He Meets Us Where We Are

Yesterday I was encouraged by a reading from D.A. Carson's For the Love of God, Volume 1. In it he writes of Genesis 28, where Jacob is fleeing for his life after deceiving his father and stealing his brother's blessing. God meets Jacob in a vivid dream and makes incredible promises to this sinful man, guaranteeing that the covenant made with Abraham includes Jacob and that the blessings of that covenant will pass through him and his descendants. Yet after all that, Carson, says:

"Jacob...is still the same wheeler-dealer. He utters a vow: If God will do this and that and the other, if I get all that I want and hope for out of this deal, 'then the LORD will be my God' (Genesis 28:20-21).

"And God does not strike him down! The story moves on: God does all that he promised, and more. All of Jacob's conditions are met. One of the great themes of Scripture is how God meets us where we are: in our insecurities, in our conditional obedience, in our mixture of faith and doubt, in our fusion of awe and self-interest, in our understanding and foolishness. God does not disclose himself only to the greatest and most stalwart, but to us, at our Bethel, the house of God."

How thankful I am that God was patient with Jacob and that He treats me, in my stubbornness, self-absorption and lack of trust, with that same patience.