Scripture: Genesis 31:2-3
And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as favorably as he did before. Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
Thought for the Day: Has God ever surprised you with a gentle nudge to go back to that place where you didn’t figure you’d ever return? So much has happened since Jacob left home, and as a reader, I feel as if that’s old history. Initially, it almost felt as if returning would highlight failure. Yet God called him to go back home. Of course, Jacob was returning a different person. Something had changed within him and made him ready to return and share in the next chapter of the divine narrative. He had become something other than he had previously been, and it was his presence that would create the potential for change. When God calls us back, what we quite often discover is that it is not a step backwards. We have changed, and so our invitation to return is an invitation to be an agent of change in an old and familiar setting.
Prayer: O God, may I trust your gentle nudge that has on occasion left me scratching my head and wondering what you had in mind. Amen.
