“Surely the Lord Is in This Place” – Genesis 28:10-19

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, July 30, 2023

If there was a person who seemed unlikely to encounter God, it was Jacob. As the second-born of twin boys, he had the bad luck of missing his inheritance by a few minutes. Hebrew tradition dictates that the first-born son receive double the inheritance from their father, plus the honor of carrying on the family name and becoming the new patriarch. This must have grated on Jacob all his youth, for, as the story goes, he cheated his twin Esau out of this inheritance. Jacob was a “mama’s boy,” and loved to hang around the kitchen. He learned to be a pretty good cook that way. One day, his brother Esau, who was a “man’s man,” so to speak, came in from the hunt famished. He asked for some of the lentil stew Jacob had prepared. Jacob answered, “First sell me your birthright.” Maybe Esau thought he was joking, because he agreed, and probably forgot about it.

But Jacob had not forgotten. When their father Isaac was dying, Jacob stole into the tent where his father lay. Taking advantage of Isaac’s poor eyesight and enfeebled state, he tricked his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn. This blessing was taken very seriously, because later when Esau came in, demanding his blessing, Isaac realized what had happened and replied,  “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” As a result of all this, the Bible tells us that Esau hated Jacob and planned to kill him. In the scripture we read this morning, Jacob is fleeing for his life.

By the time we meet him in this passage, Jacob has been walking for two or three day, maybe running when he can, for fear that his brother is close behind with his hunting knife. On that lonely road, once the sheer terror wore off, he may have had time to think about what he had done, how he cheated his brother, deceived his elderly father, and broke his mother’s heart – how maybe he can never go back home. Exhausted, he comes to a deserted place, where all he can find for a pillow is a stone. Even though he was bone-tired, he may have had trouble sleeping that night. Yet that is precisely where God met him – alone in the dark, fearful, remorseful, running for his life. God meets us in unexpected places.

That night Jacob had an amazing dream – a staircase to heaven. The Hebrew actually says a ramp – a broad ascending road that led up all the way to the throne of God. Angels ascended and descended upon it. In the dream, God spoke to Jacob – not harsh words of accusation and judgment, but rather words of blessing and encouragement: “Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.” (pause) Words of grace, words of love. I imagine that Jacob had already decided that he had made some big mistakes, that he was sorry for what he had done. God gets right to the point, “I’m not done with you yet, Jacob. I have big plans for your life. You may think you messed up, and you did, but I’m still here. I’m still your God. I’m still with you.” God is like that. God can take the worst thing we’ve ever done, or has ever happened to us, and can make something good out of it, if we let him, if we’re open to it.

I just finished reading a book by Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who has devoted his whole life to working with gang members in L. A. He tells story after story of young men, and women, who basically ruined their lives through crime and drugs. Yet time and time again he marvels at what the grace of God and the love and support of fellow human beings can do in their lives. He writes, “You can’t find a moment in the gospel where Jesus punishes, excludes, or demeans…[We need to move] from piety, purity, and moralistic measuring to the expansive, deeper joy that comes from not judging.” Father Boyle tells how he accompanied Rascal, an ex-gang member to look for an apartment. He writes, “I sometimes get trotted out in the hopes that the presence of, say, an old white guy, might convince a landlord to actually rent to an ex-gang member with a bunch of tattoos and felonies…We meet the landlord, who greets us both warily on the driveway…He asks us some questions in Spanish, and then signals to his wife, standing at a distance from us, up the driveway, that he will need to consult her…Rascal says, ‘Now there is no way they’re gonna say yes…’True enough, the wife seems to be scowling in Rascal’s general direction. Finally the landlord breaks away from his wife and rejoins us. He looks as Rascal and says, after a beat, ‘Well, how will you ever know if you’re a good tenant if no one rents to you?’ He then shakes Rascal’s hand. And suddenly…God gets visual.” In taking a risk to rent to this young man, the landlord shows us what God’s love is like. God gives us second chances. God trusts us to do better. Jacob had really messed up, but God gave him another chance.

When Jacob woke up from his amazing dream, he did something that seems strange to us 21st century people: he took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up like a pillar and poured olive oil on it. Using a standing stone to commemorate an important event is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. When Joshua led the people across the Jordan River into the promised land, he had them choose twelve stones, one for each tribe, to make a monument to remember that event and to recall God’s help in leading the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. After an important battle at Gilgal, the prophet Samuel erected a stone to help the people remember how God had saved them from their enemies. Jacob wanted to remember this encounter with God, so he took the stone he had used as a pillow and stood it up and poured oil on it to consecrate it, a symbol that this place was holy. He called the place Bethel, “house of God.” For he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” 

I sometimes wonder how often God is in a place and I did not know it. The truth is, God is in every place. As we read in Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?” There is no place we can go where God is not. God is always present, but sometimes we don’t notice.

Some people talk about “God-sightings” – places, things, and events in every-day life where God is clearly present, if we are looking. Big events, like the birth of a baby or being healed from a serious illness, clearly show God’s presence in the world, but even small things can  remind us of God’s presence – noticing a butterfly, children’s laughter, squirrels chasing each other, hummingbirds at the feeder, someone who is unexpectedly kind. We don’t need to have an amazing, miraculous encounter with God, as Jacob did, to sense that God is all around us. I’d like to leave you with this challenge: look for God this week – in people, places, and circumstances. Where do you see God active in your life? In the world? In the Book of Jeremiah, God says to the people, “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). And when you see God at work, give thanks! An attitude of gratitude is transformative. If you see a beautiful sunset or a playful puppy, know they are a gift from God and give thanks. When something good happens to you or a loved one, take a second to thank God. If you have food on your plate, be thankful – and take a moment to give thanks for those who helped put it there – from the farmworkers to the truck drivers to grocery store shelvers and clerks. If you find an unexpected parking spot, be thankful! I don’t know if God actually goes around finding parking spaces for us, but I like to say thanks anyway. Look for God and live a life of thankfulness – I truly believe these are keys to happiness in this life, as well as a way to honor God. Because surely the Lord is in this place, and in every place, all the time, whether we know it or not. Amen.

© Deborah Troester, 2023