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Where at the point where Jacob was discouraged? Felling lost and alone and he sits down, and he falls asleep, and the Lord gives him a dream. That’s what’s going on here as simple as that, he has a dream, and the Lord communicates to him through it and encourages him. But Jacob responds doesn’t just lie back and receive the encouragement to this encouragement, he responds to what has been revealed in the dream and this response is really interesting. Let’s look at verse 16.

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

(Genesis 28: 16)

Wow, he says, I just realized that this is such an ordinary place, I’ve only got a rock from pillow, but the Lord is still here, still with me.  Then what he was thinking when he was awake. Matter of fact, that reminds me of a something that happened to me once. I awoke one morning and told my wife that I had a dream about you last night. Naturally she was intrigued and wanted to know what it was about. And he said, well, I dreamed that I took you out for a special day, we went shopping and then we went to your favourite restaurant, and I bought you flowers and I told you I loved you. I wonder what that means I said. I suspect any ladies listening to this are way ahead of me, already. Oh, that’s very simple my wife said, I can interpret that for you. It means that you have more sense when you’re asleep than when you’re awake. 

Jacob, it seemed also had more sense when he was asleep because it was only then he recognised that the Lord was with him. When he was awake, he was thinking I'm all alone, there is no hope, but he falls asleep, and God communicated to him through a dream, and he awakes recognising that the Lord is with him. I said earlier that we don’t have to rely on working out what our dreams mean today because we have the word. So may I suggest that you and I can make more sense when we are in the word than when we are anywhere else. When you’re living your life and thinking thoughts apart from the word you will always be struggling to try and interpret what things mean. If you get your head in the book you can not only receive direct communication form God, but you will have a Godly insight on how you should interpret everything else that comes at you in the world. Now some people say that if you study the Bible, you’re going to be so heavenly minded you’re not going to be earthly good. It’s a snappy cliché, but absolutely not the case, its’s not actually true, in fact the exact opposite is true. If you get your head in the book, you’ll be so heavenly minded you will be of some earthly good for a change. I fact it is the only way you will know how to respond to lives challenges and opportunities. So, Jacob had more sense in the dream than he did when he was awake, he has this realization which he verbalises in verse 17, when, awestruck he says.

“ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

(Genesis 28:17)

By the way, the word that's translated, afraid, comes from the same root as the word translated awesome. The narrative continues in the verses that follow.

“Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz”.

(Genesis 28:18-19)

Remember I mentioned to you earlier how this rock and this place are going to be important because he will make a permanent memorial there. He sets up as a pillar and poured oil on it and he called the name of it Bethel. What he did is he made a memorial, not an altar. He makes a memorial and says, we’re going to call this place Bethel, which means the House of God. Now, this is prior to the Tabernacle and prior to the temple, and he simply saying, this is the place where I met with the Lord. I’m going to call this place Bethel. In the Bible Bethel is mentioned more times than any other city except Jerusalem. This is a deeply significant location in the biblical record. He then does one more thing.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

(Genesis 28: 20-22)

Jacob did one more thing he made a vow, a vow to credit God for all the good things in his life from here on in. On his journeys and when he eventually returns to his father’s house in peace. Notice how often this passage talks about God being with him. The point of this is really very, very simple This is him simply saying if God fulfils all of this, I am going to make him my God. I’m also going to establish a memorial in Bethel, and I’m going to credit him, and give him 10% of everything he gives me. In other words, he’s going to respond by giving back to the Lord in honour of all that the Lord had done for him. Some people just tip the Lord, you know, they put something insignificant in so they don’t feel guilty. When you really touched by the Lord, you want to give, it’s one of the characteristics of somebody that’s really plugged into the Lord is they want to give. They have a giving heart.

God gave us his only begotten son and when you really realize, wow, the Lord did this for me then what happens is you want to give in return. Alright let’s get back to the theme of encouragement. I believe the whole point of this passage is recognise that the Lord encouraged Jacob when he was discouraged. In doing so the Lord reminded him of his promises, his presence and his provisions and Jacob responds by, giving back to the Lord. Now before I close out this chapter, I want to make a couple of final observations. 

In the context of the Book of Genesis, many times, so far, you heard me say the background to everything in this book is that God is going to choose a people and give his chosen people a land. It’s summed up by the phrase, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and I promise you this land, to you and your descendants. That is the reason for this this passage within the context of the book of Genesis, and in the life of Jacob. This passage is about encouragement and at this point in his life Jacob is at risk of forgetting that promise because he has become discouraged.

And the Lord encourages him by appearing to him in a dream of an angel filled stairway, restating the promise to Abraham and adding more promises of blessing and protection. Jacob’s response is to acknowledge God’s presence, memorialize the place with a monument, name it, ‘The Hose of God’  and vow to worship there. God’s promise is one of his presences, his protection and his provision. Understanding that his promise should always inspire devotion and worship and that is what Jacob did here. The point is this, God wants to encourage his children, he wants to encourage us. How does he do that?  Well, he does it a whole bunch of ways, but one of the clear ways he does it is he communicates with us. He wants to do that today, with you, primarily through his word.

God will always fulfil the promise he made to us when we accepted his son as our saviour. He’s with us no matter what happens in the future. In Jacob’s case, this encouragement was pretty dramatic because it happened all in one night, in one dream, but this isn’t the end of the story. We’re going to see more of this later as we work through the life of Jacob in the coming chapters. It might not be that dramatic when it happens for us. For us sometimes it can take a long time, depending on the situation we find ourselves 

Do you remember at the beginning of the story of this message I told about a man called Thomas Carlyle who lost his manuscript he had worked on for two years. Let me tell you what happened after that. One day he was walking down the street and he noticed that there was a huge stonewall under construction, he stood transfixed, because he noticed the work was being done by one man. It was a moment of inspiration for him that tall, sweeping wall was being raised one brick at a time, by one man. He realised if he wrote just one page at a time one day at a time, he could write that book again in about 3 years. He knew he could do that, alongside his other teaching and lecturing commitments and that is the goal he set himself and that is exactly what he did. He needed to put his magnum opus back together again, one brick a ant a time. Sometimes when you’re discouraged, you may need to put the pieces back together again, one brick at a time, but of all the things I’ve said in this message, the thing I want you to remember most is what the Lord says to us, I’m with you, always.

That’s what’s important, the Lord says, my purpose is going to be fulfilled in your life. I’m with you, just trust me, and that should encourage anybody that knows the Lord. So during those times of discouragement we need to know the same things  That the Lord himself, the mighty God, the wonderful councillor, the Prince of Peace, the encourager is by our side and he will be with us always and forever, and he will fulfil all his promises in you.