God of surprise,
God of grace,
You met Jacob not at the altar,
but in exile.
Not in a moment of prayer,
but in a moment of running.
He was fleeing
from Esau,
from home,
from the weight of his own deceit.
His hands still carried a stolen blessing,
and his heart was heavy with fear.
Yet You came.
You didn’t wait for him to get it right.
You didn’t demand restitution first.
You met him where he lay
on cold ground,
with a stone for a pillow,
and nothing but the sky above.
Lord, meet me there too.
In the places where I’ve run,
in the moments when I’ve messed everything up,
when I’m more fugitive than faithful
let grace fall like a ladder
reaching from heaven to earth.
Jacob dreamed of angels
ascending and descending
and a God who stood beside him.
You said, “I am the Lord… I will not leave you.”
What mercy.
You didn’t revoke the blessing.
You confirmed it.
Not because Jacob had earned it,
but because Your covenant isn’t built
on human perfection.
Lord, I confess
I’m so often like Jacob.
Grasping.
Running.
Struggling for identity and blessing
when You’ve already spoken over me
“You are Mine. I will be with you.”
He woke and said,
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
How many times have I missed You?
How often have I thought You were distant,
when You were right beside me?
Forgive me for sleeping through sacred moments.
For treating holy ground like just another night.
For thinking that grace waits for me to clean up
instead of arriving while I’m still tangled in guilt.
Jacob set up a stone
and poured oil on it.
He turned the place of his failure
into a place of worship.
He called it Bethel “House of God.”
Lord, help me do the same.
Let me build altars in unlikely place
in fear, in weakness, in regret
because You are there.
You were always there.
And Jacob made a vow
“If You will be with me, You will be my God.”
Not a bargain,
but the beginning of surrender.
So I vow too
not out of fear,
but out of wonder.
If You would meet me here,
if You would chase me down with kindness
then yes, Lord
You are my God.
Stay with me on the journey.
Transform my fear into faith.
Let every stone become a sign
that grace has gone ahead of me.
In the name of Jesus,
the true Ladder between heaven and earth,
the One through whom angels ascend and descend,
and by whom I am never alone
Amen.