Genesis 28: The Reality of God

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.  
And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;  
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.  
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.  
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.  
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. - Gen. 28:12-17 KJV

Can you imagine that?  Jacob encounters the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac who makes wonderful promises to him and it scares the daylights out of him.  'How dreadful is this place!' he exclaimed.  'This is none other but the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.'

God is that awesome.  Meeting him face to face changes us, it makes us aware of how totally unprepared we are to face him and his majesty.

Shortly before my mother died in December, I visited with her in one of her more lucid moments.  "I've been so foolish.' she kept repeating, 'so foolish." I believe in her final days here on earth she had already begun the transition to heaven and saw things we cannot see. I think her reaction is what our own reaction will be to seeing God:  fear and inadequacy.  Not having seen God, it is easy for us to pray and sing, asking him to come down.  We tend to think of God as being our size, hence someone we can order around, but he is not.  He is something much greater, much more awesome, much more majestic than anything we can conceive.  Our paltry ideas of what he is like pale in comparison to the reality of God.