Genesis 28:13 — At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.
When the Lord appeared to Jacob at the top of the stairway, Jacob was still a man who relied on himself. He had tricked Esau into giving him his birthright. He had deceived his father Isaac and stolen Esau’s blessing. Jacob was relying on his schemes and ability to outwit others to get what he wanted.
But God had chosen Jacob to be an important part of His great plan of salvation that He had promised in Genesis 3:15. Isaac knew that God had planned to pass down the blessings of Abraham to Jacob. But Jacob was like a third generation believer who has to discover the faithfulness of God for himself in order to trust God.
After the Lord appeared to Jacob in the dream of the stairway to heaven, Jacob made a conditional vow in Genesis 28:20-22. Three times, Jacob said, “if” and gave his conditions before saying, “then the Lord will certainly be my God.“ Jacob wanted God to prove Himself. God was not afraid to take up this challenge.
God allowed Jacob’s ways to catch up with him and bring him to his knees in humility. God met all of Jacob’s conditions and Jacob became a new man through the things he suffered. Jacob was renamed Israel after he wrestled with the Lord who was certainly the God of Jacob just as much as He would be the God of Israel.
The God of Jacob has a purpose for you and I in his great work of salvation. Let us learn to trust God and rely on Him for everything in our lives.
11/03/2024 Devotional
"The God of Jacob has a purpose for you and I in his great work of salvation. Let us learn to trust God and rely on Him for everything in our lives."
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