Daily Prayer

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran.11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep.12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants.14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

18 The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it.19 He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although the name of the nearby village was Luz.20 Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing,21 and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God.22 And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

Gen 28:10-22 (NLT)

I can’t say that I am one who puts a lot of stock into dreams; at least the ones that I have. I’ve been told that our dreams are somehow speaking to us; about the lives we live, or at least an effort to reveal deep subconscious events whirling around among the firing of our brain cells. And if that’s the case, then I am probably missing out on a lot about my life and what it is those dreams are trying to sort out for me. About the most that my dreams have done for me is to bring back into my conscious memory someone or something from my past, that then lingers with me for a few days before slowing sinking back down into the subconscious gray matter of my mind.

But I also believe that our God can speak to us through our dreams. If not a full-blown and clearly enlightening conversation, then at least the seeds of a thought that will grow over time and in turn have an influence on how we work through the future events of our lives.

At least that is my hope for my dreams, and is a daily part of my evening prayers; that as I sleep, the Lord will use that time to whisper the words that I need to hear; to whisper into my subconscious thought the divine “dream of dreams”. A dream that will shape my days, and will rise up and never be forgotten, even in the hectic-ness of life’s moments. A dream that will lead me closer to the One that is the source of all our lives. A dream encounter in which I know that I have stood – or at least slumbered – on holy ground.

Holy God, as I slumber this night may my whisper that "dream of dreams", that I may know you more fully, and that I may travel on the holy ground, which is the path you so deeply desire for my life.

Amen.

Rev. Michael Kirchhoff