January 18
Verse of the Day for January 18
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.Genesis 28:16 KJV
The Key of Beginnings · Day 18 of 31
Reflection · 3 min read
And I Knew It Not
Jacob is running. He has deceived his father, defrauded his brother, and left home with nothing. He stops at nightfall in an unremarkable place, uses a stone for a pillow, and sleeps.
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
He had already slept there. The ladder, the angels and the promise arrive at a location he had chosen for no reason except that the sun had gone down.
And the thing he says on waking is not about the vision. It is about his own not-knowing. God had been present in a place Jacob had assessed as nowhere.
He marks it with the stone he had been sleeping on. Same stone. He does not import anything; he sets upright the thing that was already there.
The Lord was in this place.And I knew it not.
The places we file as nowhere — the commute, the ward, the year that went wrong — are not vacated by God because we have written them off.
Set up the stone you already have.
Carry this today
Which part of your life have you assumed God has no interest in?
Pray
Read Genesis 28:10–17
10And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 16And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.