Jacob is on his way to Laban’s home. He has recently stolen his brother Esau’s blessing and Esau is so mad that he said He will kill Jacob as soon as Isaac dies. Rebekah sends Jacob to Laban’s on the pretense that she doesn’t want Jacob to marry a Canaanite woman. Laban is their relative and so she wants Jacob to find a wife among their own people.

On the way Jacob stops for the night and goes to sleep. He uses a rock as a pillow. You have got to believe Jacob was thinking things were not going the way he expected. He got the rights of the firstborn from Esau for a bowl of stew, and he got the blessing of the firstborn. He should be on top of the world. Instead, here he is out in the middle of the wilderness using a rock as a pillow.

God knows what we are thinking and what is bothering us. He shows Jacob a vision and speaks to Him. All the words God speaks to Jacob are encouraging and strengthening. God repeats the promise He made to Abraham and Isaac that the land Jacob was walking through would be theirs someday. Then God gives Jacob a very personal promise. God promises to take care of and protect Jacob until He has completed giving him everything He promised.

God promised to bring Jacob back to this land someday. Someday would end up being in twenty years. God promised to be with Him constantly. And as you read the accounts of those twenty years you can see God was ever-present with Him and providing for him and protecting him.
Jacob took that rock that had been his pillow and turned it into a monument to the promises of God. In many respects that rock represents Jacob’s struggles. Jacob has been struggling with the world. He will come back to this area and will struggle with God. God will strike Jacob’s hip and leave him with a reminder that he had wrestled with God. Is there a pillow of stone you have been sleeping on? There are times in all our lives that we wrestle and struggle with the world around us.

God’s promises are eternal and personal. He promised He would never leave you nor forsake you; He is ever-present with you. Someday you will be able to take that thing that represents your struggle with the world and set it up as a monument to the power and promises of God. Until then, you just keep holding on to the God’s faithful promises. Jesus, give us the strength to hang on.

Read: Genesis 28:1-29:35; Matthew 9:18-38; Psalm 11:1-7; Proverbs 3:11-12