Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 28 before reading the devotional below.
Jacob is on his way to visit Abraham’s family and find a wife. Esau stays local but marries within the family by choosing a bride from Ishmael’s family. Again, we see a mixture of cultures as Jacob and Esau avoid marrying Canaanite women but continue to have multiple wives and concubines. It’s hard to live among a pagan people and not start looking like them.
As Jacob travels, he has his first direct encounter with God. He’s sleeping and sees a heavenly vision of angels going up and down a staircase from heaven to earth. God repeats the promise that he first gave to Abraham, and he promises to protect Jacob. This encounter gives Jacob the opportunity to choose to follow God for himself rather than just believing Abraham’s word for it.
Here’s your freedom for today:
An encounter with God will change your life.
Sometimes we treat Christianity as just another religion. People arrive at their belief systems in a variety of ways, some following familiar traditions and others seeking enlightenment of some sort. Ultimately, the God of the Bible becomes your God when he shows up in your life. He showed up to the world as Jesus and he shows up in moments like this one when we have a direct vision from him. He shows up when we worship him together and he shows up in nature. God is all around us seeking these encounters. Are you asking to meet him?