“And he dreamed: A stairway
was set on the ground with its top reaching the sky, and God’s angels were ascending
and descending on it. The LORD was standing
there beside him…‘Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you
go. I will bring you back to this land,
for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’” Ge 28:12, 15
Jacob was on a 500-mile
journey heading towards his uncle Laban’s house to allow his brother’s anger to
subside. He had deceived his father and
betrayed his brother by pretending to be Esau and received the blessing of
inheritance and birthright. Not his
shining moment for sure but encouraged by his deceptive mother he hit the road. No doubt he was exhausted and lonely
wondering what his future held. Was he
remorseful and fearful of never returning home?
At some point he gave in to his
exhaustion and fell asleep. That was when
the dream occured, and it is one of most beautiful images we are left with in
the Bible. Throughout the Word, it is
written many times that God sent angels to help His children. He sent an angel to Mary to tell her she
would carry the Son of God. He sent an
angel to wrestle with Jacob to show that God could be trusted. He even sent an angel to strengthen Jesus the
night before His death, when His prayer to God was met with silence. What I find interesting is that through this
dream God gave Jacob a glimpse of a future promise fulfilled instead of the
actual fulfillment. God knew that Jacob
wasn’t ready to receive in full what God had planned for him.
I know what it feels like to
be given a promise from God as a future fulfillment. I have seen a glimpse of a beautiful promise
which I will one day receive. I know
that until that day I have my own ladder where angels move bringing down their
encouragement and comfort, while carrying away my doubts and anxieties. They move in and out of our circumstances, carrying
out the commands of our Father who wants good and precious things for His
children. The Bible tells us that angels are His servants, carrying out
His will, working for our good and are ministering spirits, sent to serve us when
we are believers (He 1:14).
I wonder what situation you
are experiencing this morning that has you anxious or discouraged? What circumstances need the movement of
angels to assist you, protect you and encourage you? Whenever we feel alone or despaired we must
remember that angels are all around moving on our behalf at the insistence of
our Father. There are ladders all around
us with the armies of angels going before us and ministering to us. And maybe if we lean our ears into the
movement of God, we might even hear the flapping of their wings.
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