Rock Bottom, Open Heaven | Pastor Marcus St.Julien

Devotional

Day 1: Carrying Bags You Weren’t Meant to Hold

Life’s burdens often feel like overloaded grocery bags—ripping at the seams, staining our hands, leaving us stuck at the door. We pride ourselves on carrying more than others, mistaking endurance for strength. But God never asked us to prove our capacity. He designed us to release the weight, to walk through the door unhindered. The struggle isn’t about how much we can bear, but whether we’ll trust the One who holds the keys to freedom. True strength begins when we stop salsa-dancing with our baggage. [00:19]

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30, ESV)

Reflection: What “bags” have you been clutching tightly, afraid to put down? How might your pride in carrying them keep you from stepping into the rest God offers?

Day 2: A Rock Pillow and an Open Heaven

Jacob’s rock wasn’t a symbol of comfort but of consequence—a liar fleeing his choices, sleeping in the dirt. Yet heaven opened not in his success but in his ruin. God’s presence isn’t earned through perfection but revealed in surrender. The ground beneath our worst decisions becomes holy when we stop running. Even in desolation, Jehovah Shammah is there, rewriting our stories with dust. [11:05]

“Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.” (Genesis 28:10-12, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you labeled your current season “desolate” instead of seeing it as a place God is redeeming? What would it look like to stop running and let Him meet you there?

Day 3: Traffic in Both Directions

Angels ascending and descending aren’t just a dream—they’re a declaration. Heaven isn’t static; it’s active, moving toward us even when we’re stuck. Our failures can’t disrupt God’s relentless pursuit. He doesn’t wait for us to climb up but sends grace down. The ladder isn’t a reward for good behavior—it’s proof that God’s presence outpaces our mistakes. [14:50]

“And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’” (John 1:51, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you trying to “climb” to earn God’s attention instead of receiving His nearness? How might His active grace change how you approach your current struggle?

Day 4: Memorials Over Graves

Jacob didn’t just wake up—he marked the moment. The stone he slept on became a pillar of remembrance. We often build shrines to our pain but forget to anoint altars to God’s faithfulness. Every scar, every late-night prayer, every undeserved mercy is oil waiting to be poured. What we memorialize shapes our future. [32:32]

“So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel.” (Genesis 28:18-19, ESV)

Reflection: What painful memory have you turned into a grave? How could you reclaim it as a monument to God’s faithfulness instead?

Day 5: The Cross—Your Skeleton Key

Jacob’s ladder points to a greater truth: Jesus is the ultimate stairway. The cross bridges our chaos to heaven’s throne. No sin is too heavy, no lie too dark—He carried it all. The stone that sealed His tomb rolled away, proving no door stays shut. Jehovah Shammah isn’t just “here”—He’s here for you. [39:41]

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6, ESV)

Reflection: What door have you labeled “locked” that Jesus’ resurrection power could open? How does His finished work free you from trying to earn what He’s already given?

Sermon Summary

Jehovah Shammah means the Lord is here. The name does not hand people a power they can use while staying attached to dirty living. God’s names are keys, but a key is meant to get somebody through the door, not make them proud of how much they can carry outside it.

Jacob comes into Genesis 28 as a liar on the run, not a victim looking for sympathy. Jacob stole Esau’s birthright, ran from the consequences, and found himself with no tent, no family, no servants, no plan, and a rock for a pillow. The rock-bottom picture exposes the kind of pride that turns carrying pain into an identity. The consequence of sin can feel like spiritual warfare, but much of the pain people call an attack is the reaping of seeds they planted.

God opens heaven over Jacob at the worst moment of his life. The stairway shows angels going up and coming down, because heaven is not merely where God watches from. God comes down. Jacob cannot disrupt the movement of heaven by failing hard enough, running far enough, or making a bigger mess than before. God finds Jacob in the dust and tells him that the ground beneath him belongs to the promise.

The dust becomes part of the promise. God takes the cheapest thing in Jacob’s environment and says his descendants will be as numerous as dust. God has done more with less, and God can do something with dirt, surrender, sacrifice, and a broken-down yes. The promise does not depend on Jacob cleaning himself up first. God says, “I am with you,” without beginning with Jacob’s stealing, lying, or running.

Jacob wakes up and realizes, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it.” The presence of God was not new. Jacob’s awareness was. The place he called nowhere becomes Bethel, the house of God and the gateway to heaven. The stone that held Jacob’s head becomes a memorial pillar, because pain should not be remembered more carefully than mercy.

Jehovah Shammah calls people to come home before they clean up, look again at rooms they have called empty, and mark the moments where God kept them. Jesus becomes the greater answer to Jacob’s ladder. Jacob had a staircase, but Christ gives a Savior. Jacob had a stone pillow, but Christ leaves behind a rolled-away stone. The cross carries every sin into grace, and the risen Christ calls runners to stop playing church, surrender, and live in the promise.

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Key Takeaways

1. Come before you clean up [35:17] God’s first word to Jacob was not an inventory of his failures but a declaration of presence. Shame keeps demanding proof of improvement before approaching God, while grace calls broken people to come as they are. Surrender is not the reward for getting clean. Surrender is where real cleansing begins. [35:17]
2. Consequences do not cancel God’s presence [14:14] Jacob’s hard road did not mean God had abandoned him. Sin carries consequences, and calling every painful season warfare can become a way to avoid repentance. God can meet a person in the very place that their own decisions created, without pretending those decisions were harmless. [14:14]
3. The Lord is already in the room [29:07] God did not arrive when Jacob woke up. Jacob simply became aware that God had been there while he ran, lied, slept, and feared. Spiritual numbness cannot remove God’s presence, but it can keep a heart from recognizing the house of God in what looked like nowhere. [29:07]
4. Mark mercy, not only trauma [37:38] Jacob turned his pillow stone into a pillar because memory needs a holy marker. Trauma often gets dates, details, and permanent space in the mind, while God’s rescue gets forgotten by next week. A remembered act of mercy can strengthen faith when the next hard season tries to rewrite the story. [37:38]
5. Jesus is the greater open heaven [39:26] Christ fulfills what Jacob’s stairway pointed toward. The cross brings heaven’s mercy down into human sin, and the empty tomb announces that no grave gets the final word. The name of Jesus is the skeleton key for the runner, the liar, the ashamed, and the surrendered heart.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:19] - The One Trip Crew
[02:18] - Carrying What Was Never Yours
[03:43] - The Keyring of God’s Names
[05:21] - Jehovah Shammah: The Lord Is Here
[06:35] - Jacob the Liar on the Run
[10:39] - A Rock Pillow and Real Consequences
[14:50] - Heaven Opens at Rock Bottom
[17:05] - The Promise Beneath Your Feet
[23:07] - “I Am With You”
[28:09] - Surely the Lord Is in This Place
[32:32] - Turn the Stone Into a Memorial
[35:17] - Come Home Before You Clean Up
[39:26] - Jacob’s Ladder and Jesus’ Cross
[41:12] - A Call to Stop Running

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Genesis 28:10-19

10. Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
11. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. [10:39]

12. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! [14:50]

13. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.
14. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” [17:05]

16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
17. And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” [28:09]

18. So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. [32:32]

19. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Ezekiel 48:35

“And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The LORD Is There.” [05:33]

John 1:51

And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” [39:26]

Observation questions

What details in Genesis 28:10-11 show how alone and vulnerable Jacob was when he stopped for the night? [10:39]
In Jacob’s dream, what is happening on the stairway between earth and heaven, and where is the LORD positioned?
What specific promises does God make to Jacob in verses 13-15, even though Jacob is running from the consequences of his deception? [23:19]
What does Jacob do with the stone the next morning, and what new name does he give the place? [32:32]

Interpretation questions

Jacob’s difficult circumstances came after sinful choices, yet God still met him there. How does this passage hold together personal responsibility for sin and God’s mercy toward sinners? [14:14]
God tells Jacob, “I am with you,” before Jacob has repaired the damage he caused. What does that reveal about the difference between coming to God in surrender and trying to earn the right to come to God? [35:52]
Jacob says that the Lord was already in the place, but he did not know it. What might keep a person from recognizing God’s presence in a painful, ordinary, or unwanted season? [29:54]
John 1:51 points Jacob’s ladder forward to Jesus, the Son of Man. In what way does Jesus become the greater connection between heaven’s mercy and human brokenness? [39:29]

Application questions

Is there an area of life where it is easier to call yourself a victim than to honestly admit, “I had a hand in getting here”? What would honest repentance and a next right step look like? [10:09]
What are you waiting to fix before coming honestly to God—an addiction, a relationship, a financial mess, a repeated temptation, or something else? What would it look like to come before you clean up? [36:00]
Is there a place, relationship, responsibility, or season that you have labeled as empty, hopeless, or “nowhere”? How could you ask God this week whether He is present and at work there? [36:38]
What burden have you become proud of carrying alone? What would it mean to put it down before God and let trusted believers help you carry it wisely? [02:56]
Think of a hard consequence you are facing or have faced. How can you take responsibility without believing that your failure has canceled God’s presence or His ability to restore? [25:04]
What specific act of mercy from God do you need to remember more clearly than your pain? What simple “pillar” could you make this week—a journal entry, calendar reminder, conversation, prayer note, or meaningful object—to mark it? [37:38]

Sermon Clips

42s

#ComeAsYouAre

“God never brought up the stealing. God never brought up the lying. His first words out of his mouth was, I am with you. The question is, what are you waiting to fix before you talk to God again? What are you waiting for? Are you waiting to not be tempted again? Are you waiting to complete a certain amount of years to get a chip? Are you waiting for your spouse to no longer look at you with those eyes that you know the moment you broke her heart, you've never seen the glimmer again. What are you waiting for? Because God requires none of it. He just wants you.”

40s

#ChooseSurrender

“He lay down nowhere, but he woke up in a house. He laid down in the middle of dust. But when he woke up, there was a door there. He laid down in despair and grief and lying. But when he woke up, he woke up to a promise. He laid down in self hatred and self loathing. But when he woke up, he found the father. He laid down thinking that his life was over and death would surely be his. But when he woke up, he woke up to a opportunity to surrender. And the question is, when you wake up, what will you choose?”

26s

#GodIsAlwaysThere

“But when he woke up, he found out that God didn't arrive at midnight. God was there while he was resting. God was there while he was running. God was in the tent while he was lying. God was there when he made the lentils. God was there when he came up with the idea with his mother. God was there. Why? Because you can't force God to not be present because it's not in his nature.”

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Rock Bottom, Open Heaven | Pastor Marcus St.Julien | MOTIV8 Church