Praying for a friend this morning; thinking back through life. This story came to mind and I wanted to post it again in her honor.
(originally posted 24May06)One summer long ago, Joseph became my favorite Bible character as Olivia and I listened to his story come alive each day on the radio. She was enthralled, requesting that I tape the program each day and listen with her. At each twist and turn when the very character of God seemed in doubt, the pastor would say, “but God was still working behind the scenes”. Though man intended evil against Joseph, God allowed it for good, both in Joseph’s life and in the lives of His people.
Later, on a summer night in 1993, at what I believe may have been the very lowest point of my life, I sank in despair onto my kitchen floor and wept as though God’s character was indeed in doubt. A barely 9-year-old Olivia came and crawled into my lap, wrapped her arms around me and said, “Don’t worry mommy; God is still working behind the scenes”.
With this memory, I gladly went to Bible Study Fellowship this year to study about Joseph again. I learned instead to love Joseph’s father Jacob, who more than once manipulated a situation rather than trust God’s timing and ways. Jacob even tried to wrestle a blessing from God and ended up a cripple in the process – and all the while God had the blessing ready, waiting on Jacob to be still and trust Him. I have learned how very much like Jacob I am, wrestling instead waiting and trusting.
I also learned that the very evidence of Jacob’s earlier lack of trust in God, the staff on which he leaned, aided him in worshipping God and blessing his beloved Joseph and Joseph’s children (Heb 11:21). This has greatly encouraged me to keep trusting God to use the evidence of my “crippled parts” to bring me to a place where they aid my worship of Him, the living and true God who has been my shepherd all my life (Gen 48:15).
12 comments:
Well, speaking of wrestling and not trusting...as the Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz says(after he has been torn apart by the flying monkeys and the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion discover him in pieces strewn around)..."That's me all over!" I know there's a lesson in here for me. I just wish I could learn it once and then be done with it and know it and act on it forever! Thanks for writing and encouraging me today...
btw if you can correct this, it's probably Joseph and his children... "aided him in worshipping God and blessing his beloved Jacob and Jacob’s children (Heb 11:21)."
Love the quote, Sharon!! And thanks for the editing catch! You'd think that someone would have caught that in the original post!
As to "learn it once and then be done with it" - where would be the fun in that - then we wouldn't need, "His mercies are new every morning"!
Much love - off I go to the commute!
Personally I think some of those Old Testament men were a rum lot!
Afterall Jacob did pinch his brother's birthright which really wasn't a kind thing to do!
Joseph is a great example for us of God's sovereign purpose in His love and grace.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
"No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny."
There were some despicable men in the OT Llama, and there were some in the NT, as there are even now, who are Christ's chosen sheep.
Jacob loved and believed the Lord, and the Lord changed his name to Israel.
King David took a man's wife, and had her husband murdered, and yet he was a man after God's own heart. David loved the Lord.
The other element to God's children, who are sinners, is that those who love God will repent. And also God will bring consequences for our sin as well.
Jacob had to wait 14 years to marry Rachel. And other consequences such as his limp.
David had tremendous grief after his sin, for God severely chastised David.
And God is a good Father, and will discipline all His children in His perfect love for us, those of us who have become one in Christ.
Great post, Susan. My wife would (at times) wack me over the head (figuratively, of course) with the same thing. Though wrestling with God like Jacob did is at least an expression of faith. And couldn't we say, though surely in a different way, and because of what was at stake- no comparison with Jacob- couldn't we say our Lord himself was wrestling with the Father in the garden, even with sweats of blood, as he gave his will completely over to the Father's will?
But Deb has that simple trust, and I all too often do not.
I would tend to think not, Ted. Our wrestling, as with Jacob's, comes from wanting to do things our own way - or thinking that we are responsible for areas where we are not - and Jesus' was not doing that. He always looked to the Father to see what He was doing and then did likewise. We think first about what will work to get us what we want.
I linked this so shared some more of my own thoughts on it.
Thanks again for the good post and discussion.
My comments were not nuanced enought, and there's no way I can explain in a short comment.
Jacob did plead the promise of God and for God's mercy. One who was weak and defective in his faith, yet had a true faith expressed there.
A Moses kind of wrestling with God, or others, is different. Although it all depends on what one means by wrestling and the contexts.
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