St Mary's

Today Talk from Steve

19th July 2026

When God Turns Up in Unexpected Places

I wonder if you've ever had one of those moments where you've looked back on something and thought, "God was there all along. I just didn't realise it."

Sometimes it's after a difficult time. Sometimes it's after a conversation. Sometimes it's years later.

Jacob certainly didn't expect God to turn up!

He wasn't on a spiritual retreat. He wasn't leading worship. He wasn't even particularly deserving.

In fact, Jacob is on the run!

He's made a mess of things. He's deceived his father, cheated his brother, and now he's sleeping rough with a stone for a pillow.

It's hardly the picture of someone who's got life sorted.

And yet...

God meets him there.

Not in the temple. Not in a church. Not even after Jacob had got his act together.

But on the roadside.

That gives us enormous hope.

Because if you are like me, many of us carry this quiet assumption that God is most present when life is sorted, tidy… we have all our spiritual ducks in a row!

When:

· We've prayed enough.

· Read the bible enough.

· Been kind enough.

· Served enough.

But Genesis tells a different story.

God comes looking for Jacob before Jacob comes looking for God.

Grace always gets there first.

Then Jacob wakes up from his dream and says something extraordinary.

"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it."

I've often wondered...

How many Bethels do we walk past?

How many ordinary Mondays... ordinary kitchens... ordinary workplaces... ordinary conversations...

where God is already at work and we're too distracted to notice?

Our culture trains us to think that significance happens somewhere else.

· The next holiday.

· The next promotion.

· The next gadget.

· The next house.

We're constantly encouraged to believe that satisfaction is just one purchase away.

But Scripture keeps saying the opposite.

The holy often hides inside the ordinary.

God doesn't just inhabit cathedrals.

He inhabits kitchens.

Hospital wards.

School gates.

Offices.

Building sites.

Coffee shops.

Family meals.

I think sometimes the places we rush through can often be the places where heaven quietly touches earth.

Then we come to Jesus' parable in the book of Matthew.

It's another ordinary picture.

A farmer.

A field.

Wheat.

Weeds.

And the servants immediately ask the question we'd all ask.

"Shall we pull the weeds up?"

"Let's fix it."

"We can sort this out."

Don't we love fixing things?

Or at least trying to.

My weekends are not complete unless I have had time in my garage, fixing something, I’m a techie and engineer, my instinct is to fix stuff.

Social media has become one enormous weed-pulling exercise.

Someone says something.

Everyone piles in.

Everyone knows who's right.

Everyone knows who's wrong.

Everyone becomes judge and jury within about twelve minutes.

Yet Jesus says...

Let’s Wait.

Let’s Wait.

Not because evil doesn't matter.

It absolutely does matters.

But because we're not very good at telling wheat from weeds.

And if we're honest...

Sometimes the weeds aren't just "out there."

They're in here too.

Pride.

Self-interest.

Bitterness.

Comfort.

That changes the story, doesn't it?

Suddenly this isn't about identifying bad people.

It's about recognising that every one of us needs God's mercy.

One of the things I find most encouraging is God's patience.

I don't know about you, but I'm grateful God didn't give up on me when I was a troublesome teen or an angry young man, or even today when I get grumpy.

Karen my wife told me the story not long after we got together, that when she was 18, she was stood in a church Harvest Festival Service and standing behind a boy she really fancied.

However, she had just heard that he had decided to date someone else, and Karen was gutted. And as she was feel very sorry for herself, she opened the hymn book and there on the page were the words, “The lord has kept the best in store for you”

And let me tell you, God knew what he was doing because, at that time I was just 14 years old and I needed storing for a few more years.

All to become the amazing husband that I am.

Moving on quickly.

You see this is all about Gods timing and His plans, not ours.

His patience gives all of us time to grow.

Peter says,

"The Lord is patient... not wanting anyone to perish."

God's patience isn't weakness.

It's love.

But there is another side to this parable.

Jesus says there will be a harvest.

History is going somewhere.

Justice will come.

That matters enormously in a world that often feels unfair.

· Wars.

· Poverty.

· Abuse.

· Corruption.

The headlines can leave us wondering if evil is winning.

Jesus says it isn't.

God hasn't lost control.

He simply hasn't finished yet.

That gives us hope without making us naïve.

But I'd like to finish with a question.

Actually... a challenge.

Because if God is present in the ordinary places...

and if His Kingdom is already growing...

what does that mean for us?

It's very easy to settle for a comfortable Christianity.

One hour on a Sunday.

A few familiar songs.

A nice cup of tea afterwards.

Then life carries on much as before.

There's nothing wrong with comfort.

But comfort can quietly become our greatest idol.

Jesus never called people to comfort.

He called us to follow.

Sometimes that means crossing the room to speak to someone who's sitting alone.

Sometimes it means forgiving when we'd rather hold onto the hurt.

Sometimes it means opening our homes, our wallets, our diaries.

Opening our lives.

Because if any place can become a Bethel, The house of God, then every place also becomes somewhere God might send us.

The office.

The supermarket.

The school playground.

The care home.

The street where we live.

Perhaps the greatest mission field most of us have is the place we'll be tomorrow morning.

When Jacob woke up he realised God had been there.

The question for us is this:

· Will people realise God has been present because we've been there?

· Will our neighbours experience something of God's kindness?

· Will our workplaces be a little more hopeful?

· Will our families know a little more grace?

· Will someone who's struggling discover they are not alone because we chose to notice them?

The Kingdom rarely arrives with fireworks.

More often it arrives through ordinary people who know they walk with an extraordinary God.

So, this week, perhaps our aim is simply this:

"Lord, open my eyes.

Help me notice where You are already at work.

Give me the courage not simply to admire Your Kingdom...

but to join in with what You're doing."

Because the God who met Jacob on the roadside is still meeting people today.

The question is...

Will we recognise Him?

Amen.

Closing Prayer

Loving Father,

Thank you that you are not just the God of the mountaintop, but the God of the roadside.

Thank you that, like Jacob, we often discover that you have been with us all along, even when we haven't recognised your presence.

Open our eyes this week to see you at work in the ordinary places of our lives, in our homes, our workplaces, our neighbourhoods, and in the people, we meet each day.

Lord, forgive us when we've settled for a faith that is safe and comfortable. Forgive us when we've been so busy pursuing our own plans that we've missed what you were doing around us.

Give us hearts that are patient like yours. Help us not to rush to judge others, but to show the grace that you have first shown to us.

And give us courage. Courage to step out of our comfort zones. Courage to notice the lonely, to speak words of hope, to act with generosity, to forgive freely, and to be willing to follow wherever you lead.

May the places we go this week become places where your love is seen because your people have been there.

And when others meet us, may they catch a glimpse of Jesus.

As we leave this place today, remind us that we do not leave your presence, but we carry your presence with us.

So, send us out to love and serve you with joy, confident that the God who met Jacob at Bethel walks beside us still.

In the name of Jesus our Lord.

Amen.