Celebrate! May 20, 2025 Devotional

GENESIS 35:9-14 | ⁹ God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he was called Israel. ¹¹ God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a  nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you. ¹² The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” ¹³ Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.

God had Jacob set up a second marker, a stone, in this passage. This time, he is marking not a moment of striving and certainty, but a future blessing. He has become someone who is seeking the things of God, like reconciliation with his brother. He is now able to receive God’s destiny—not as a personal achievement, but as a gracious divine gift. He has faced his own brokenness and discovered new truth in a forgiving God who meets us in our need and struggle, bringing healing and new purpose.

Milestone moments allow us to look back with honesty and gratitude and forward toward the things God wants to do with us and for us. Jacob is renamed Israel and repurposed as a founding figure in the story of a nation. He is told to mark that future with a stone, to show his trust in the God who is calling him.

Have you ever marked a moment where you were called toward a new future?

Gracious God,

Help us to see our past clearly, to understand how You are shaping us. Help us to trust in the future You’ve planned for us.

Amen.