Jacob Did Something Right

Jacob and Paul each received direct "Aha" moments from the Most High. They both had awe and respect for the Most High.

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

Title: Paul Indicated Jacob Did Something Right

SubTitle: Both Had Awesome Ahas

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/18311166

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

Paul Indicated Jacob Did Something Right

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

THE PROBLEM

I started Friday reading a devotional from Sarah Young's Jesus Calling –  December 5. It recommended practicing saying, "Surely the Lord is in this place!"

I'm part of a group that meets one evening a week and my role is to summarize and respond to the Friday devotional. This one seemed at first review like a game to me. I've mentioned in my weekly evening group that I could be called a Master of Motion. I easily exchange the pursuit of the perfect person JESUS for a recipe that I turn into a game or a law -- like saying "Surely the Lord is in this place!" without paying attention to the Most High.

So, I told the Most High Friday morning "This could be a game for me." Those are most of the notes I wrote.

I BEGAN A SEARCH

I'm committed to several groups with different goals. But we are praying to the same Most High God in the same Name -- Jesus. I write podcast episodes. I am a volunteer chapel speaker. And I do some independent Bible study for my own benefit.

I realized two things: My independent Bible study this week contained the word, "pillar" while discussing I Timothy.

My assigned Sarah Young devotional contained the text that Jacob "went to sleep on a stone pillow".

I knew that Jacob made that stone pillow a pillar. That's from Genesis 28.

Was I experiencing a riddle from my heavenly Father? Was there a connection between the two passages? How does the word "pillar" relate in both Genesis 28 and I Timothy 3?

I had found myself pondering I Timothy 3 Thursday night.

It's not every week I get to look at a rock as part of my weekly night preparation. The word "pillar" just doesn't show up a lot -- either in the New Testament nor in Sarah Young's book. The word "pillar" only shows up in the New Testament about four times. "House of God"? About twenty times.

I reviewed the Scriptures that puzzled me. What did Jacob's setting up a pillar in Genesis 28 have to do with Paul's rules about how deacons and bishops should behave in I Timothy 3?

I got some parts, but I didn't get the whole picture. Here's a stream of consciousness that my mind followed:

When I saw the reference to the "pillar" in I Tim 3:15, I recognized that may be a reference to "Bethel". When I saw the reference to the house of God in verse 15, I recognized that also may be a reference to "Bethel". If I saw a reference to the "house of God" then the question "how to behave" makes sense to think about as well. I recognized that I Timothy 3 also talks about how deacons and bishops need to behave.

It helps to be humble when you know you've been given the answer and it still doesn't click. It also helps to know that the source of humility is not me -- Jesus is way humbler than I am.  Sometimes I ask other people or reference books for information. I eventually asked ChatGPT. 

As of this writing, the Artificial Intelligence doesn't hallucinate badly, and I do converse with it to see if I get acceptable details. I thank God for AI research, but ask Him to put it into perspective.

I raised the subject of how Genesis 28 and I Timothy 3 compare. 

"What relationship exists between "how to act in the house of God" and Jacob's actual experience around setting up the pillar and calling it Bethel?"

WHAT I FOUND?

Here's what ChatGPT told me about Bethel and the church:

Jacob’s encounter in Genesis 28 includes several behaviors that Israel (and later Christians) considered paradigmatic:

A. Reverence and awe before God’s presence

B. Setting up a visible witness: the pillar

C. Making vows and commitments

A theme throughout the Old Testament is recognizing His presence and responding with awe.

I think in those lines from ChatGPT I found the answer I was looking for.

THE WRAP UP

Near Sundown on Friday Night, I began to get on my knees and review in my mind some of the items I heard from I Timothy 3 over the past few days. Be grave. Respectful. I also pictured the King of Heaven looking down and saying He'd look after me, as described in Jacob's dream in Genesis.

In Genesis, Jacob woke up after that dream and knew that the Most High had intervened into his own life. He knew that his life and the lives of his yet-to-be-born descendants would be different because of it.

After taking some time on my kness on Friday night, I felt confident that my independent Bible study of I Timothy 3 had not led me down a rabbit trail. I saw more clearly how Paul looked to Jacob as an example of what to do when you know God has been showing himself to you. I also saw Paul's appeal for respect and decorum came from an awe of the Most High God.

God's response to my request early Friday morning had put meaning into my motions. Remember I knew I was in danger of mechanizing the words, "Surely the Lord is in this place!".

I saw the response to my request for more reverence. It became a merging of Tuesday night preparation and independent Bible Study and preparation for Podcast Episodes. A triple gift from the Spirit and Love of God in Christ.

May He live in all of us to take a moment, smell the flowers so to speak, exchange our perfect recipes for God's perfect presence, and then say, "Surely the Lord is in this place!". How awesome is this God. He's always here in a way I didn't know.

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC