Daily Dose of the Word of God - Genesis 28: 10-17

Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor

Transcript

Gregg DeMey  0:07  

Good Morning and welcome to Elmhurst CRC's Daily Dose of the Word of God. It's Thursday, September 18. This is Gregg DeMey, Lead Pastor of the church and we are walking through the Bible, reading today from Genesis, chapter 28 verses, 10 through 17. Let's notice how God is at work for good in the world.

Gregg DeMey 0:27  

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 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 land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. 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.”  When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Gregg DeMey  1:44

 
There's this old song from the American south that goes, "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder, we are climbing Jacob's Ladder, we are climbing Jacob's Ladder, soldiers of the cross. I learned that when I was a kid and think it's a great song. Sadly, it gets the spiritual reality of this passage exactly backwards and wrong. Our connection with God is not dependent on how high we can climb up the spiritual ladder, or how high we can reach up. It is based on God coming down to us. That's what God did for father Jacob - not because Jacob was so awesome or deserved it - but because God chose to love Jacob and bless the world through him. Lord willing, God is doing the very same thing for us.

Gregg DeMey  2:47  

Let's pray. O God, open our eyes today. Give us a vision or a dream to know that you are real and oh so near. Give us the grace to sense that the Spirit of Jesus is nearer than our own breath, nearer than hands and feet and thank you that our connection to you, our relationship with you, is not based on our cleverness or hard work or achievement, but is 100% based on your kindness and affection and love toward us. What grace, Amen.