Where do you worship God? I’m not asking for a geographical location—latitude and longitude.

I’m asking for a place in your life where you worship God.

For Jacob, this place in his life came when his bad conduct caused bad results. Jacob lied, cheated and stole to get what he wanted in life. He’d sown the wind. Now he was reaping the whirlwind.

As a result, he was fleeing his family and his Promised Land—the place where he could bless all people.

Fortunately, such fleeing does not go on forever. We stop. We find a stone. We make it our pillow.

To our surprise, we discover that this uncomfortable  “stone pillow” becomes a place of worship—a place where we meet God’s Amazing Grace.

Jacob dreamed. “[H]e saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: ‘I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.’” (Genesis 28:12-13).

Now that the LORD God had Jacob’s attention, he showed Jacob his Amazing Grace. Even as Jacob lay in the dust with a stone for a pillow, the LORD God gave him encouraging promises full of hope:

“I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” (Genesis 28:13-14).

How could these promises come to pass?

The LORD God showed his Amazing Grace by giving Jacob these assurances: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:15).

What a dream! What promises! What assurances! What Amazing Grace!

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven’” (Genesis 28:16-17).

I wish I could say that Jacob responded to this amazing grace, these amazing promises, and these amazing assurances by promising to stop lying, cheating and stealing.

I wish I could say that Jacob responded to this amazing grace, these amazing promises, and these amazing assurances by promising to love the LORD his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-38).

I wish I could say that Jacob responded to this amazing grace, these amazing promises, and these amazing assurances by promising to love his neighbor as himself. (Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18).

But I can’t. Because Jacob didn’t promise to stop lying, cheating and stealing. Jacob didn’t promise to love the LORD his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength. Jacob didn’t promise to love his neighbor as himself.

Instead, Jacob bargained with God.

God’s promises were unconditional. There were no strings attached. God offered Amazing Grace!

But Jacob put all kinds of conditions on his “promise” to follow God. He would only make the LORD his God after God did the following things first:

   (1) God must be with him and watch over him on his journey;

   (2) God must give him food to eat and clothes to wear; and

   (3) God must return him safely to his father’s house. (Gen. 28:20-22).

Unfortunately, our response to God’s Amazing Grace, Amazing Promises, and Amazing Assurances is often similar Jacob’s response to God’s Amazing Grace, Amazing Promises, and Amazing Assurances.

No matter how many wonderful things God promises to give us, we often worry about whether God will be with us when we need him, whether we will have enough money, and whether we will be safe.

We seldom follow the wise advice that Jesus gave us in the Sermon on the Mount:

“[D]o not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. . . . . But first seek [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”   (Matthew 6:25, 33).

To follow this Wisdom from Jesus—this Way of Jesus:

Seek to stop doing whatever bad things led you to an uncomfortable “stone pillow”.

Seek to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Seek to love your neighbor as yourself.

Then, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4-13).

Rejoice rather than worry. Why?

Because you can trust God to keep his promises. You don’t need to bargain with him.

You can trust God’s Amazing Grave, even if you’ve done bad things that leave you sleeping on an uncomfortable “stone pillow”.

You can trust God to turn your “stone pillow” into a place in your life to worship God.

You can trust God to be with you always (Matthew 28:20), watching over you, until you and your spiritual “descendants” safely reach the kingdom of righteousness which you seek—the Promised Land!

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To read about additional places of worship, please read my blog “Places of Worship—Rainbows”.

To read more about God’s Amazing Grace, please read my blogs “Love Overcomes Karma” and “Love Overcomes Karma—Jesus”.

To read more about Jacob, please read the chapter “Jacob” in my book The Promised Land, at pages 43-71.