Discovering Destiny (Part 21): God Meets You At Rock Bottom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNQrTiUJTjE

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

Yesterday, in our “Discovering Destiny” series, Jacob left home with nothing but a staff in his hand and a target on his back. Today, we see him lie down in the middle of nowhere, puts his head on a rock, and watches heaven open.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture(s) we will study today:

Genesis 28:10-12 NLT“Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 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. 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.”

Genesis 28:13-15 NLT“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. Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—west and east, north and south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 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.'”

Supporting scriptures:

Genesis 28:16-17 NLT“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!’ 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!'”

John 1:51 NLT“Then he said, ‘I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.'”

Hebrews 13:5 AMPC“For He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]”

Psalm 139:7-8 TPT“Where could I go from your Spirit? Where could I run and hide from your face? If I go up to heaven, you’re there! If I go down to the realm of the dead, you’re there too!”

Romans 5:8 NLT“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Setting the Stage:

Picture Jacob’s first night on the run. He is somewhere between Beersheba and Haran, on a journey of roughly 500 miles, alone and on foot. No tent. No servants. No bed. The sun goes down, and the man who grew up as a mama’s boy in the tents grabs a stone for a pillow. There had to be a moment when he stared up at the stars and thought, “Three days ago I was in my father’s house. Now I am sleeping on a rock, and my brother wants me dead.”

And that is the night heaven opens. Jacob dreams of a stairway connecting earth to heaven, angels going up and down, and the LORD Himself standing at the top, speaking covenant promises to the man who just lied his way out of town. His rock bottom moment became the stairway to heaven.

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. God’s Best Word Can Come On Your Worst Night.

Here is the crazy part about this scene: this is the first time God speaks to Jacob directly. Everything Jacob knew about the promise up to this point came secondhand, through his mother’s prophecy or his father’s blessing. God’s first personal word to Jacob did not come at a feast, a ceremony, or a worship service. It came in the dirt, on a rock, on the worst night of his life. And notice what Jacob did to earn it: nothing. He had not repented. He had not made anything right with Esau. The lie was still fresh on his lips. God spoke first anyway, and God did it in his worst moment.

How this applies to you:

— Genesis 28:11-12 NLT says Jacob found “a stone to rest his head against” and then “he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven.” The stone pillow and the open heaven happened in the same place, on the same night. Your lowest point and your greatest encounter can happen at the same address.

— Rock bottom is not the end of your story; it is where God opens heaven.

— Romans 5:8 NLT says, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” This is God’s pattern. He does not wait for you to climb up to Him; He comes down the stairs to you. God moved TOWARD Jacob in the middle of his mess, and He moves toward you the same way.

— You cannot fall far enough to fall out of the plan of God.

— Notice that God did not open the conversation with a rebuke. God did not scold Jacob while he was down. He did not even correct him. God knew everything about the goat skins and the stolen blessing, and His first words were not “How could you?” They were “I am the LORD… I am with you.” Conviction would come later, at the right time. That night, the runaway needed a promise, and that is exactly what God gave him.

— Grace does not wait for you to clean up; grace shows up in the middle of your mess.

— Maybe this moment (while you are reading this) feels like a stone pillow moment for you. Maybe you feel like you are between what you left and what God promised, and you feel completely alone. I am here to tell you that the middle of nowhere is not out of God’s reach. Some of God’s best words are spoken over people in their lowest moments. So, please OPEN your heart to receive.

2. Heaven Is Open Over Your Life.

Now look at what Jacob actually saw, because the picture is the teaching. A stairway stood on the earth, its top reached into heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on it. Traffic. Activity. Movement between heaven and earth. Whatever else that dream said to Jacob, it screamed one thing: heaven is available to you in your situation. He was basically a runaway in that moment. He was alone in the wilderness, and the whole time there was a divine highway over his head. Here is the question you need to ask: if heaven was that engaged with a fugitive sleeping on a rock, how engaged do you think heaven is with a blood-bought child of God?

How this applies to you:

— Genesis 28:12 NLT says Jacob “saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.” Hebrews 1:14 calls angels ministering spirits sent to serve the heirs of salvation. The ladder was a picture of God’s angels being deployed to this world to minister on our behalf. 

— Hebrews 1:14 NLT calls angels “spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” Read that again. Angels are not sent to care for buildings, rituals, or religious systems. They are sent to care for PEOPLE, and if you are born again, that means you. Right now, in your situation, heaven has ministering spirits on assignment with your name on the orders.

— Angels are not decoration in heaven; they are an active-duty force, and you are the mission.

— Now let me show you one thing that moves them. Daniel prayed a prayer, and an angel showed up 21 days later. The angel told him, “Your words were heard; and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12 NKJV). Heaven dispatched the angel the FIRST day Daniel prayed. The Prince of Persia slowed him down for three weeks, but he still arrived, and he told Daniel exactly what pulled him out of heaven. Not Daniel’s tears. Not Daniel’s fasting. Daniel’s WORDS.

— Delay is not denial. The answer was dispatched the day you prayed.

— Psalm 103:20 AMPC says angels are “hearkening to the voice of His word.” Catch that phrase: the VOICE of His word. God’s word on the page has no voice until somebody speaks it. When you open your mouth and declare what God said, you give the word a voice, and you give angels something to hearken to. Angels do not respond to complaining, worry, or fear-talk. They respond to the WORD. If your mouth is full of the problem, heaven has nothing to work with.

— Your words can put heaven’s traffic in motion. Speak the promise, not the problem.

— But here is the balance, and Jacob is the proof: Jacob never prayed that night. He never asked God for anything. He was running, guilty, and silent, and heaven opened anyway. Sometimes angels are released by your words, like Daniel. Sometimes angels are released by pure grace, like Jacob. Either way, their ministry is real, and either way, the initiative starts with God’s love.

— Grace can open heaven before you say a word. But once you know the promise, do not stay silent.

— No matter what you are going through in this moment, I want you to know that heaven is not closed over your life. There is traffic on the ladder right now over you.

— Two thousand years later, Jesus told Nathanael in John 1:51 NLT that he would see “the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” Jacob’s dream was a preview of Jesus. The connection between heaven and earth is not a place, a ritual, or a religion.

— You are not praying at a closed ceiling; you are praying into an open heaven.

3. God’s Promises Rest On His “I Will,” Not Your “If.”

Slow down and count what God actually said to Jacob in that dream. “I am giving this land to you and your descendants.” “I am with you.” “I will protect you wherever you go.” “I will bring you back.” “I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” Now, look for the conditions. Look for the “if you straighten up.” Look for the “as long as you never lie again.” They are not there. God made covenant promises to a man who was actively running from the consequences of his own deception, and He hung every one of them on His own “I will.” I call this a one-signature covenant. God signed it alone, so Jacob’s failures could not break it.

How this applies to you:

— Genesis 28:15 NLT says, “I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” God tied His presence to His promise. 

— God’s promises rest on His character, not your consistency.

— Hebrews 13:5 AMPC stacks it three times: “[I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down.” When God repeats Himself, He is not stuttering. He is settling the matter.

— God finishes what He starts, and He has not finished with you.

— This was not the first time Jacob’s family heard “I will.” Go back one generation, to Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV, and listen to God calling Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. Count the “I wills” for yourself: (1) “I will show you” the land. (2) “I will make you a great nation.” (3) “I will bless you.” (4) I will make your name great.” (5) “I will bless those who bless you.” (6) “I will curse him who curses you.” Six “I wills” in three verses. Zero “if yous.” God laid out Abraham’s entire future, his location, his legacy, his protection, and his impact on every family on earth, and He took personal responsibility for every line of it.

— When God says “I will,” He is not asking for your help. He is announcing His plan.

— Now you know why God opened Jacob’s dream by saying, “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father” (Genesis 28:13). God was not cutting Jacob a new deal on that rock. He was signing the next generation onto the same one-signature covenant, and He used the same covenant language: I will give, I will keep, I will bring you back, I will not leave you.

— The writer of Hebrews tells us how serious God was about those promises to Abraham. Hebrews 6:13 NLT says, “Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name.” Think about that. When people make promises, they swear by something bigger than themselves. When God wanted Abraham to be sure, He searched heaven and earth, found nothing bigger, so He swore by Himself. God said, “I swear to God that I will bless you!” That is the one-signature covenant in its purest form.

— Hebrews 6:18 NLT finishes the thought: God gave “both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.” The covenant over Abraham did not depend on Abraham. The covenant over Jacob did not depend on Jacob. And the promise over your life does not depend on you holding it up. It rests on the God who cannot lie and the oath He swore in His own name.

— Two unchangeable things: His promise and His oath. Your religious performance is not on the list. That is the grace of God!

4. God Was In That Place, And You Did Not Know It.

When Jacob wakes up, he says the sentence that captures this entire series: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I didn’t even know it!” Did you catch what actually changed that night? Not God’s location. God’s presence was not new; Jacob’s awareness was. The LORD did not show up at sundown; Jacob woke up to what was already true. That is what discovery is. And watch what Jacob does next: he takes the stone he slept on, sets it up as a memorial pillar, pours oil on it, promises God a tenth of everything, and renames the place. It used to be called Luz, an ordinary nowhere town. From that morning on, it was Bethel: the house of God.

How this applies to you:

— God’s presence preceded Jacob’s perception. He is not more present in some seasons and less in others; you are simply more aware in some seasons than others.

— You do not create your destiny, and you do not conjure up God’s presence; you discover both.

— When I first got born again, I was in Kuwait, and I lived in a conex (a shipping container). One of the greatest moments I had with God in the first few days after I was born again was when God took me through moments in my life where he protected me for my purpose. He showed me:

• When I was hit by a car when I was three years old

• When I had a 357 Magnum placed in my head when I was 11 years old

• When I was shot at multiple times, including once with a shotgun from across the street, and the person missed

He showed me multiple moments where I was in real danger (in danger for my life), but he protected me along the way. The Lord said something to me that I will never forget: “I was with you the whole time, son, and I was protecting you for your purpose.” I could say, like Jacob, “God was with me, and I didn’t even know it.”

— Psalm 139:7-8 TPT asks, “Where could I go from your Spirit? Where could I run and hide from your face?” David searched for the edge of God’s presence and could not find one. Neither could Jacob. Neither will you.

— God was in your worst season too; you just did not know it.

— I will close with this point. Think about what Jacob renamed that day. The place was called Luz, and there was nothing special about it before that day. But God took a spot in the middle of nowhere, and it became Bethel, the house of God. One encounter turned a nowhere place into a landmark. What does this teach us about our own lives? It teaches us to stop despising our middle-of-nowhere season. One day you will look back and say, “That is where God met me.”

— Jacob turned his pillow into a pillar. Why? Because worship is the proper response to discovering that God was there all along. 

Next week, Isabella and I will be hosting about 20 people here in the Dominican Republic for a mission trip. I’ll be tied up every day from early in the morning to the evening, so I won’t be sending out the emails. There will be pre-recorded messages, but still tune in at 7 a.m. because the messages will be a blessing to you. But let me send you into this weekend and into next week with this thought: No matter what you’ve been going through, God was there with you the whole time; even if you did not realize it. 

That’s enough for today.

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that You meet me at my lowest, not my best!

Rock bottom is not my ending; it is where heaven opens!

Heaven is open over my life, and Jesus is my ladder!

There is traffic between heaven and my situation right now!

Your promises rest on Your “I will,” not my “if”!

You will not leave me until You finish everything You promised me!

My weak faith cannot cancel Your strong Word!

You are in this place, and now I know it!

I turn my pillow into a pillar; I worship You right where I am!

I discover Your presence, I discover Your plan, and I walk in both!

This is THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!