在孤单的旅途中飘流
雅各在孤单的旅途中飘流时，作了这梦。神对我们有一个目的－给我们长子名分。因着我们天然的人没有资格得这名分，神必须变化我们。祂不是仅仅藉着创造的手，乃是藉着只有经过一生的遭遇才能完成的漫长过程，来变化我们。在古时，从别是巴旅行到拉班所住之地，是一件大事。对雅各来说，离开母亲、父亲、和他从小长大的环境，走上这样漫长的旅途，不是一件小事。雅各成了一个孤单的流浪者，在旅途中必定受了许多苦。
你若以正确的领会回顾你的已往，会发现你的经历和雅各完全一样。原则上，我们许多人得救，是在受苦并孤单的时候。我们都有过这样的梦。我们属灵生命第一次的梦是我们的得救。我们许多人都能作见证，那时我们的处境一点也不偷快。有的正在受苦，有的孤单寂寞，还有的在不愉快的环境中。我们被迫受苦、飘流，成了孤单的人。当我们失去了地上的一切，受苦且孤单时，第一次属天的梦就临到了我们。
无家可归枕石而睡
雅各在旷野没有住宿的地方，睡的时候需要一样东西枕头，他就拾起一块石头作枕头。这是甚么意思？这意思是人所有的作为都除去了。没有家，没有住处，没有任何人造的东西。在那里每样东西都是神的工作。雅各在家的时候，情形完全两样，那里每样东西都是人造的。但在旷野的那一夜，没有一样东西是人造的。在那个环境里，每样东西都是神造的。雅各住在家里时，他可以住在人造的居所里，安枕于人造的枕头上。然而在旷野，他必须安枕于神造的石头上。你若是雅各，你会用泥土或石头当枕头么？然而这是人造的东西。而雅各用来作枕头的，却是神所创造、所豫备的。
今天原则是一样的。大多数属天的异象是在你受苦或被苦待时临到的。在我们喜乐的时候，异象不常来；在我们受苦的时候，异象就来了。当我们受弟兄们、姊妹们、或长老们为难时，梦就来了。当我们许多人造的东西被剥夺，并且被带到一个地方，只有神造的东西，也就是说，当我们与属人的东西断绝，而信靠属神的东西，那时异象就来了。
信息重点：雅各不是在安逸的时候作梦，而是在孤单、漂流的时候遇见神。神常藉着环境变化我们，使我们脱离天然的人，进入祂永远的旨意。
应用祷告：主啊，谢谢你使用环境制作我。求你开启我的眼睛，使我在受苦中不只看见难处，更看见你的心意与带领。
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Receiving a Heavenly Vision in Suffering — Gen. 28:10-11
Jacob had this dream while drifting alone on his solitary journey. God has a purpose for us — to give us the birthright of the firstborn son. Because our natural man is not qualified to receive this birthright, God must transform us. He does not transform us merely through the hand of creation, but through the long process that can only be completed by the encounters of a lifetime. In ancient times, traveling from Beersheba to the place where Laban dwelt was not a small undertaking. For Jacob, leaving his mother, his father, and the environment in which he had grown up, to embark on such a lengthy journey was a serious matter. Jacob became a solitary wanderer, and he must have suffered greatly along the way.
If you look back on your past with the right perception, you will find that your experience is exactly the same as Jacob’s. As a principle, many of us were saved in times of suffering and loneliness. We have all had such a dream. The first dream of our spiritual life was our salvation. Many of us can testify that our circumstances at that time were far from pleasant — some were suffering, some were lonely and desolate, and others were in unpleasant surroundings. We were compelled to suffer and drift, becoming solitary people. When we had lost everything on earth and were suffering and alone, the first heavenly dream came to us.
Homeless, Sleeping on a Stone
In the wilderness Jacob had no place to lodge, and when he needed something to rest his head on, he picked up a stone for a pillow. What does this mean? It means that everything of human doing was stripped away. No home, no dwelling, nothing man-made — everything was God’s work. When Jacob was at home, things were entirely different — everything was man-made. But on that night in the wilderness, not one thing was man-made. In that environment, everything was God-made. When Jacob lived at home, he could dwell in a man-made dwelling and rest his head on a man-made pillow. But in the wilderness he had to rest on a stone that God had created. If you were Jacob, would you use clay or stone as a pillow? Yet Jacob’s pillow was something created and prepared by God.
The principle is the same today. Most heavenly visions come to you when you are suffering or being ill-treated. When we are joyful, visions rarely come; when we are suffering, visions come. When brothers and sisters, or elders, make things difficult for us, the dream comes. When many man-made things are stripped away from us and we are brought to a place where only God-made things remain — that is to say, when we are cut off from things that belong to man and come to rely on things that belong to God — visions come.
Message Focus: Jacob did not dream in a time of ease, but encountered God in loneliness and drifting. God often uses circumstances to transform us, delivering us from the natural man and bringing us into His eternal purpose.