Welcome!
Date: Friday, June 11, 2010
Today: Turn your pillow into a pillar!
Passage: Gen 28:18-19 NIV
18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel, [f] though the city used to be called Luz.
Jacob was “forced” into a pilgrimage, from his comfortable home
Unlike his brother Esau, Jacob was a boy of his home and his mother.
Esau, on the other hand, was always outside his home
Now, in chapter 28 of Genesis, we can see Isaac blessing Jacob and asking him to go out to his uncle Laban in Padan-Aram
Neither Jacob nor his parents knew that Jacob was starting his pilgrimage of life, which lasted over twenty years!
Everybody at home missed Jacob big time, and so did Jacob miss his parents and his home
Now, as he reached Luz, it was sun-set and he had to sleep
He took a stone for a pillow!
But as he slept in that strange land, God showed up!
He had a dream connecting heaven and earth
God positioned His ladder right next to Jacob!
Have you experienced that?
I have experienced it a lot!
You will be on your way to something, and God shows up exactly at the point of your need. Not before, not after
-Not when you wanted him, but when you really needed Him!
In the morning, Jacob gets up with this admission:
“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” (Gen 28: 16b – NIV) -emphasis added
The moment a child gets out of home for college, or as we leave family for a pilgrimage, don’t forget: God is with us!
As Jacob turned his pillow into a pillar and poured oil upon it, it tells us couple of things:
v Jacob had no plans to spend another night there, sleeping. Even though he knew God was in that place, he knew he was on a “pilgrimage”, and had to keep moving
v After turning that pillow into a pillar/altar, he was never going to use that stone again, for a pillow. That was symbolic of his pilgrimage, as he left home. He had already left his “pillow” of comfort, his home, for a pilgrimage
Jacob could have easily left his pillow there and found another stone for worship. But Jacob intentionally used that very stone (pillow) for worship
When Prophet Elisha was following Elijah, he slaughtered his oxen and then made a sacrifice, using the wood of his “plough” as fire-wood (1 Kings 19:21)
Those things that we left as we decided to follow Jesus: are we still keeping them by the side so that we can go back and use them whenever we want?
It is time to sacrifice those old habits/things completely, if we want to see the glory of God , in our life
I don’t know what is that “pillow” in your life, that you need to turn in to God and make it a pillar of your sacrifice, in this pilgrimage of life
Time to turn our pillows into pillars! Time to cry and pray, not sleep
Remember: There is no success without sacrifice, no gain without pain!
God bless
BG
Prayer: Lord, it is time for me to get out of my boat, my comfort zone and spent more time with you. Help me to convert some of those “sleep times” into “sweet times of prayer”. Amen