One night Jacob had a dream. He saw a ladder with angels on it extending all the way up to heaven, and God said to him, ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go’ (v. 15 NIV). The next morning Jacob said, ‘The Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’ Nothing seemed abnormal about the place he slept that night, and so everywhere else became charged with the possibility that God might be right around the corner. Maybe nowhere was ‘normal’. For the rest of his life, Jacob was probably looking out of the corner of his eye everywhere he went. You’ll have some of your greatest encounters with God in the everyday. But you have to be open and receptive, otherwise you’ll miss Him. Author William Barry says: ‘Whether we’re aware of it or not, at every moment of our existence we’re encountering God…who is trying to catch our attention…to draw us into a reciprocal conscious relationship.’ And you never know where or how. Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was just the gardener when she bumped into Him after the resurrection. Paul writes, ‘Wake up…sleeper’ (Ephesians 5:14 NIV). A miraculous healing can wake you up, or it could be a restored relationship, or even during a rough trial when God shows up. Don’t just look for God in your highs, look for Him in your lows too. Theologian Frederick Buechner said, ‘There is no event so commonplace but that God is present, leaving you room to recognise or not to recognise Him.’

What now?

Have you given up on looking for God in the everyday? Expecting Him to either show up in a blinding flash of light or not at all? Ask God to wake you up, today.