Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:10-12

One afternoon during my graduate school days, I was walking to class and witnessed a terrible, multi-car accident. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Although the incident occurred decades ago, I can still smell the pungent odor of seared tires, see the shards of broken glass scattered in every direction across the black concrete at the busy intersection, and hear the horrified gasps of the passerby. However, my most vivid memory of that day is of a rusty red pickup truck that zig zagged through the traffic en route to the scene. Painted on each side of the truck was a sign that read “Joe’s Towing Service: We Meet By Accident.” I have never forgotten that sign. I thought the tagline “we meet by accident” was both clever and true. We usually only encounter tow trucks during accidents. Until then, most of us have no interest in them or use for them.

The same can be said for God. Most of have no interest in God or use for God until trouble comes. If we are honest, most of encounter God during the accidents of our lives. That is not to say that we have never been formally introduced to him. We may have grown up a Christian home, attend church consistently, listen to gospel music regularly, and even read the Bible occasionally. But life-changing encounters with God rarely occur unless we find ourselves in life threatening situations, where who or what we value is in jeopardy and we cry out for divine aid. In those critical moments, we discover that God is real.

Like us, most of the heroes of scripture met God in moments of loss, failure, or disappointment. Jacob was no different. Although he had been introduced to God at an early age (both his father and grandfather were great men of faith), it wasn’t until Jacob made a terrible mistake that he truly encountered the power, presence, and protection of God.

Jacob conspired with his mother to deceive his father and swindle his brother Esau out of the family birthright, a treasured possession in ancient Israel designated for the first-born son.. This action enraged Esau, who then hatched a plot to murder Jacob in response.. Jacob learns of the plot and flees. While en-route to stay with some relatives he has never met, he arrives at a desolate, barren place in the middle of nowhere. Jacob gathers some rocks for pillows, falls asleep, and has a dream of a ladder stretching from the ground up into heaven.

Jacob is at the lowest point we have ever seen him.

Jacob is alone.

And Jacob has lost everything.

And it is precisely at that point that he has a vision of a ladder.

The ladder symbolizes the reassuring truth that heaven and earth are connected, even when it seems like they are not. God knows exactly where we are, and cares about what we are going though. Jacob would say after he arose from the dream that ”Surely the Lord was in this place and I knew it not.” God is always most present when we it seems that he is most absent.

During his dream, (In the majestic music of the King James version) Jacob sees angels “ascending and descending” on the ladder. Carefully note their direction: they are going up first, and then going down. In Jacob’s vision of the ladder, the angels are not only coming down from heaven—they are going up from earth!

The direction of the angels on the ladder is a powerful reminder that God has some angels on the ground with us! One writer said that the angels “ascend to give account of what they have done, and to receive orders and then descend, to execute the orders they have received.” Not only are heaven and earth connected, but we have angels on the ground with us—heavenly beings whose sole purpose is to provide divine assistance to help us navigate whatever crises we are going through.

During our lowest points., God has some angels on the ground.

During our lonely moments, God has some angels on the ground.

During our seasons of loss, God has some angels on the ground..

All we have to do is look for the ladder.