Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place

Genesis 28:10-19 (NLT) Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰ Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. ¹¹ 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. ¹² 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.

¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵ 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.”
¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” ¹⁷ 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!”
¹⁸ The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. ¹⁹ He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.

Sent away because of his brother, Esau's anger,  Jacob traveled alone on the way to Haran. I wonder if he only focused on the reason for his fleeing or if he thought as he journeyed of his father's words to go and take a wife from the daughters of his Uncle Laban. Either way, Jacob had no idea when he lay down to rest his weary head on a rock that he was about to have a dream that would serve as a spring board in his relationship with God. A spring board according to Websters is anything serving as a starting point or providing the driving force, motive, incentive, or impulse for something else. I'd say Jacob's dream was all that and more for it was full of promises specifically for Jacob...promises of land, descendants, and the Lord's presence. Jacob was not alone for surely the Lord was in that place! The blessing he previously swindled from his father paled in comparison to one spoken directly from God himself.  To mark the moment, Jacob stood the stone he slept on upright as a memorial and poured oil over it.
Where is your current journey taking you? Is it a lonely one? Are you fleeing serious circumstances? Have you been sent out to complete a task? Perhaps the place where you find yourself is more important than you realize. Could it be the Lord is in it and, like Jacob, you just haven't realized yet? Take a minute to ask Him to make Himself real to you today. This may be the spring board to a wonderful growing experience with the Lord. How will you remember/honor/mark what He is teaching you?