I Am With You

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 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. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top 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 and to the east, to the north and to the south. 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.”

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 and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Genesis 28:10-17

As the sun went down on the Old Testament character Jacob’s first night away from home, he was profoundly alone. He was on the run from his older brother – who wanted to kill him for stealing the family blessing normally given to the first born son. Yet on falling asleep, Jacob had a dream of a staircase joining heaven and earth. As he watched angels descending and ascending, he heard the voice of God promising to be with him. God told him He would bless the whole earth through his children.

Jacob had isolated himself because of his deceit. Yet as real as his failures, and as dark as the night, he was in the presence of the One whose plans are always better and more far reaching than our own. Heaven is closer than we think, and the “God of Jacob” is with us.

God is nearer than we think.

Our Daily Bread – May 3, 2017