Right of Passage

Genesis 27 describes some family dysfunction that I'm not going to pretend I understand. I don't. The basic scenario is that Esau (an older brother) has his blessing robbed by his younger brother Jacob. Jacob doesn't really want to do it but Rebekah, his mother, has other ideas and talks him into tricking his father Isaac into blessing him. Esau pleads to Isaac to be considered for a blessing but Isaac simply responds, "I have made your brother lord over you, what more can I do?" At this point, Esau is filled with rage and wants to kill his brother Jacob for stealing his birthright. Honestly, I'd feel the same way.

That's what happens. Now Jacob, again because his mother wants it this way, gets sent to his grandfather's house to find a wife in Paddan Aram. He's supposed to talk to his uncle about a wife. Picture your dad saying, "Son, go see your uncle in Philly about a wife." I live in Pennsylvania...what can I say?

To not get caught up in extreme details or dream interpretation, Jacob has a dream in which God speaks to him. Basically, God says that He's going to bless Jacob and Jacob responds with "Awesome! If you make sure I return safely from my trip, you will be my God and I'll give you a tenth of what you give me!" It kind of sounds like, "Let's make a deal!"

Fast forward, Jacob makes it to Paddan Aram. He meets some guys that are from Haran, asks about Laban, and sees Rachel. He goes over to help out with watering the sheep. Basically, the bible says that he just kisses Rachel and starts to weep aloud. I guess this was the way to a girl's heart back then... (Seriously, it's probably something cultural here that I'm missing. Probably what you do when you want to marry someone - but that's just a guess.) Laban hears about Jacob being here, comes running and greets him (with a kiss again). Jacob tells Laban why he is there, and Laban confirms that's a good deal.

From the Bible's text, it seems like Jacob stayed for 1 month and worked for Laban without pay. Laban questions this and asks Jacob to name his wages. Jacob says that he'll work for 7 years if Laban gives him Rachel in marriage (whoa buddy - 7 years!?). So, 7 years go by and Jacob gets right to the point and says..."Laban, my time is complete...give me my wife so that I can lie with her." Straight to the point lad!

Now Laban does something that I just can't get over as many times as I go over it in my head. They have a feast celebrating this and he switches his daughter's on Jacob. Jacob has sex with Leah, instead of Rachel...I would guess without knowing it because he wakes up and asks Laban what the deal is. I can't blame him...that's just unbelievable. Laban tells Jacob that he's going to have to work another 7 years to get Rachel. Jacob agrees, which I think is pretty amazing. So Jacob now has 2 wives, and he loves one more than the other. (The bible says so.)

A few notes before we fast forward. Following the time when Jacob marries Rachel, a lot of posturing happens between Jacob and Laban - also between Rachel and Leah. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah - (sound familiar?) - Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Isaacar, Zebulun, and Dinah. After 11 kids, Joseph finally is born. Remember, that's 10 sons + a daughter...then Joseph...then later Benjamin (way later). At this point, only Joseph is actually from Rachel, because she's been barren all this time. Leah's battle for Jacob's affection and Rachel's responds makes all this possible. Whew.

Oh yeah, and I should mention that Jacob basically decides to take almost nothing from Laban even though Laban has been blessed by Jacob's presence when he wants to go. Somehow, God turns this decision into Jacob becoming the owner of Laban's entire flock. (The bible tells you how that happens).

All this happens, and God says to Jacob, go back to your home land. (Paraphrased)

He does (with all of his house, which is lots of people now). He sends lots of his possessions across the Jordan to appease Esau before he goes back in the hopes that Esau won't kill him. He prays that God would deliver him from Esau, and recognizes that God has made a great house out of him. Only Jacob, his wives, and the 11 sons stay with him.

That's a lot of history for what I'm trying to get at. If I don't tell you that though, the heart of the matter has no foundation.

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Genesis 32: 22-29

"That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. ²⁴ So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵ When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶ Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."

But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

²⁷ The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.

²⁸ Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, ^{e]" style=" line-height: 0.5em; ">[e]} because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."

²⁹ Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel, ^{f]" style=" line-height: 0.5em; ">[f]} saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."

³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, ^{g]" style=" line-height: 0.5em; ">[g]} and he was limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon."

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Jacob has lots of possessions. Why is a man wrestling with Jacob? The subtitle in the bible says "Jacob wrestles with God" so we know the man is supposed to resemble God. Yet, the bible says that a man wrestles with Jacob until daybreak. What is going on here?

Jacob is faced here, with confronting his fear. Esau is one representation of who Jacob is. The very identity of Jacob is defined by being a trickster. He stole the birthright, he stole Laban's flock (even if it was with God's blessing), he's basically swindled everyone out of everything he's gained. He has wives that trick each other and compete just like he did with his brother (which his mother helped with). Everything in his life points to strife and deceit.

Jacob (the trickster) collides with God. Jacob has been hearing from God over the years, but has been living out of an unhealthy fear. Jacob doesn't fear God at this point, he fears himself. He is afraid of what / who he is, and what that might mean for his future. There's no way he's crossing the Jordan without God - almost as importantly...without God's blessing.

There is a turn in Jacob's grappling from wrestling, to clinging. It happens when the "God-man" puts Jacob's hip out of joint with a simple touch. Kind of a foreshadowing to Peter sinking and crying out, "Lord, save me!"

Simply put, God desires for our lives are to be shaped around a clinging to Him, not a wrestling with Him - although he's got no problem wrestling you until you cling. I believe there are seasons when we wrestle with different issues or truths and the like, but generally speaking - we are to cling to God in desperate dependence and recognition of His sovereignty. The moment you transition from wrestling to clinging, defines your life. I believe this experience drives deep within us and shakes us apart for the glory of God. Most importantly though - it creates us anew. Jacob's very identity is changed by this experience.

God broke Jacob's hip to make him cling. What does God have to break in your life to make this happen? You are not better than Jacob, something needs to break in order to cling to God. Have you been broken, or are you yet to be broken? When you are, will you cling? Will you refuse to let go of God? Will you refuse to forsake His name as He is breaking your life apart in ways that He has every right to because He is sovereign? Will you grip him and demand that He bless you? Can you understand that God is breaking you so that He may be glorified and you may be lifted up in the end like Jacob was?

Personally, I run to video games and movies when God tries to break me. I'm no Jacob, but God keeps letting me wrestle with Him in hopes that one day, I won't let go...until He blesses me. This is the equivalent of not crossing the Jordan. I simply cling to the escape routes I've designed to avoid going head to head with God.

Do you believe Him for that?

Do You Trust Me?

Genesis 22:1-3

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

² Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

OK, read that again. There's no rush...really.

Now that you have read it a 2nd time, ask yourself honestly - would I do that if God asked me?

No wonder that Abraham is the father of many nations. Take a look at this verse people. And it's just the beginning. God basically says, "Take the person you love, the person that I gave you - and sacrifice him."

Really put yourself in his shoes. Role play here and make it as if God is talking with you.

"Take the person you love, the person that I gave you and sacrifice him/her."

For some of you, that is a friend, for those who are married - a spouse. For those married with children, perhaps one of those children (or all of them, pick one). Could you do it?

Here's a question, does it even make sense that God would ask something like that of you? I maintain that we have culturalized God so much that we have a completely warped perspective of what he may or may not have us do in order to glorify Himself! Our view of God shrinks daily and our faith is definitely NOT that of a mustard seed (and I don't mean we don't have enough faith, it more screams that we aren't at peace with the right kind of faith). We cannot comprehend, let alone get to the question, "Could we do it?" The truth is that we would dismiss the thought before it even had a chance to sink in - if it even could sink in at all!

Next, Abraham gets all the supplies ready in order to sacrifice his son, readies 2 people to help him out, and then gets on his donkey! He's going through with this!

Genesis 22:6,7

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"
"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Are you serious? I don't even know if I can imagine this right...

I want you to notice the faith Isaac has in his father, and the innocence of his heart in this moment.

Genesis 22:8

⁸ Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

Without skipping a beat, Abraham answers Isaac's question brilliantly. He doesn't lie, yet he spares his son panic and confusion that most definitely would have followed. At least, I think it would have. Reading the words, I can't even believe that Abraham thought of that on his own. I have suspicion that God is lending Abraham His wisdom in this moment to give Isaac peace so that Abraham's faith can be put on display for God.

Genesis 22:9-12

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am," he replied.

¹² "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

I don't think there is a man or woman on earth that would have made it this far. Abraham has the knife poised and ready to strike His son before "the angel of the Lord" calls out to him from heaven. Only now does the truth come. "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Only when you give up "the stuff you love" can you fear God. If you are not willing to give these things up for God if/when He asks, you do not fear Him - and in turn you cannot trust Him.

God asked Abraham to do this as a test. God wanted to see how far Abraham was willing to go...whether or not Abraham trusted God. Abraham passed because he would have done it. If we was not going to do it God would not have needed to stop him. God knew Abraham was really going to kill his own son because of His faith. If God does not step in, Abraham kills Isaac. This is why Abraham passes the test. Did you hear it that time? It is not because he showed up on the mountain, not because he built the altar, not because he brought his son, not because he raised the knife; but because he was ready (somehow...) to kill his son because God said so.

If you do not fear God, not only can you not trust Him - you cannot love Him. He can love you though that mess, but you cannot love Him through all of it. Without fear of God, you will not cast yourself upon God without looking back. You will stretch yourself so thin trying to build the bridge between what you can't let go of and God. Doing this breaks people apart, and we see it all the time in this world - and we continue to see it more and more. Most people that do this end up blaming God for stuff. God doesn't settle for 2nd in your life. He just doesn't.

In my last post, "The Heart of Losing your Life" I mentioned that the state of your heart is what God is really after. I share this example of Abraham with you because I'm trying to drive home this point in a very different way. God had to know that there was NO part of his life that was more dear to Abraham than God. At the core, God is jealous FOR us and will not take a back seat to anyone, or anything. Should you, as a parent, take a back seat to your baby's rattle? What about the baby's pacifier? How ridiculous does that even sound? Of course you shouldn't take a back seat to those things because of 2 important reasons! First, because you as a parent are the source of how the baby gets the rattle or pacifier. Second, because you are the source of everything they need. At least, in their world you are. If this is true, why do you expect God to be different with us, than you are with your children?

This is what Abraham believed. I would say that he understood, but he didn't get how it all worked. Abraham knew that if God told him to do something, that he should do it because God is God and had a better plan than Abraham could come up with. Abraham trusted God implicitly. This is the same thing that Jesus is asking of the rich young ruler. Jesus asks him to "go sell all of this possessions." The only difference is that Abraham did what God asked, the rich young ruler couldn't. Look at the story of Abraham in light of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law, and turned toward your heart all of this difficult nonsense that used to be burnt offerings and the like. God still looks to your heart for burnt offerings. He is looking for you to put on the altar the stuff that is piled on top of your heart preventing you from trusting Him.

I have been alive for 30 years (To some of you that will seem like forever, to others not so much). Not one time have I witnessed someone trust God implicitly. Not one time. It has always been conditional or half-hearted. It has never been like what I read in Genesis. God has not changed since then. He is still God. We are the descendants of Abraham, we should expect the same God as he did.

Let go. Trust Him.