Daily Reading
Daily Thought
Jacob was a conniving son of his mother, and she taught him to deceive. He stole his brother’s birthright, then his Father’s blessing, and now on the run because big brother Esau was mad, Jacob was alone. He “left Beersheba and went toward Haran, and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set” (Genesis 28:10). He was somewhere, but who knows where, and he laid his head on a rock and fell asleep and “he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). Jacob was nowhere special, but it was exactly the right place, for God was there with him.
“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it’” (Genesis 28:16). God had used Jacob’s circumstances, bad circumstances of Jacob’s own making, to bring Jacob to “this place.” It is the common course of man and woman that we must be brought down before we can be lifted up. God had plans for Jacob, but not because Jacob deserved God’s attention.
What if God only paid attention to us when we deserved it?
Daily Prayer
God of heaven, thank You for looking down on me, even when I’m not looking up. You saved me before I knew I needed rescuing. I was spiritually asleep and You showed up, but no, You were always there. It is me that became awakened to Your presence.
Now, my Lord, I know that You are in me, that You have numbered my days and created me for a purpose, for good works that glorify Your name. I commit each day to You, because by Your grace, I am a child of the Almighty.
Amen
