PASTOR DEAN P THOMPSON'S WORD OF HOPE PODCAST MINISTRY
This Podcast is for daily devotions, spiritual enlightenment and inspiration, to encourage the child of God unto faithfulness and transformation.In these times of distress, desperation and fearfulness, it is my utmost desire to share words of hope and consolation to the hurting, the depressed, and to those who are feeling hopeless and lost.
PASTOR DEAN P THOMPSON'S WORD OF HOPE PODCAST MINISTRY
THE LADDER AT BETHEL
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Hello everyone. This is Pastor Dean Thompson with the word of hope Encounters with grace the ladder at Bethel. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. Genesis chapter twenty eight verse fifteen. Jacob is a fugitive with blood on his conscience. Fleeing the brother he cheated, and the father he deceived. He runs north north toward Heron, with nothing but the clothes on his back, and stops at nightfall in an ordinary place, using a stone for a pillow. The stepped structure he sees in his dream would have evoked the zigorats of Mesopotamia, great temple towers with stairways, believed to be the meeting point of heaven and earth, where the gods descended to receive the offerings of men. The tower of Babel had been humanity's attempt to build such a stairway up to God. But Jacob's ladder is the reverse of Babel. He builds nothing. The stairway simply appears, and on it the angels of God are ascending and descending. Heaven's traffic reaching down to a scheming runaway was earned nothing. God stands above it and repeats the covenant, then adds a personal promise. I with thee, and will keep thee. This is grace at its purest, given to a deceiver on the run, at his lowest and least deserving, with no bargaining, no probation, no conditions. Jacob names the place Bethel, house of God, and confesses The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. Grace has a way of showing up in the ordinary, unimpressive places of our flight, a hard night, a stone for a pillar, a life we have made a mess of. Jacob did not climb to God. God came down to Jacob. The gospel is not a ladder we ascend by our striving, but a savior who descends to where we lie. Wherever you have run to, the Lord may already be in that place, and you know it not. O Lord, we have run far and earned little. Please meet us in the in the ordinary places and let us learn that you are near. Not because we climbed, but because you came down. You are the God who is with us. Our Emmanuel. We thank you for your goodness and your love. Amen. God bless you, my brothers and sisters.