This past Sunday we started a short series on Jacob and some of the lessons he learned the hard way, hopefully with the intention that we might learn them without all the drama and pain. We saw that Jacob was not sure God would keep his promise of blessings, so he tries to get it all by himself. The purpose & promise of Abraham and Isaac are his, but he just doesn’t believe it. We saw the train wreck that was the aftermath of his scheming. After the message I was asked by several people for the quote by Thomas Merton about how God can and will use everything for our good if we will trust Him. Here is that quote; “Every moment, of every event, of every person’s life, plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of seeds, so each moment, brings with it germs of spiritual life. Most of these seeds are lost because we are not prepared to receive them. The love of God however seeks us in every situation and seeks our good.”
This is illustrated in Jacob’s experience with the vision of the stairway in Gen. 28:12-17. The statement “”Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” should give us all pause. What is God doing right now that we are not paying attention to? We don’t have to learn everything the hard way, do we?
Please be in prayer for our VBS this week. There has been a tremendous effort put in by our dedicated team to make the best imaginable learning experience possible. Pray for hearts to be open and for seeds to be planted.
Blessings,
Rick