When I was a kid, one of my favorite things about math wasn’t just getting the answer—it was proving it, although math wasn’t my favorite subject. I loved using the criss-cross pattern or the grid box to double-check my multiplication. There was something so reassuring about seeing all the pieces line up and confirming that my answer was right.
Looking back, I think that little joy points to something much bigger.
In Genesis 28:16, Jacob wakes up from his dream of the ladder reaching to heaven and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
God had been there all along—Jacob just hadn’t realized it.
The more I walk with God, the more I realize how true that is for us. God is present, working, loving, guiding—and we often don’t notice. But when we finally do see it, when we “wake up” to His presence, it feels a lot like proving multiplication.
And here’s the part that hit me: Just like proving multiplication doesn’t change the answer, recognizing God’s presence doesn’t make Him any more real—it just helps us rest in the reality that He was already there.
The same is true for our faith. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.“
Testing ourselves confirms the work God has already done in our hearts. When we see the evidence of His love in us—the desire to obey Him, the longing to spend time with Him, the grief over sin, the pull toward holiness—it reassures us that our faith is genuine.
It’s a lot like proving multiplication: it gives us confidence that what we believed all along is right, because the proof doesn’t create the truth—it just lets you rest in it.
The Deeper Mystery of Spiritual Blindness
But there’s another side to what happened to Jacob that we learn as we grow in the Lord. Genesis 28:16 reveals far more about our lives than we imagine. It exposes a profound mystery about our relationship with a sovereign God—one we rarely comprehend.
Jacob’s reaction reflected humanity’s natural state: spiritual unawareness. We walk through life unaware of God’s nearness, His purposes, and even our own spiritual condition. In our default state, we are spiritually blind.
Revelation is a gift, not a human discovery. Jacob’s awareness came when God revealed Himself through the dream. Unless God opens our eyes, we remain spiritually asleep, blind to both Him and to ourselves.
When God opens our eyes to notice Him—whether in worship, in prayer, in a quiet moment, or even in the middle of pain—that is pure grace.
The More Uncomfortable Revelation
But there’s another kind of revelation that is just as necessary—and perhaps even more merciful. It’s when God shows us the uncomfortable truth about ourselves and our relationship with Him.
What we think is love for God is quite often lukewarmness, habit, or self-interest. We have distracted and distant hearts. Our obedience to God’s truth is selective. Yet all the while, with our lips we tell God that we love Him—and we believe every word of it.
And here’s the hard part: Left to ourselves, we would never know it.
We would go on thinking we are fine, that our relationship with Him is fine, content with a false sense of closeness to God—unless He Himself opened our eyes the same way He suddenly awakened Jacob to realize that God was always near.
This too is a gift.
When God shows us the truth and all we can see is that our heart is not where we thought it was—and we did not know it—that moment can feel crushing. But it’s actually grace. When God reveals that our love for Him is shallow, He is not condemning us—He is inviting us to real, living, transforming love.
The Response of the Awakened
Our awakening often brings humility and surprise. Jacob’s first words are almost a gasp—”Surely the Lord is in this place!” It’s the same reaction many have when they finally understand God’s dealings in their lives: “Oh… so that’s what You were doing!” Or, “Oh…that’s what you meant!”
This recognition produces reverence and surrender. Once awakened, Jacob responds with fear, worship, and a vow (Genesis 28:17-22). Realizing that God has been present and active all along changes how we live going forward.
The mindset becomes not just “God is everywhere,” but “I am naturally blind—I cannot see reality as it truly is until God reveals it. And when He does, I am left humbled, awed, and changed.”
This is the deeper truth: both our awareness of God’s presence and our recognition of our own spiritual poverty depend entirely on His gracious revelation. We prove nothing on our own—we simply rest in what He chooses to show us.
