“I Just Wasn’t Aware Of It”

He was exhausted.

Running.

Alone…….or so he thought.

As he lay with his head on the rock, his mind raced.

Certainly, he had lived up to his name, “Jacob…..the deceiver.”

He was now facing the consequences of his deception.

He had mercilessly tricked his old, blind father, stealing the blessing meant for his rugged brother, Esau.

And, well, Esau was not a man to be trifled with. He had vowed to kill his brother as soon as their father was dead. And these were not idle threats….Esau was a man of action, and everyone knew it. Jacob knew it, and so did their mother…….so, as much as she loved Jacob, she told him to flee……to run…..to live.

And now, here he was……lying on the ground in the middle of nowhere, simply trying to survive.

And that’s when it happened. He had a dream.

Well, not just A dream…..he had THE dream; the one that would change his life.

In the dream, he saw a stairway…….yes, a stairway to heaven (Led Zeppelin jokes aside)…..and the angels of God were going up and down the steps.

That, in itself, is impressive. But then God shows up. He speaks to Jacob, reiterates the promise He had given to Abraham that would eventually be fulfilled through Jacob and reassures this sinful, deceptive man that He was with him.

And when Jacob wakes up, he says something that should get all of us to pay attention.

He says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

Let’s stop right there because this is the point of this blog today.

How many times has the Lord been working around me and I wasn’t even “aware of it?”

I know you can’t answer that….and neither can I. Only God knows, but I suspect it is FAR more times than I am comfortable with.

How many opportunities have I missed?

How many conversations with the Almighty slipped away?

How has my walk of faith been delayed simply because I wasn’t paying attention?

Ugh……I honestly shudder to think about the reality of that.

In fact, God has been showing me this very principle over the past several months. The principle of……well, let’s call it……PAYING ATTENTION.

Seriously, He has been emphasizing to me that if there’s one thing I desperately need, it’s a greater awareness of how He is at work in my life, in the lives of my family, and in the world around me.

God is working. Always.

I recently was on vacation with my wife and was blessed to read the book, “Abandonment to Divine Providence” by Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade. He says a lot of wonderful things, but the point that kept hammering me was the idea that we must raise our awareness of how God is working around us in every moment of every day…..that instead of trying to keep our spiritual eyes out on the horizon….that we need to pay attention to what He is doing right in front of us.

Caussade writes, “The present moment is always full of infinite treasures.” And “Every moment is a messenger of God’s will.”

I love that realization.

Every conversation I have is pregnant with divine possibilities.

Every interruption of my life might be the Lord’s movement.

Every disappointment could be a chance to go deeper with God.

Each day is an invitation from God if we only have eyes to see it.

Now…..that doesn’t mean that everything that happens is a direct action from the Lord.

But it does mean that every moment COULD be the work of the Lord, and I need to be aware of that and evaluate it.

Just trying to be more consciously aware of this possibility has done wonders for me. On vacation, as I read Caussade, I tried to implement this every day, and I can honestly tell you I saw the Lord working in ways I wouldn’t normally have noticed.

I saw how He worked between my wife and me. How he spoke to my heart. How He pointed to the emptiness of futile activity as a way to find contentment, and how it contrasted with leaning into His presence.

And the lesson doesn’t stop with awareness. Caussade then says we must “abandon ourselves” to those moments. Surrender to them. Pay attention to how God is working and then surrender to the work.

How exciting is this invitation!

I grew up in a Christian home. I cut my teeth in church every time the doors were open. I realized my call to service at a very young age and, despite several years of stubborn rebellion, I have tried to walk with God for my entire life.

And yet…..the idea of God actively working in the minutia of my life never really dawned on me. In some circles I’ve been a part of, the idea would be scoffed at. Even though we would proclaim that we serve a supernatural God, the thought of Him working supernaturally was viewed with suspicion and skepticism.

But why?

I mean, I know that I WANT to walk with a supernatural God; not one that is merely rational or predictable. I welcome the idea that the Creator of the universe is not only infinite in power, but that He is also infinitely loving…..and that His love is more than universal…..that He loves ME that way.

And so, I lay all of this at your feet, dear readers.

I invite you to begin asking a different question each morning. Not, "Lord, what do You want me to do today?" That's an important question, but perhaps it isn't the first one.

Instead, begin with this: "Lord, where are You already at work today? Open my eyes so I don't miss it."

I have a feeling that simple prayer could change everything.

Because I'm beginning to believe that the greatest tragedy isn't that God is absent from our lives. It's that He is often wonderfully present, quietly working in ordinary moments, and we're simply too distracted to notice. We keep waiting for the spectacular while overlooking the sacred that's already unfolding in front of us.

Jacob woke up and realized he had spent the night on holy ground. Nothing about the place had changed. God hadn't suddenly arrived. The only thing that changed was Jacob's awareness.

Perhaps that's the invitation before us as well.

To slow down.

To pay attention.

To become the kind of people who expect God to be at work in conversations, interruptions, disappointments, quiet convictions, and unexpected moments of joy. To stop living as though the next great movement of God is somewhere out on the horizon and begin looking for Him in the ordinary moments He has already placed in front of us.

Because if Caussade is right, every moment really is "a messenger of God's will." Every day is filled with invitations to notice His presence and surrender to His work.

My prayer has become wonderfully simple.

"Lord, don't let me walk past holy ground simply because I wasn't aware of it."