The LORD is in this place...


How often do you read the Bible? Is Bible-reading a discipline that you practice daily, or do you read it just once in a while, whenever it suits you? There are times when I read the Bible almost every day without missing. There are other times when I let other things crowd out my time with the Lord. Is that true of you too?


If we want to make any kind of difference in this world, we need to know that we have the Lord's blessing in our lives. To get the Lord's blessing, we need to seek Him on a regular basis. One aspect of seeking God is spending time reading His love letter to us called the Bible. "In the Word" is the name that the pastoral staff has chosen for our year-long focus on being in God's Word on a daily basis.

I was reading Genesis 28 recently and found it, oh so easy to identify with Jacob. In the previous chapter of Genesis Jacob stole the blessing that Isaac promised to Esau. He knew that Esau wanted to kill him, so he left town immediately. On the way he stopped at the city of Luz and fell asleep using a rock as his pillow. That night God met Jacob. When Jacob awoke, he said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."

I can sure identify with that. When I don't take the time to read God's Word regularly, then I too miss out on the fact that God is right here in this place and I don't even know it. I don't even get the benefit of His presence. Can you identify with that?

The last verse of Genesis 28 gives another one of Jacob's responses to meeting with God. He didn't want to forget the importance of meeting God daily, so he decided to put his faith into action, as a way to remember that God is always there for him. In verse 22 Jacob decided to give 1/10th of all he had to God. That was his response to a loving God who couldn't wait to meet with him.

Wow! I want to be just like Jacob. I choose to give to God, because He loves me enough to want to meet with me. Now that is amazing. God wants to meet with me!

What's your reaction to spending time with God? If you don't do that on a daily basis, why don't you start? If you do, you will probably react as Jacob did, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it."
~Pastor Dean