God will never lead you astray! He will never lead you away from Himself so if you feel torn by the direction you’re going and if it’s causing you anxious moments of uneasiness, make sure to check it out with Him before continuing on. Let go of your will and God will either give you peace for the journey or help you get re-aligned in the right direction.
Isaiah 30:21
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Jacob, was a man on the run! He was trickster,deceiver, and conniver, who had taken both his brothers birthright and blessing! Now he was was on the run fleeing from brother Esau’s angry death threats. I love how God guides even in our wanderings and I love how Jacob came to a certain place on his run! An “End Of The Rope” kind of place. A lonely place! A place where God met Him just simply because He wanted to. He had a plan for Jacob’s lineage and He needed Jacob to give himself up and over to a sovereign God who could lead him in the way which God had for him! I loved Jacob’s ladder connecting him to God and heaven but a very interesting thought for me in this story was Jacob’s pillow that night ~ that of a stone! I wonder, have you been there? At the end of your rope? That lonely “End Of The Road” kind of place, where your pillow seemed like stone and endless nights of guilt racked at your conscience and left you sleepless? There is no comfort there! No sense of peace! It’s a cold, calloused place of hardened hearts and deep, rooted pride and oh it’s so lonely! But praise the Lord, it’s a ‘grace’ place; a place where God meets us in our vulnerable state to get our attention! To make us listen! He got Jacob’s attention! He gave him a ladder in his dream that connected him to God and heaven!
In your sleepless nights, when your pillow is a stone ask God for His ladder to connect you to heaven. Accept His grace and stop running. He’s got a lot to offer you! You’ll be the winner in the end!
Genesis 28:10 -19
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place– and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
“We certainly are like the modern day “Children Of Israel” aren’t we? As believers we’ve been delivered from bondage and on our way to the land of promise, yet so forgetful of God’s past faithfulness and His miracles. He still parts our Red Seas and takes care of our enemies! He still provides us with precious manna and instructions for gathering it, but we complain and worry and fret and scheme to try to run ahead of Him all the time just to try to make it work for us. We forget His credentials as the powerful and brilliant mastermind, creator of the universe, the world and all that’s in it. Our problems to Him are really very small compared to what He does and what He’s accomplished and going to accomplish. We must take Him out the box that we confine Him too, take our hands off and watch Him do His brilliant work in our lives.
Exodus 14: 29 – 31
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”
It’s difficult to just sit by and watch someone ruin their life with bad choices but it just doesn’t matter how “off” people appear to be, coming down on them will only intensify the problem. Yes, we can confront gently and as believers, we’re called to do that! It’s appropriate to try to reason but somewhere along the way we have to back off and let God do the big stuff, while we just simply accept who they are for who they are and love them just because….
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Hope and Healing In Hard Places 