5 Years! 6 Years together!

I recently finished a spiritual formation course in which I spent two years learning to practice the presence of God in my life daily. In a nutshell the course was about growing in awareness of God’s daily (yes moment by moment) presence and noticing ways He speaks throughout the day.

Then last week my Lectio time had me sit next to Jacob while he paused somewhere in the middle of nowhere on his way to Harran.

Gen 28 says, “And he arrived at a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and slept at that place. And he dreamed, and behold a stairway was set on the earth, and its top touched the heavens. And behold, angels of God were going up and going down on it. And behold, Yahweh was standing beside him, and he said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac…. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yahweh is indeed in this place,, and I did not know! Then he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is nothing else than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

…Surely the LORD was in this place, and I was not aware of it…

Then on our anniversary Jeff and I took the boat out and watched the sun set as we restated our wedding vows to each other. A tradition of ours… Part of Jeff’s vows said, “I reflected on Exodus 3, the Lord’s call of Moses at the burning bush. In that story I saw our story –

Just as with Moses, in a supernatural way, God caught my attention. As Moses turned aside to see and consider, I turned aside to see and consider. And when I did, the Lord met me. Just as Moses realized he was standing on holy ground…”

Theologian Derek Kidner said, “Jacob’s response ‘expressed profound awe, a preoccupation first of all with the one who had been encountered, not with the things that were promised.’ I love that! Oh, how I want to be aware of God’s presence and express my profound wonder of His greatness, not just the great things He gives me.

Jacob went to “a certain place” - a somewhere in the middle of nowhere place - where he rested and used a stone for a pillow.

So, here’s the wonder in it all!!!! Don’t miss it! Once Jacob became aware of God’s presence, that random place was no longer just ‘a certain place’, it became a holy, set apart encounter with the glory of God. Same with Moses! Same with Jeff! And I pray the same will be with me.

Noticing leads to wonder, and wonder leads to worship.