DIVINE DREAMS

 DECEMBER 8, 2022

Genesis 28:14-15

“…All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go… I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”



Sometimes the consequences of choices and decisions can be a heavy weight to carry. This is clearly the case with Jacob. As he leaves home in search of a wife and to sort out his way in this world, Jacob leaves fearing his brother Esau would kill him for taking away his birthright, and his blessing. It is in a dream that Jacob hears God’s promise to include him in the covenant He made with Abraham and Isaac. God has promised Jacob a secure future and although Jacob believes his dream and declares that place to be blessed, his response is still more like a business transaction. We read that if God provides the things Jacob needs, he will follow God. 

Before we are too critical of Jacob, lets consider the fact that his response is such a common human reaction to situations that result in fear and uncertainty, to try to offer God our devotion if He will only help us out with our problems. Can you relate? Been there done that?

The rest of Jacobs’s life is not one of ease and calm. He would know hardships and trials, fear, and grief. What is very striking is that God’s promise to Jacob is bigger than Jacob’s problems. In the times when Jacob worried, he reminded himself (and God) that he was included in God’s promise. Many of us have doubted God's faithfulness at times only to look back and see how God was working things out for good in a way we did not expect. Who could have anticipated that the fulfillment of God’s promises to Jacob would be through the birth of a baby in an animal stall?

When it feels like God isn’t keeping His promises to you, what do you do?

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.