Reflection for the Website Sunday 19th July 2026- The Seventh Sunday after Trinity
10Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” 17And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” 18So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. (Genesis 28:10-19)
In between last week’s story about Jacob and today’s, Jacob has been involved in yet more deception. This time, with the help of his mother Rebekah, he has cheated Esau out of the blessing their father Isaac intended for his elder son. Esau is so enraged that he threatens to kill Jacob. So Rebekah sends her favourite son away—for his own safety, but also in the hope that he will find a wife among her own relatives.
After only a few days on the road, he stops for the night in a place described simply as “a certain place”—somewhere that seems entirely ordinary, of no particular importance. But instead of a peaceful night’s rest, he has the extraordinary dream that we’ve heard about, with the ladder and the angels, and God himself coming to meet Jacob,
One remarkable thing about this encounter, is that God says nothing at all about Jacob’s dishonesty. There is no rebuke, no lecture, no list of conditions. God knows exactly what Jacob has done. He knows his faults and failings, yet he still chooses him to carry forward his purposes. Again and again in Scripture, God chooses surprising people. And he reveals himself in surprising For us, this story is full of hope. It reminds us that God meets people in the middle of life’s confusion, not simply once they have sorted themselves out.
It reminds us, too, that God still has purposes for us, however far we may feel we’ve wandered off course. Like Jacob, we remain imperfect people. Indeed, just after today’s reading ends, Jacob is already trying to bargain with God about the terms on which he will remain faithful. Yet God does not abandon him. The same is true for us. God comes to meet us where we are—in whatever place or circumstance we find ourselves. He speaks his promises to us, calls us into his service, and invites us to become channels of his blessing in a world that longs for hope.
This prayer from https://joyfulmomentsinchrist.com/ asks God to help us to follow his call to us, despite our failings and doubts:
Lord, help me to accept that I am yours and that my identity is secure in Christ. Teach me to forget what lies behind, release my regrets, and strain forward toward the good that you have planned. Strengthen me to press on daily, to pursue the upward call you have given me, and to live with joy in every step of this journey. May my life reflect your transforming work, and may others see the hope and renewal that come only from you. Amen.