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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and
will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and
raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace;
then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a
pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will
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surely give the tenth unto Thee.” The circumstances which prompted
Jacob to vow to the Lord were similar to those which prompt men and
women to vow to the Lord in our time. He had by a sinful act obtained
the blessing which he knew had been promised him by the sure word
of God. In doing this he showed great lack of faith in God’s power
to carry out His purposes, however discouraging present appearances
might be. Instead of placing himself in the position he coveted, he was
obliged to flee for his life from the wrath of Esau. With only his staff in
his hand he must travel hundreds of miles through a desolate country.
His courage was gone, and he was filled with remorse and timidity,
seeking to avoid men, lest he should be traced by his angry brother.
He had not the peace of God to comfort him, for he was harassed with
the thought that he had forfeited divine protection.
The second day of his journey is drawing to a close. He is weary,
hungry, and homeless, and he feels that he is forsaken of God. He
knows that he has brought this upon himself by his own wrong course.
Dark clouds of despair enclose him, and he feels that he is an outcast.
His heart is filled with a nameless terror, and he hardly dares to pray.
But he is so utterly lonely that he feels the need of protection from God
as he has never felt it before. He weeps and confesses his sin before
God, and entreats for some evidence that He has not utterly forsaken
him. But his burdened heart finds no relief. He has lost all confidence
in himself, and he fears that the God of his fathers has cast him off. But
God, the merciful God, pities the desolate, sorrow-stricken man, who
gathers the stones for his pillow and has only the canopy of heaven for
his covering.
In a vision of the night he sees a mystic ladder, its base resting
upon the earth and its top reaching above the starry host to the highest
heavens. Angel messengers are ascending and descending this ladder
of shining brightness, showing him the pathway of communication
between earth and heaven. A voice is heard by him, renewing the
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promise of mercy and protection and of future blessings. When Jacob
awoke from his dream, he said: “Surely the Lord is in this place;