Special Places
We all have places that hold a special significance in our memory. They may be places we retreat to in order to escape, re-charge or seek God. Or they may be places where we have endured great pain or great joy.
For Paul Deeming his special place is a little cottage in Cornwall where he spent his honeymoon. He recently returned with Olive to discover the cottage has been completely renovated and is much more luxurious than when they first visited newly married and on a budget. On
entering the cottage on their first visit they switched on the lights and set about cooking a meal. However, switching on the cooker caused the fuse to blow and plunged them into darkness. It wasn't long before they discovered that either they had light and no food or food and complete darkness!
Jacob had a special place that he went to when he was fleeing from Esau (Gen 28). Jacob found himself in an uncomfortable situation after tricking his father into blessing him instead of Esau. God met Jacob in that situation through a dream - in his place of difficulty and need. The stairway that Jacob dreams of rests on the earth and reaches up to Heaven: a wonderful picture of how God is never out of our reach. Later in his life Jacob revisits his special place (Genesis 35) and makes an altar to God worshipping Him there.
Like Jacob we find ourselves in difficult situations when we are suffering and feeling alone, afraid and unsure of where to turn. Like Jacob we can be assured that God will meet us in that place of difficulty. John 1:14 reminds us that Jesus became flesh in order to dwell among us. Likewise the Tabernacle in all its opulence was a sign of God's presence with His people.
We think our struggle with faith is because we don't love God enough. In reality it is because we can't accept how much He loves us.
This message was added on Friday 17th October 2014