Not Aware?

 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Genesis 28:16

Jacob, through a series of less than honorable choices, has been sent from his home by his father Isaac. He had tricked both Isaac and his brother Esau into having Isaac give the blessing that was to be Esau's as the first born, to Jacob instead. This resulted in Esau swearing to kill him. To protect him, his parents sent him to his mother's relatives. We can only imagine what his emotional and mental state must have been. Alone, sent from the only home he'd ever known, and facing a completely unknown future. Exhausted, he fell asleep, and in his sleep, God appeared to him and gave him promises of his blessing, protection, and future well being. When he awoke, Jacob spoke the words in the above Scripture. He did not think God was with or perhaps even aware of him in that place. The Father proved that He was, that He always was, and always would be. How often do we find ourselves in a place like Jacob's? Do you find yourself there today?

I have in my prayer journal the question, "Who needs to show up? God, or us?" It's a legitimate question. In the difficult places and circumstances that we can find ourselves in, most always unwanted, we can easily question if He is there, if He is with us. A.W. Tozer said that we tend to think in terms of distance, miles, meters, and so on. He said that we think of Him as being spatial, "dwelling in space." He said that God contains space and that space is in God. He literally is "all in all." He said, "We should never have a problem with God being anywhere for the fact is, God is everywhere." David wrote in Psalm 139, "Where shall I go from Your Spirit. or where shall I flee from Your presence?" As Tozer writes, "Wherever we are, God is there. The problem is in acknowledging the presence of God wherever we are now." "Now" can be a very unhappy and painful place. Such places are where the enemy seeks to convince us that He is absent, and very distant from us. And totally unconcerned. Like everything he says, that's a lie.

This brings me back to my question of who needs to show up, God or us? Jacob was not ignorant of God and His ways. His father Isaac had been present in some of God's greatest acts in the life of his father Abraham. He'd heard of those events all of his life. He had always known of the unfailing faithfulness of his God. He had known, but he had yet to experience it himself. Now he was in the place that he would. God will be faithful to bring each of His people to this place. The place where our head knowledge can now become our heart experience. The place where we no longer ask Him to show up, but where we understand it is we who must do the showing. This is a place that we need to arrive at not only as individuals but as the church. In our day to day living, He is present. Are we? In our corporate gatherings, He is present. Are we? Who is it that needs to show up?

Where in our walk with Him, do we need to finally show up? Where in our Body life do we, His church need to show up? Who is it that hasn't been present? God, or us? May it not take our utter exhaustion and a dream from Him to make us realize that as Jesus promised, He will "never leave us or forsake us." When do we finally believe that He is always with us, and that this truth is not based on what we feel or see, but on what He has said, and continues to say. May we not, you and I, ever have to say again, "Surely He was (is) in this place, and I didn't know it." May we never again live unaware.

Blessings,
Pastor O