"Jacob’s Dream" - Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23; 28:10-17

 September 26th, 2021

Devotional

“Jacob’s Dream” -

    Genesis 27:1-4, 15-23; 28:10-17

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Monday: “Promise to Your Fathers” - Genesis 28: 10-13

   Jacob has always been a character in the Hebrew Scriptures that I’m not quite sure what to do with. On one hand, he is the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. On the other hand, he did some really awful things. In fact, he was perhaps one of the best known tricksters in scripture. 

  Jacob, the one who stole the blessing of his dying father from his brother who was off doing what he was told. Jacob, the one who had to flee from his furious brother. Sent off to live his his mother’s brother, his Uncle Laban, in a distant country until his bother no longer wanted to kill him. Jacob, the one who even though he deceived his family, is still given caring advice from his father before he is sent away with another blessing. And yet, it is this same Jacob who received the powerful message from God, conveyed in a vision, that we hear about today. Hence why we aren’t quite sure what to do with Jacob in particular. 

 But then God carried on the vision through Jacob. Through Jacob the trickster. Through Jacob that we aren’t quite sure what to do with. God came to Jacob, yes that Jacob, and said: I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.Your descendants will become like the dust of the earth; you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. Every family of earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants. Why Jacob? Why now? Why will he become the one to carry on the promise given to Abraham?

 Why do you think God gave us a profound vision to Jacob, as flawed as he was?

Prayer: God, it is not lost on us that Jacob received this vision of the ancestral promise when he was running away from his own family. O Lord, if you can use someone as flawed as Jacob, may you use us as well. Speak to us today. Amen. 

Tuesday: “God’s Vision ” - Genesis 28: 13-15

  I sometimes wonder if we have some of those same questions about ourselves. Who are we to be the one through whom God is going to reach out to this community? Who are we for God to call us to be partners in spreading the Gospel message? Why us? Why now? Especially in all of our flaws and brokenness and sin?

  But then we look at people in scripture like Jacob and realize that if God can use them, then God can use us. God came to Jacob and gave him a vision that was so much bigger than anything he could imagine on his own and essentially said - I’m going to use you in this way. I know that its so big.  But trust and believe that I am going to be with you every where that you will go. 

  Friends, are those the type of visions that we are praying for today? Visions of revival? Visions that are so big that we know that they have to from God? Because that’s what I see when I look at Biblical visions like this - they are so large that they challenge even the most fearful among us and call for us to trust God. 

 What vision is God revealing to you about your life?

Prayer: Lord, we confess that sometimes we pray for things that are too small. We ask, O Lord, that you light a passion in our hearts to pray bold prayers, prayers that can only be accomplished through your will and your might. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Holy Ground” - Genesis 28: 16-17

 Do we have a vision of who God is calling us to be? Not just any vision, but a God-sized vision? A vision that we could never do on our own. One that we can only even begin to entertain because we trust that our God is able?

  Sometimes, we dream too small as the people of God. We want to do things that make sense to us and that we know that we can do. And that is well and good and has a time and a purpose. But are we limiting ourselves by what we think we can do instead of dreaming of what God wants to do through us?

  Jacob knew when he woke up that he was standing on holy ground. And that thought terrified him. He was struck by the fact that he was in the awesome presence of the Lord Almighty. So he made a monument, a sign of worship, and made a promise that the Lord would be his God. 

 When is a time that you felt that you were standing on holy ground? What was that experience like for you?

Prayer: Lord, as Jacob awoke he proclaimed “how awesome is this place!” May you awaken us as well from the slumber in our spirits. Stir in us a sense of awe that sends us out into the world to tell of all that you have done. Amen. 

Thursday: “Visioning Together” - Genesis 28: 13-15

  One of the parts that we sometimes gloss over in this narrative is that while, yes, this is God speaking to Jacob, it is speaking of his part in the much bigger vision, a story of the people of God that started well before him and will continue well after him.

 So it is with the church.  Now is the time for us to trust and believe in the Lord our God and to seek our place in the ongoing story of God’s people. How do we do that? First, we pray to the God of vision. We pray that God open up our hearts to be stirring with the Holy Spirit. We pray that God start to give us glimpses of vision in our hearts. 

  Second, we need be out in the community that God has planted us in. You are not in this place by accident. Who are the people you are called to reach out in the community for the sake of the Kingdom Jesus Christ? In order to have a Kingdom mindset, we need to pray that God give us a vision for the people here, the people we are planted to serve. 

 How are your prayer life and service connected?

Prayer: Lord, give us hearts for the people all around us who do not yet know you. Give us a prayer life that lifts them up before your throne of grace. Then send us out in your powerful name to love them, as you first loved us. Amen. 

Friday: “Woke” -Genesis 28: 16-17

   One of my favorite things to do is go to public places and just listen. To listen to the hum of people around me. Sometimes to overhear snippets of conversations that reveal the needs people have and the concerns on people’s hearts. Do we know the needs of people around us? Does our heart break for this community? Do we want people to come to know Jesus and what are we willing to do about it? If we don’t have a vision that connects with the people we are being called to reach, then we have missed the point. 

 It is time for us to awake and seek to live into the vision of God?

 How is God stirring in your heart this day? What do you think God is calling you to do?

Prayer: Lord, we confess that we aren’t always attentive to your call. We aren’t always listening for you to speak. We ask, O Lord, that you forgive us and that you speak to us again. Unclog our hearts and ears so we can hear your cry in our hearts anew and respond with a willingness to chase after you. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “God’s Name is Revealed” - Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17