Holy Encounters in Unexpected Places

I have always loved the account of Jacob’s encounter with God as he fled from his twin brother Esau. Jacob had cheated Esau out of their father Isaac’s blessing and Esau had vowed to kill Jacob in revenge. Jacob was now running for his life, on his way to his uncle Laban, his mother Rebecca’s brother, to find a wife from among his relatives there. Jacob had camped for the night in an isolated place and laid down to sleep. As he slept, he dreamt of a stairway to heaven, with angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth, and heard the Lord speaking the covenant promises made to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac but now made personal to him. In that lonely place Jacob erected his first altar to the Lord of heaven and earth who was now his God, not just the God of his forefathers.

There are many other characters in the Bible who, like Jacob, encountered the Lord in unexpected places. Think of Moses and the burning bush, Gideon in his wine press, Elijah under his broom tree, Jonah in the belly of a whale and others. Perhaps they too, like Jacob would have said, “Surely the Lord was in this place, and I didn’t know it.” Centuries later, would a group of lowly shepherds have expected to encounter God as a newborn baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes in an animal’s feeding trough? Fast forward thirty-three years to a hill outside Jerusalem, and the appalling sight of three men hanging in agony on rough Roman crosses. Who would expect God to be in that awful dark place? But He was, there on the middle cross, the baby in the manger now a man, God’s precious Son rejected by those He created, yet dying in their place to offer them and us forgiveness and eternal life.

Recently I’ve been going through a series of health issues that have reminded me of how fragile and uncertain our lives can be. At times I’ve experienced fear and sometimes my imagination has strayed to some quite dark places. It’s been the account of Jacob’s lonely encounter with the Lord that’s caused me to look back at previous times of darkness and difficulty in my own life, and remember how I too made that same discovery that God was surely with me, even though at first I hadn’t recognised His presence. As I’ve remembered His faithfulness in times past, I’ve found renewed peace in knowing He’s with me right now, and that even if my life journey actually took me to some of those dark places of my imagination, He would be there with me too.

The Lord made this promise to Jacob in Genesis 28:15, ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. ` As God’s New Covenant children, you and I share that promise. Whatever situation you find yourself in today, the Lord is with you and will be with you whatever lies ahead.