"The LORD stood above the ladder." It was the first time in his
life he had realised the Presence of God. He had lived over forty years
without realising that God was close to him. When he awoke from his dream
he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not." He never
forgot it, just as we never forget the time and place where we are
converted. One hundred years after that night, when he was a very old man,
he mentioned it to his son. He said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared unto
me at Luz and blessed me." [Footnote: Gen. xlviii. 3.]
But what impressed him deeply was that _there_ in that lonely place, many
miles away from any human being, he heard the Voice of God speaking to
him. It was then that a new life began in his soul, for God told him that
from that moment He would be with him _everywhere_, blessing him and
protecting him from all danger, and it was then Jacob began to trust God
as his _God_.
So we see how God's glory and God's grace were shining down from the top
of the ladder into poor Jacob's heart. Jacob was face to face with God for
the first time, and he began to tremble with fear. If only you could
realise that God is now, at this very moment, straight in front of you,
you would fall down on your face before Him, and you would cry to Him as
Job did, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.
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