Monday, January 9, 2012

WRESTLING WITH GOD

"The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because
of his hip." - Genesis 32:31

Jacob was a man who was a controller. He connived and manipulated his
way to get what he wanted. It was a generational stronghold passed down
through his mother, who encouraged her son to play a trick on his
father, Isaac, by pretending to be Esau. This trick led Isaac to give
the family blessing to Jacob, which meant Jacob would eventually inherit
the land God had promised to Abraham's seed. Jacob also learned control
from his uncle Laban who caused Jacob to work for 14 years to take
Rachel as his lifelong mate. One must ask which was more ugly in God's
sight, the self-centered nature and worldliness of Esau, or the control
and manipulation of Jacob?
Control is a problem for men and women. Many women use sex to control
their husbands. Many men use power and force to control their wives.
Control is at the core of that which is opposite the cross-self-rule.
What delivers us from this fleshly nature of control? A crisis. Jacob's
crisis came when he was faced with the prospect of meeting a brother who
said he would kill him the next time he saw him. Esau had built his own
clan and was about to meet Jacob and his clan in the middle of the
desert. Jacob was fearful, so he retreated. There he met a messenger
from God who wrestled with him. Jacob clung to God and refused to let go
of this angel. It is the place where Jacob was given a painful but
necessary spiritual heart transplant. From that point on, Jacob would
walk with a limp, because God had to dislocate his hip in order to
overcome Jacob's strong will.
For workplace believers, God often has to "dislocate our hip" through
failure and disappointment. Sometimes it is the only way He can get our
attention. Our nature to control and manipulate is so strong that it
takes a catastrophic event to wake us up. Yet God did not reject Jacob
for these character traits. In fact, God blessed him greatly because He
saw something in Jacob that pleased Him. He saw a humble and contrite
heart beneath the cold and manipulative exterior of Jacob's life, and it
was that trait that God needed to develop. He did this by bringing about
the crisis in Jacob's life that led to total consecration. This event
was marked by Jacob getting a new name, Israel. For the first time,
Jacob had a nature change, not just a habit change. What will God have
to do in our lives to gain our complete consecration to His will and
purposes?
"Beware of the Christian leader who does not walk with a limp."
Bob Mumford (Used by permission.)

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