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Jacob’s Dream – Genesis 28:14-15 “…All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go… I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 

As he leaves home in search of a wife and his way in this world, Jacob leaves fearing his brother Esau would kill him for taking away his birthright, and his blessing. It is in a dream that Jacob hears God’s promise to include him in the covenant He made with Abraham and Isaac. God has promised Jacob a secure future and although Jacob believes his dream and declares that place to be blessed, his response is still pretty transactional. If God provides the things he needs, he will follow God. It is such a common human reaction to anxiety and uncertainty, to try to offer God our devotion if He will only help us out with our problems.  

The rest of Jacobs’s life is not one of ease and tranquility. He would know hardships and trials, fear and grief. However, God’s promise to Jacob is bigger than Jacob’s immediate problems. In the times when Jacob worried, he reminded himself (and God) that he was included in God’s promise. Many of us have doubted God's faithfulness at times only to look back and see how God was working things out for good in a way we did not foresee. Who could have foreseen that the fulfillment of God’s promises to Jacob would be through the birth of a baby in a barn?  

When it feels like God isn’t keeping His promises to you, what do you do?

 

*stay tuned for tomorrow's advent reflection*

(advent reflections have been prepared by a variety of writers from Peace Church)