There Above It...

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said, ‘I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground on which you are lying…All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’” Gen 28: 12-15.

I am constantly amazed at the new awareness in Scripture I have read many times but new messages are revealed. The passage above is an exchange between Jacob and God at a time in Jacob’s life when a reaffirmation of promise is required. No doubt Jacob had grown up hearing the promises of God through generations that preceded him, but God knew the importance of Jacob experiencing Him personally – an experience and promise that Jacob could own himself.

I can relate to the necessity of our personal ownership of our relationship with God. I grew up knowing God through my grandparents and parents, but it wasn’t until I had my own encounters with God that He established Himself in my own land. His promises were made to me and many have all been realized. There are still some promises claimed but not yet realized on the horizon just as Jacob’s unfulfilled promise. There is great importance in preparing our children and grandchildren for the appearance of the Lord. It is through our description and testimony of ways that the Lord has delivered us that will help our children recognize God when that beautiful stairway to heaven is revealed to them. He will make Himself real and personal to each of us if we will open our hearts and minds to His appearance and Presence.

My commentary states, ‘Jacob had a wonderful dream in which he saw a staircase extending from earth to heaven. This suggested ‘the fact of a real, uninterrupted, and close communion between heaven and earth, and in particular between God in His glory and man in his solitude.’ P. 64.

Our testimony of the times that ‘there above it stood the Lord’ will be the authentic story of our faith that will bless all those in our sphere of influence.