"Jacob's ladder" 

Genesis 28.10-22 (I encourage you to refresh your memory of this wonderful story of Jacob's dream by reading this short passage.)

"Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." vs. 16 

Jacob's response reminds me of the rhetorical question, "How many angels dance on the head of a pin?" Are you aware of the presence of the Lord, or that while you are worrying, the angels are dancing?

I've seen some famous people...Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and when I was in Junior High I was in a crowd waiting for John F. Kennedy to pass by when he was running for office, but the crowd was so large I never got a glimpse of him. I did hear the roar of the crowd ahead of us, though, and knew that he had passed by.

When I worked for the hospital in Springdale, Arkansas, we would be 'taken over' on occasion by the Secret Service if President Clinton was going to be in town to dine at the local chicken eatery.

Oh the buzz, the excitement that is generated by celebrity. I've been around millionaires, billionaires, sports heroes and a few zeroes. Some of those whom I term zeroes were also part of the earlier list (millionaires, billionaires, etc.) but had evidently overdosed on self-importance.

On a few rare occasions I've been near folks who were important or of great achievement, but I never knew it until later because the individual was too humble and self-effacing to allow anyone to announce his presence. Such is God, in Jacob's experience.

Jesus said we would entertain angels without being aware of it. So, I suspect it could be often said, have we entertained the presence of God and have been oblivious.

We worry, unable to see tomorrow, while angels dance - having been in the presence of Him who holds tomorrow. Many years ago, when our daughters were very young, someone said, "Oh, I know your daddy!" One of the girls asked, "Does he know you?"

The question was innocent and sincere. The question is most profound when we are talking about the Ruler of the Universe. If we know Him and He knows us, why should we do anything but be in joy and amazement to discover that wherever we are, "Surely the Lord is in this place..."

Where you are, right now, is not to be an habitation of worry nor apprehension. It is to be Beth-El, the House of God. Surely angels dance the staircases - for here is the Presence of the Lord.