And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! Genesis 28:12
With my kids far away in college, I’m thankful for the technology that allows me to communicate with them. As nice as that technology is however, nothing beats having them home. To physically have them in the same house where we can freely talk and laugh together is priceless. I can have a meaningful relationship with my kids from a distance, but to have an intense, personal relationship, it’s far better to be able to spend time with them.
The same is true with my relationship with God. As a Christian, I believe the Bible teaches that I’m meant to live in an intensely real personal relationship with my creator. I’m meant to talk to and listen to him daily. In going my own way, I’ve separated myself from God, turning my back on him. Because of Christ’s sacrificial death however, I’ve been forgiven and restored to a right relationship with the father. Now, if I choose, I can daily interact with God, who’s sent his spirit to live with me.
In today’s passage, Jacob experienced a supernatural dream in which he saw a stairway from Earth to Heaven. Jacob interpreted this stairway to mean that this specific geographical location was a mystical gate connecting Earth to Heaven and so, he erected a monument. This was an unusual experience apparently, to find oneself this connected to God.
Perhaps we take it for granted, but because of Christ’s sacrificial death, we may now live continuously in God’s presence. The depth to which we experience this presence however, is highly variable. We can know God very little or we can know him a lot, and our experience largely depends on our response to him.
In my addiction, I ran from God, experiencing very little of his presence in my life. To experience a personal relationship with God now, and to experience the joy, peace, and blessing that comes from that relationship, I had to stop the behavior that turned me from him – I had to get sober. I didn’t do this alone. As I turned from my self-destruction, I turned towards him, pursing my relationship with him, which profoundly changed my entire life. So now, I daily get up early, make my coffee, and spend the first hour of my day praying and pointing my life at God. I then listen to him by reading my Bible and meditating on what he’s telling me. For me, my new life starts again every day in taking time for my coffee with God.