Promises from the Past

Then God was right before him, saying, “I am God , the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I’m giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they’ll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants. Yes. I’ll stay with you, I’ll protect you wherever you go, and I’ll bring you back to this very ground. I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.” Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, “ God is in this place—truly. And I didn’t even know it!” He was terrified. He whispered in awe, “Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God’s House. This is the Gate of Heaven.” Genesis 28:13‭-‬17 MSG

This passage really hit me.  In part because my name is derived from Jacob’s name and I have to catch myself as sometimes I tend to do things like he would do.  Since that tends to be a curse rather than a blessing, the blessing caught my attention.

The other reason is because I had just listened to the chapters before where Jacob had got Esau to trade Esau’s birthright for Jacob’s bowl of soup.   Then with the help of his mother had deceived his father Isaac in obtaining Esau’s blessing.  He was fleeing from the wrath of his brother and ends up sleeping outside and having a dream with angels ascending and descending a stairway to Heaven.  And in the aftermath of Jacob’s failures, God is there promising a blessing.

I often find myself focused on the failures instead of the blessings.  I allow the lies of the enemy to keep me from pursuing the promises God has for me.  I allow the enemy to keep me tied to the failure from the past instead of listening to the voice of God and the promises of where He is leading me.

But Jacob didn’t get to hear that promise until he stepped out in obedience to what his father had commanded.  He was running, but God was leading.

Yes. I’ll stay with you,

Jacob was fearful, but God was promising protection.

I’ll protect you wherever you go,  

He was leaving behind everything he knew, but God was saying “I will bring you back.”

I’ll bring you back to this very ground.

God was solidifying the promise that God had made to Abraham.  His promise was tied to his past.

I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.

I have spent much of my life distancing myself from my past.  I ran.  I changed my name.  I changed my life.  Yet, I still let it hold me back in areas.  I look to the greatest victories that God has brought me through and they are some of the greatest tools that He has given me to help others.  There is not a heart-wrenching experience that I have walked through, even those of my own orchestration, that I have not been able to use to minister to someone else, and generally in the most similar of circumstances.

It is as if God reminding me:

Yes. I’ll stay with you,

I’ll protect you wherever you go,

and I’ll bring you back to this very ground.

I’ll stick with you until I’ve done everything I promised you.

There are promises that I am still holding on too from 20 years ago, and some that He has given me since then.  I have seen God’s faithfulness.  I can testify of His protection.  He has brought me back to where everything started.  And I know that His promises will not return void, He has stuck with me even when I did not stick with Him.  He is not looking at my failures, except as a tool for His glory.  He is looking at the future that He has for me.  What a wonderful God I serve.