On a trip to Yosemite National Park with my family, I booked us one of the rustic canvas tent cabins (what was I thinking) in Curry Village in the center of the park. The tent cabins do not have private baths or electricity.
After putting our three children to bed in the tent, my husband and I walked the short distance between other tent cabins to use the communal bathrooms before we went to bed.
That night we did not sleep well. We could hear people shouting and loud banging of what sounded like metal against metal. The noise went on until the early hours.
The next morning, we discovered the noise had been park wardens banging trash can lids together to try and remove a bear, or bears, in the camp. We also realized that as we had turned the corner into the bathrooms the evening before, a bear had turned the corner, quite literally, in the opposite direction.
We have shared this story with many friends and family because we were amazed that a bear had been so close, and we were not aware of it.
Jacob, in the Bible, also had a similar experience. Not with a bear, although he had been sleeping out in the open. Jacob was amazed because God was so close.
God came and spoke to Jacob in a dream. Jacob saw a staircase coming down from heaven and:
“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 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).
Jacob made this statement when he woke up:
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Genesis 28:16
When God speaks to us, we too can be amazed or astonished.
Perhaps, though, we should not be surprised that God does speak to us, but expect God to speak to us.
We should know that God is “in this place,” wherever that might be. Let’s be expectant of hearing God as we read the Bible, as we listen to a sermon, and even in the ordinary things we do each day, perhaps even hearing God in a dream.
Jacob also declared that where he slept that night, his “bedroom” under the stars, was a holy place.
You might have a “holy place” – somewhere in your home or outside where you like to go and meet with God. But, here’s the interesting thing: God had just told Jacob, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” I am inclined to think that God had been with Jacob all along, not just that night. God had been with Jacob even when he jostled with his brother in the womb.
We don’t have to go to a place to experience God’s presence with us. The same promise made to Jacob is made to us. Jesus said:
“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NLT).
Jacob responded “If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I’m setting out, keeps me in food and clothing, and brings me back in one piece to my father’s house, this God will be my God. (Genesis 28:20 MSG)
Where have you been astonished and aware of God being “in a place” and with you? Have you responded by making God the One in whom you trust on this journey of life?
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Pray
Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash