“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’”
—Genesis 28:16–17, ESV
When Jacob woke from his dream, he
realized—for the first time—that he had been in the presence of the LORD. And
he was afraid. Maybe in that moment, it finally hit him: God was real. Not only
that, He was here. In the ordinary place Jacob had chosen to rest. “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
God’s presence transformed that space. What was
just a patch of ground with a stone for a pillow became holy. Jacob responded
with awe. He poured oil on the stone and set it up as a pillar, marking the
spot. Then he gave it a new name: Bethel—“house
of God.” He knew something sacred had happened. He knew the encounter was real.
“There is no place where God is not, and we will know this
as we learn to pay attention.” Hearing God Through the Year, Dallas
Willard. InterVarsity Press, 2004
Application:
When God unexpectedly shows up in our lives, we should pause and take notice.
Yes, God is always with us, but when He makes Himself known in a distinct or
personal way, we’re invited to respond with reverence, wonder, and worship.
Those moments are worth marking.
I remember experiencing one of those moments on a warm day in February 2007. I was out in my backyard with my camera, but I wasn't finding much that was picture-worthy. At first, I was disappointed, but after a while, I paused, looked up to the sky, and simply thanked God for His creation and for the birds He'd brought to my backyard in the past.
As I stood there, gazing upward, something unexpected happened.
Over the bare treetops, tiny flashes of gold began to appear, shimmering like little pots of treasure moving toward me. As they drew closer, I realized they weren’t gold at all but the soft, glowing bellies of birds. They swept in and landed right in front of me, filling my leafless sycamore tree. They were cedar waxwings! I recognized them from the pictures in my birdwatching book. I'd never seen them in real life.
I laughed out loud and praised God while taking pictures of them, tears of joy in my eyes. God had brought me cedar waxwings!
Like Jacob, I realized that God had made Himself known to me in a most ordinary place — my own backyard. It was a reminder that He is always near, often closer than we realize, waiting for us to look up and see. I marked that moment with worship and pictures. I've posted one of those pictures at the top of this blog post.
