Wrestle

Leading on from questioning why we so easily falter in our faith, I think of Jacob wrestling with God. Up until the last few months my whole Christian walk has been plagued with such bouts, almost feeling physical at times, but now settling into a more manageable, cerebral struggle. That is why this image painted in Jacob's story resonates so powerfully with me.

Through his dream, Jacob had previously received a blessing from God and the assurance that God will always be with him. The result of this dream is that Jacob commits his life to following God. (Genesis 28:10-22). Then, with the perceived trouble of meeting his brother Esau, Jacob reverts back to the ways of the flesh (Genesis 32:1-21) .

He falters in his faith.

He maybe doesn't entirely believe that God will be with him as He had promised.

So Jacob deceitfully and strategically sends out his herds and herdsmen to placate his brother Esau with gifts. Sending them out into two groups, incase they get attacked, in the hope that one group may escape. Jacob even sends his own family before him! He has a great fear and is distressed by this possible attack (Genesis 32:7&8), so what he is doing is using his men and his family as human shields against his aggressor!

The problem with Jacob and Esau's relationship first arose when Jacob deceived his father into blessing him instead of Esau (Genesis 27:1-29). Jacob doesn't now deal with the issue head on as a man. And he's not just any man, he's a man whom God has promised to always be with. No, Jacob again acting in the flesh and not the Spirit, tries to circumvent the problem by reverting back to the deceitful tactics which got him into this trouble in the first place.

How often do we do this in our own lives? How often do we avoid admitting we're wrong and face a problem head on? How often do we find a scapegoat and shift the blame to make ourselves look good and avoid having to deal with problems holistically? It frequently happens in business and politics. It is a subtle sin which mars all our lives from time to time, manifesting itself in quite minor ways, affecting us in major ways.

Then Jacob wrestles with God (Genesis 32:22-32).

But what is going on here?

The NIV entitles this passage "Jacob Wrestles with God," but what is written in the passage is, "a man wrestled with him till daybreak."

Here we understand that God is trying to convict Jacob of his error. Yet Jacob, as we all do, has free will. He is resisting God in this wrestling match and his refusal to submit to God is strong. God will not overpower his free will, but by damaging Jacob's hip, it's as if God has got the last word in. Leaving Jacob scarred is a stark reminder that there are consequences when you go against God!

But why does this passage refer to “a man,” what we understand to be God?

In light of the context of this passage and the passages it is sandwiched between, I think this is surely about Esau as much as it is God. I think the use of the word “man” here means both God as a physical man, and it reflects Jacob's internal battle at this juncture. He wrestles with God about the right way to approach his brother, versus the deceitful way which he has already embarked upon. In this battle, Jacob's biggest concern is that this "man" blesses him and he wants to know the "man's" name. In a strange twist of double meaning, I think this “man” as God, may also represent Esau. This is possibly why when the "man" renames Jacob, Israel (meaning “he struggles with God”), he then reasons “because you have struggled with God and men and have overcome.” And then he blesses him. Jacob has seen God’s face, so he is now looking towards God. Jacob is now doing the right thing by God. He just wants to know the "man’s" name is Esau as a confirmation that by doing the right thing, his brother will accept him. But God won’t tell him, so by faith he continues.

If we fast forward to Genesis 33:3, Jacob seems to have a change of heart. He cannot undo having sent his herdsmen and flocks ahead of him, but by faith, he now decides to stand ahead of his family to meet what may still be (to Jacob's mind) aggression from his brother. In Genesis 33:10, Jacob says that seeing Esau's face, with the new knowledge that Esau holds no hostile feeling towards his brother, is like seeing the face of God. It is with this same description that Jacob concludes this wrestling match in chapter 32. And the beauty of this passage has been that it shows that Jacob lives by the grace of God. He has wrestled with God and men and it looks like he has overcome both these struggles.

But not entirely, it's not that easy.

By God's grace, it was Esau who forgave his brother.

And it is by God's grace, that Jacob lives to hobble away with a limp!

Speaking with older and wiser Christians (both long in the tooth and the faith) I can conclude that we are meant to wrestle with God. In so doing, we reach a point in that struggle where we can accept God's authority over us and His will for our lives.

And when we do,

He blesses us.

Reconnect

I've been reading the book of Exodus recently and have developed a bout of blogger's block. Largely because Exodus is quite obscure and prayer has not really provided the answers. Reflecting on that brings home the reality of the Christian struggle. One minute we're up and on a high, on fire for God. The next our faith seems to be rapidly ebbing away from us. If when we pray, we don't get the answers we want, we somehow loose momentum. But this is a very human error. This is us forgetting to walk in the Spirit and ending up running on our own steam.

Read that again...

Walk in the Spirit.

Run on your own steam.

Just think how much we miss when traveling at speed.

So, I made this error. I'm charged up, on fire in my faith. I read the amazing book of Genesis discovering new truths within it. I start Exodus, getting to chapter 3 thinking my mind is going to implode, awe struck at how amazing God is. Then comes Exodus chapter 4 and God threatens to kill Moses!

What?

Whilst still faithfully praying for understanding before I read the Bible, I have to ask, do I really believe God will help me understand this stuff? I feel like I have raced through Exodus, almost running on my own steam. Though I have prayed I don't think I have been faithful enough. I don't think I have trusted God enough.

Trust God to help me read the Bible?

Who wrote it?

Then I think about Peter trying to walk on water (Matthew 14:25-32). As any good disciple should, he tries to copy his rabbi in all the rabbi does. When Peter begins to sink Jesus says, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" But Peter's not doubting Jesus. Jesus is still stood on the water, pulling Peter out! Peter can see his rabbi is not sinking. He's not doubting his rabbi, he's doubting himself. Peter doesn't think he can really be as good as the Messiah says he can be.

But in Genesis we are not just introduced to God as a concept, we're introduced to a real, living God. We get a deep insight into what kind of God this God is. He interacts with His people and we get to know something of His character. He is a God of justice, a God of the people, all people, down to the lowly slave. A God that says, "Yes you, you are good enough. Trust in me and I will show you that you can do it."

Stretch

The question of belief in God or not is really a question of authority. Take Abram in Genesis chapter 14:

Abram is a shepherd and has a very strong relationship with God. The oppression of the King of Kedorlaomer and his allies against the people of the King of Sodom and his allies, finally erupts in a war. King Kedorlaomer and his allies win. As Abram's nephew Lot was living in Sodom, he and his possessions were carried off with all that the victors had looted. Abram's not happy at the injustice firstly of a member of his family now being pulled into this battle (no doubt for power and possessions) between these kings. And secondly, because of the insult of taking Lot's possessions too. They are shepherds, nomads. All they own is stored in tents and carried from place to place as they find pasture and water for their flocks. Abram pursues them and with only a few hundred men defeats them, recovering all the looted goods.

King Sodom tries to persuade Abram to take all the recovered possessions in exchange for these, A Few Hundred Good Men. Abram will not be bought or coerced into the politics of kings, he's seen the injustice and destruction of the wars brought by power struggles. He sets his heart to God and honourably values the men over the possessions and the worldly wealth those possessions could bring him. What Abram's done here is made a stand, in effect saying I will not enter into your Godless pursuit of power and possessions for it leads to destruction. Neither will I send my men that way. He's looked after his neighbour/s. He will belong to God and not be in the pocket of a king. A very pertinent point in light of our current commitments in various theatres of war and the current economic climate all our capitalist greed has produced.

Of all the kings mentioned in Genesis 14, Abram, a shepherd, is the only man we see with a relationship with God. God, always accepting of the underdog, the not good enoughs. So Abram allows God to lead him. Nothing is really said about the character of any of these kings, they may overall be good people, but they're leading their people on their own. They don't have a relationship with God. They don't recognise God's authority. It's not simply about being a good person, anyone can do that. It's about recognising where and how that "good" is defined. If you don't accept the authority of God, how do you determine what is good? By what means of your own can you determine this? This is why many of the world's dictators have led their country into war, genocide, famines etc. Are they good? We're still doing it today!

A Christian is someone on a journey and striving to search out ultimate truths concerning the human condition. But human we are, perfect we're not and we hardly ever walk this walk in a consistent, gracious, Christ-like fashion. Things that happen around us cause us to act and react in certain ways and we often find ourselves reverting back to the human and forgetting to walk in the Spirit. This is the struggle. Abram's whole life was guided by the Spirit. It is our emotions, our relationships, our connections with other people in the here-and-now which need to be worked out. Do we meet people with the same acceptance, love and grace that Christ commands us to? If as nations, we each REALLY loved our neighbour and cared for them as a human being, worthy of being on this earth, how far would that neighbourhood stretch? Would it reach the children in Africa drawing dirty water from a stagnant pool? This may sound like ideology, but I think it's a reality of the hope we have in Christ

Well, I see...

When I wrote Kick Your Shoes Off, I just felt that I had to get that out there for people to read. I would've liked to have started blogging in chronological order, starting with my thoughts from reading Genesis the week after my baptism. There's loads in Genesis and overall it's a beautiful book. I think we forget that the Bible is actually a really good read! We should encourage people to read it regardless of their thoughts on the Christian faith and hopefully, they will learn something of the character of God which will inspire them to take this journey and learn more.

So a few thoughts on Genesis chapter 16:

Abram's wife Sarai has not yet conceived a child. She says to Abram "the Lord has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. (Genesis 16:2)

Sarai doesn't blame Abram or herself for not being able to have children, she says, "the Lord has kept me from having children." So Sarai (a woman) seems to have a relationship with God. Sarai doesn't say to Abram, "tell that God of yours to give me a child." She seems to know this is God's plan for her at this time. I say (woman) not to state the obvious, but it's because I don't know how we get from Genesis to a patriarchal society, arguing about whether women should be ordained or not. The relationship between man and woman in Genesis and certainly Abram and Sarai seems to be pretty equal. Sarai doesn't ask Abram or plead with him. Sarai commands him, "go sleep with my maidservant..." and Abram agrees. (Another sub-argument could be developed from this re: man's weakness in not tackling a woman, just to have an easy life).

And what about this maidservant Hagar?

With a few exceptions, nearly every character mentioned in the bible story up to this point, is introduced with a list of their genealogy traceable back to Adam and Eve.

One of these exceptions is Hagar, an Egyptian maidservant.

Egyptian.

We're starting to see the emergence of "the other nation."

"He [Abram] slept with Hagar and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress." (Genesis 16:4)

As if life wasn't bad enough in the job of the lowest rank of being a maidservant, Hagar has now been made to give her entire being to this job and have a child for the family she serves. Maybe she resents her mistress so much because her hopes and dreams of having a child of her own with a man of her choice have been crushed.

A battle of wills develops between these two women. Hagar continues to despise Sarai and Sarai responds to ill-treat Hagar. No reconciliation is sought by either and a breaking point is reached. We are to learn that this is no way to deal with a situation.

Hagar runs away.

Genesis 16:7-14

The angel of the Lord speaks to her, a woman.

A woman, with no significant genealogy.

An Egyptian, (of the emerging "other nation").

A servant or slave.

And where is she?

At a well, beside the road to Shur.

Not at an altar.

Not in a temple.

'Then the angel of the Lord told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel of the Lord added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."' (Genesis 16:9 & 10).

The angel of the Lord is saying to her, "Don't run from your problems, do what is right and reconcile your differences. Do this and I will bless you."

Overwhelmed by her encounter with God, Hagar says, "I have now seen the One who sees me." And the well became known as Beer Lahai Roi (the well of the Living One who sees me).

Does this all sound familiar?

John 4:7-30

Jesus (the angel of the Lord) speaks to a woman.

A Samaritan woman. The people of Samaria despised by the Jews.

And she's at a well.

She's had five husbands and is now with a man who is not her husband.

We don't know why she's had five husbands, but has she been running from her problems?

Does she need to deal with some core issue/s to stop this cycle in her life?

This cycle continues because she's not dealing with the cause correctly.

(John 4:13 & 14)

Jesus uses the analogy of drinking, becoming thirsty and having to draw water from the well again. The living water or teachings of Jesus will allow us to break such negative cycles in our lives. Once we accept Jesus' teachings, they become like a spring IN him (sorry, I'm sure Jesus also meant her as well, He was after all speaking to a her and not a him) constantly refreshing how we deal with stuff in our lives. Welling up to eternal life - that's for another entry...

Kick Your Shoes Off

My friend and I are reading the book of Exodus chapter by chapter for our weekly Bible study/prayer meeting. We're not following a Bible study guide, just praying before we read the Bible and asking God to help us understand whatever we read. Praise be to God for the revelation of this message to me through my quiet time. It has been the inspiration for both starting this blog and for the name of this blogspot address. I pray that God speaks to you as you read this, but if not, I hope you enjoy it anyway.

So I get to Exodus 3:5 and it's amazing!

Moses was tending to his father-in-law's sheep.

He wasn't at an altar.

He wasn't in a temple.

He was out in the land and the Spirit of God appeared to him in a burning bush.

When God saw Moses had gone over to look at the burning bush, He said:

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." (Exodus 3:5)

In this verse God is pointing to the fact that He is the creator of everything, down to the very ground on which we walk. And God doesn't simply say, "By the way Moses, this ground you're stood on, well it's holy you know?" God doesn't just want Moses to simply KNOW this. God commands Moses to take off his sandals, because God wants him to FEEL that the ground is holy. God wants Moses to remove the barrier of his sandals and REALLY FEEL, through his entire being, from his feet up, that the ground is holy! So, we take the message from this passage that we must do the same and remove any barriers we have in our life which prevent us really feeling that everything, down to the ground we walk on, is from God.