Hide and Seek

“Surely YHWH was in this place, and I did not know it.” Genesis 28:16

This – Jacob learned something very important on the night that he used a rock for a pillow.  He discovered that Yahweh was in the place he least expected to find Him.  Jacob was on the run.  Fleeing from his brother Esau, he wandered in the desert.  In his fear and discouragement, he must have felt abandoned by everyone.  But Jacob didn’t see the truth.  Yahweh was right in the middle of his despair.   When Jacob was ready to give up, he had his first (but not his last) encounter with God.  What happened changed Jacob’s life.

The Hebrew here is a bit more specific than we might imagine.  The word for “this” is zeh, but in our text, the word is ha-zeh.  Literally, “the this.”  This place is not just any place designated by the pronoun “this.”  This place is the this place, a very specific place discovered supposedly by “accident.”  Of course, we know that the sovereign God brought Jacob to this exact spot.  There was no accident involved at all.  In Jacob’s fear and turmoil, he ends up right where God wants him – in the this place.

We could learn a thing or two from Jacob.  Realizing the enormous implications of the this place in Jacob’s life might just rescue us from having to sleep with our heads on rocks.  Unfortunately, the obvious lessons here are often forgotten in those moments of panic and stress.  So, let’s reflect on them now so that they may be readily available to us when the next crisis comes along.

First, we see that God knows exactly where we are.  Too often we let our emotional condition convince us that God has somehow overlooked our circumstances.  May it never be!  When trials come, and they most certainly will, the first thing to remember is this:  even if we are lost, God isn’t!  His heavenly GPS has an exact fix on our location.

Secondly, we learn that how we get where we are, even if it comes through our own mistaken manipulations, is exactly where God needs us to be.  No matter how much we wander, we always arrive at the this place.  How is that possible?  It’s simple.  The this place is where God meets us, and since He knows precisely where we are, He guarantees that our location will become the this place.  No matter how you get there, God prepares His welcome for you when you arrive.

Finally, we learn that our ignorance of God’s presence is inexcusable.  God is never absent.  Whenever we start thinking and acting as though we are alone, we need to remember Jacob’s declaration, “YHWH was in this place, and I didn’t know it.”  As soon as we start feeling abandoned, we need to carefully look around for His presence.  God has a habit of showing up when we aren’t paying attention.  In fact, He seems to enjoy these surprises.  Just as it delights us to discover that God has been waiting for us, it delights Him to see our grateful relief.

Someday soon you will find yourself on Jacob’s road.  You’ll feel lost, abandoned and hopeless.  But because of Jacob, you don’t have to lie down on the ground.  You know that this is the place of His presence, this is the this place for you.  Expect it.  Watch for it.  And listen to what He says when you discover you are there.

Topical Index:  Lost