jot down some memories in your prayer journal.
Here’s a worship song to help you remember. . .
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 28:11-22.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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