December 30, 2010 (Genesis 23-32)

The overarching message that is screaming to me from these first chapters in Genesis is that "God sees - God knows - God cares". What specifically did He see?

Adam and Eve in the garden -

Cain killing Abel -

Hagar running away from Sarah -

Hagar and Ishmael being banned -

Abraham being willing to sacrifice Isaac -

Leah being unloved -

Jacob being mistreated for twenty years -

These are just a few examples - over and over again we see there is a Divine Being at work in their lives, and since God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He is at work in our lives as well. He sees what we are going through. He knows the pain and the struggle.

I was struck by the words of Jacob as he was traveling to his father's land - how at Bethel he had a dream of a stairway that reached to heaven, with the angels of God going up and down. When he awoke, this is what he said:

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” ¹⁷ But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

¹⁸ The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. ¹⁹ He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although the name of the nearby village was Luz.

²⁰ Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, ²¹ and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. ²² And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

As I read it, it seemed as if Jacob 'was not yet a believer' - he was giving God a 'proposal' - if you do 'this', I'll 'believe'.

And then another instance of "God sees" - God meets with him and references that very scene from Bethel -

^31:13 I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, the place where you anointed the pillar of stone and made your vow to me. Now get ready and leave this country and return to the land of your birth.

I wonder if this is the point where Jacob 'finally believed'. When God specifically spoke to him and referenced a point in time that Jacob could identify with, knowing that God was indeed there.

We have a God who loves us, deeply and immensely and sees our every need.