Genesis 28:10-15 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.… Sleeping to see. One may be too wide-awake to see. There are things which are hidden from us until we lie down to sleep. Only then do the heavens open and the angels of God disclose themselves. I. It does not follow that God is not, because we cannot discern Him. Little do we dream of the veiled wonders and splendours amid which we move. To Jacob's mental fret and confusion, the wilderness where God brooded was a wilderness and nothing more. But in sleep he grew tranquil and still; he lost himself — the flurried, heated, uneasy self that he had brought with him from Beer-sheba; and while he slept the hitherto unperceived Eternal came out softly, largely, above and around him. We learn from this the secret of the Lord's nearness. II. No man is ever completely awake; something in him always sleeps. There is a sense in which it may be said with truth that were we less wakeful, more of God and spiritual realities might be unveiled to us. We are always doing — too much so for finest being; are always striving — too much so for highest attaining. Our religion consists too much in solicitude to get; it is continually " The Lord, the Father of mercies," rather than "The Lord, the Father of glory." We require to sleep from ourselves before the heavens can open upon us freely and richly flow around us. (S. A. Tipple.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. |
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