NIGHT VISIONS

DECEMBER 9, 2025

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 weight of our choices and decisions can feel very heavy. This is certainly true for Jacob. As he leaves home to seek a wife and to find his place in the world, he carries the fear that his brother Esau might kill him for stealing both the birthright and the blessing. In the midst of this exile, Jacob encounters God in a dream. There, he hears the divine promise to include him in the covenant first given to Abraham and Isaac. God assures Jacob of a secure future, and though Jacob acknowledges the dream and declares the place holy, his response is rather striking, he vows that if God provides for his needs, then he will serve Him.

Before we are too critical of Jacob's self serving negotiation, lets consider the fact that his response is such a common human reaction to situations that result in fear and uncertainty. How many of us try to offer God our devotion if He will only help us out with our problems. 

Scripture shows us that Jacob’s life was far from peaceful. He faced hardship, fear, grief, and trial after trial. Yet what stands out most is that God’s promise to Jacob was always greater than Jacob’s problems. In moments of anxiety, Jacob clung to that promise, reminding himself, and even reminding God, that he was included in the covenant. In much the same way, many of us have wrestled with doubts about God’s faithfulness, only to look back and realize He was weaving good out of circumstances we never could have predicted. Who would have imagined that the fulfillment of God’s promise to Jacob would come in the most unexpected way, through the birth of a of a baby in an animal stall?

When it seems that God is not fulfilling His promises, how should we respond?  

Well, Proverbs 3:5-6 suggests the following response in such times:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,  

and do not rely on your own understanding;  

in all your ways acknowledge Him,  

and He will make your paths straight.