God Meets You in the Wilderness

Genesis 28:16 "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." Jacob is running. Exiled by the consequences of his own deception, carrying the blessing he stole, estranged from his brother and his home, he lies down in the open field to sleep with a stone for a pillow.

He is not in a holy place. There is no altar, no priest, no ceremony. There is only the night sky and the hard ground of a man on the run. And in that un-sacred place, God shows up. A ladder stretches from earth to heaven.

Angels ascend and descend. And above it all stands the LORD — the covenant God of Abraham and Isaac — reaffirming every promise to this fugitive. Not because Jacob deserved it. Not because Jacob had called on God.

God spoke first. Grace initiated. Jacob woke up and said: "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." He had been sleeping in a portal to heaven and had no idea. Sometimes the most sacred encounters of our lives happen in places we have written off — in the wilderness of consequences, in the exile of our own making, in the sleepless night when everything has unravelled.

God does not wait for us to construct holy spaces. He shows up in the rubble and turns it into Bethel — the House of God.

Jesus refers directly to this passage in John 1:51: "You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Jesus is the true ladder — the living connection between earth and heaven, the one through whom God descends to humanity and humanity ascends to God.

Jacob's vision was a preview of the Incarnation. Bethel, the name Jacob gave to that place, became one of the most significant worship sites in Israel's later history — both for good (Jeroboam's idolatry is especially condemned for corrupting it) and ill.

The place of divine encounter is always significant. What you build on your encounter matters. 🪞 Reflect on this • When was the last time you were surprised by God's presence in a "stone pillow" moment — a hard, undecorated, inconvenient place?

• Jacob said "I did not know it." Are there spaces in your current life where God is present but you haven't recognised Him? • What is the difference between a moment of encounter and a life of ongoing communion?

How do you move from Bethel (a single encounter) to a daily walk with God? 👣 Take a Step Mark Your Bethel Think of a moment — perhaps a hard one — when you encountered God unexpectedly. Write it down as a "stone pillar": date, place, and what God said or did.

Return to it when the next exile season comes.

Lord, You are in places I have not yet recognised. Open my eyes. Let my stone pillows become altars. Meet me in my wilderness and remind me that wherever I am, You are. Amen.