January 23
‘But rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life,’ Romans 6:13b
Bible reading: Genesis 28:10-22 (Go to the Bible passage)
We cannot very well say that Jacob was on his way to seek the Lord. No, he was trying to save his skin from the very understandable anger of his brother. Only when it turned dark, he dared to rest. And then it became apparent that God was looking for Jacob. But is that not the message throughout the Bible? Time and again God is looking for people. And when He comes, we do not hear a single reproach, even though only God has justice on His side.
He meets us with blessings and with glad tidings, as here with Jacob. God spoke to him in a dream. God only made promises and did not set any conditions, but foolish Jacob did. If God were to keep all His promises, then the Lord would be his God (:21). Who was Jacob that he dared to set conditions? Or should we see this differently? Jacob knew Who God was. ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven’ (:17).
Jacob was fully aware of the implications of following God. If the Eternal One was to be his God, then mere Jacob knew that he had nothing to say anymore, and therefore he attempted to postpone matters.
How disgustingly we often reverse everything!
We wear a cross and put a few scripture-verses on the wall to convince ourselves that we serve God, but it does not occur to us to ask God what He thinks of this way of serving Him.
We look for those passages in the Bible that verify our views and we skip contradictory passages. In this way we make an idol of our interpretation of scripture. And this is possible, as long as we have not had a real encounter with God, as Abraham had, and Isaak and Jacob…

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