Title: God in a Strange Place
Contents
▒▒ Bible _ Genesis 28:10~22
The text we read today is a story we know all too well. His younger brother Jacob stole Esau's blessing. So Jacob was in danger, and his mother, Rebekah, could not see him, so Jacob had to flee to his uncle, Haran.
However, the road from Beer-sheba to Haran is Haran, which is the northernmost land of present-day Iraq. Perhaps there is still no road from Breel-sheba to Haran. That rough road 3,000 years ago, Jacob had to go alone. Abandoned by family and abandoned by villagers, this is the path to go alone. It didn't actually kill it, but it's the same as saying, "You die." Fortunately, we are thankful that we arrived safely in Haran, but we have no choice but to die when we meet a wild beast along the way.
In that way, I slept with the sky as a blanket and a stone as a pillow, and in my dream the sky opened. Then the ladder came down and I heard the voice of God. Jacob was blessed to meet God in an unexpected and unfamiliar place. Although this is a simple story today, meeting God in an unfamiliar place changed Jacob's life anew. We pray in the name of the Lord that we may receive this grace together.
In verse 16, Jacob said, “Is God here also?” I say. Jacob thought that there was no God in that place. We think the same way. For example, when we meet God, we usually think that we meet in the temple. I think we will meet during prayer or during worship. Jacob also met God in that desolate place, in a place he never dreamed that God would exist in a desolate place without a single grass.
Ladies and gentlemen, even we live without recognizing God, and then we meet God in a really unfamiliar place, in an unexpected place. Then we realize, 'Yes, God is an omnipresent God.' Psalm 138:8-10 “Even if I go up to the high heavens, God is there; if I spread out my bed in hell, God is there, and I am the wings of dawn. Even if they go to the edge of the sea and dwell there, God will be there.” It is to understand the word.
What was the relationship between the second Jacob and his mother Rebekah? To Jacob, her mother Rebekah was practically like God. So Jacob saw that to be praised by his mother was to be praised by God. All Jacob's blessings came from his mother, Rebekah. Who is the mother Rebekah to Jacob? God. When the mother Rebekah hated it, Jacob's heart became uncomfortable as God hated it, and when the mother Rebekah rejoiced, Jacob's heart was happy just as God was pleased.
But this Jacob was so wretchedly absent that he said, 'Now I am completely finished! I have been cast out of the villagers, even from my mother, whom I regarded as God. I am really nothing.’ When he felt so miserable and put himself in a miserable place, God appeared to Jacob in a dream.
God says three very important things in verse 15. “I am not with you.” It clearly makes Jacob aware of God's presence. “Wherever you go, I will protect you.” It clearly describes God's actions and actions. “Wherever you go, and whoever you meet, I will protect you with a staff and a staff so that you will not be harmed.”
Through these words, Jacob was actually transformed into a new person. Jacob is changed through this encounter with God, and now he has been transformed into a human being who can stand alone. This is God's great blessing.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am not very impressed with the fact that I am a human being who can stand alone, but this is usually not a great grace. It is a great blessing that we can stand alone. People are weak and feel anxious about standing alone. However, please remember that there are no great blessings like standing alone after receiving grace. Now, after meeting God in an unfamiliar place, Jacob became a human being who could live without his mother Rebekah. Ladies and gentlemen, meeting with God in an unfamiliar place will change our lives. You don't know how great a blessing this is.
Dear brothers and sisters, I pray in the name of the Lord that you all have a precious experience of meeting God at this precious Hanshin altar today just as Jacob met God at Bethel in the temple today. Only then can we live life boldly.
I don't think David had such a happy life. When I was young, I was beaten up by my older brothers and raised as the youngest. So there were many dangerous moments because of Saul's jealousy. How hard must it have been for David to pretend that a normal man would drool and pretend to be crazy?
But David has always been a courageous man and a courageous man. The reason is that David was always zealous for worshiping God in any circumstance, and he was a person who praised God in any circumstance. David was a man who obeyed God's word in any case. Like Jacob today, David said, “I am with you. i won't protect you I will lead you home.” David was able to live courageously because this precious encounter with God was always in his life.
In the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, I pray that you will meet our Lord at this place today, feel the Lord's presence, feel the Lord's walk, that the Lord protects, and experience and believe in the Lord's guiding me to my hometown. Congratulations.
2007-12-20 14:08:44