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雅各离家出走了，因为他偷了哥哥的遗产，现在哥哥以扫要杀他。（参创 27）为了保住自己的性命，雅各逃离了本该是他家的地方。

有时，我们的恶行会破坏我们的家庭。我们背叛婚姻。我们用嫉妒破坏家庭关系。我们用愤怒的言语与邻居作对。我们发现自己在本该属于自己的地方再也找不到家的感觉。

然而，即使我们在逃避，上帝也会在意想不到的地方以祂的应许与我们相遇。雅各并没有在寻找上帝，他在“某个地方”停留过夜并没有什么特别之处。但在梦中，雅各的眼睛被打开，看到没有一个地方是在上帝的同在之外的。（参诗 139:7）他听到了上帝的保证，即使雅各做错了事，上帝也会信守对雅各家族的应许，带他回家。

雅各的经历预示了上帝通过耶稣的工作使罪人复原的方式。即使我们仍在逃离上帝，上帝也会与我们相遇，向我们保证祂会看顾我们，把我们带回祂的身边。我们会发现，与上帝同在就是所有离家之人的避难所。

Jacob was running away from home. He had stolen his older brother's inheritance , (see Genesis 27)and now his brother, Esau, wanted to kill him. So, to save his own life, Jacob was fleeing the place that should have been home.

Sometimes we shatter our experience of home with our sinful actions. We betray our marriages. We ruin family relationships with our jealousy. We antagonize neighbors with our angry words. We find that we can no longer feel at home in the place we ought to belong.

Yet even when we are running away, God can meet us in unexpected places with his promises. Jacob was not looking for God; there was nothing special about the "certain place" where he stopped for the night. But in his dream, Jacob's eyes were opened to see that no place is outside of God's presence .(Psalm 139:7) And he heard God's assurance that even though Jacob had done wrong, God would keep his promise to Jacob's family and bring him back home.

Jacob's experience anticipates the way God restores sinners through the work of Jesus. Even as we are still running, God meets us with the assurance that he will watch over us and bring us back to himself. And we discover that being in God's presence is a refuge for all who feel away from home.