Ryan Daffron

“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’” — Genesis 28:16

SOUNDING

Jacob wakes up from his ladder dream a little disoriented. Nothing around him has changed. The ground is still hard. The road ahead is still uncertain. The consequences behind him are still real. But something inside him has shifted. He realizes that the barren place he escaped to was actually occupied by God’s nearness. The wilderness he thought was godless was filled with presence.

Jacob’s experience the night before brought him to the reality that “The LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” God did not arrive when Jacob fell asleep. He was already there. The dream did not create God’s nearness. It revealed it. Jacob learns something that will shape the rest of his life. God’s presence does not depend on awareness, comfort, or clarity. God is present long before He is recognized.

This is where faith deepens. Not when circumstances improve, but when perception catches up to reality. Most of life is lived before genuine awareness. God is at work in places we label ordinary, painful, repetitive, or confusing. You do not bring God into your day by noticing Him. You discover He has already been there. Awareness does not summon God. It slows you down enough to see what has been true all along.

BEARING

God’s presence is not something you generate but something you learn to recognize.

PRAYER

Lord, slow me down enough to notice where You already are.

DROP IN

Pause three times today and quietly say, “God, You are here.”