Good evening!
I hope you have had a great day so far. Here is tonight's installment of my "Through the Bible in A Year" Blog. Today, the theme is trust in the midst of fear.
1) Now, when we left Jacob, he was in the process of returning to his homeland. Of course, there is the problem of the past that still haunts him - his brother Esau and that whole mess. Well, Jacob is concerned that Esau is going to come and attack him with a great company of men. In fact, Jacob becomes greatly afraid and distressed about what might happen, and so he prepares his own mass of people and animals to be attacked. He even prays to God, in effect, "You promised to save me and my descendants, so do something!" Jacob continued to wrestle with his fears; he sent expensive gifts to Esau before he arrived, in hopes that he could prevent the evil he thought might befall him. But in the end, nothing brought him peace.
Then, even in his dreams, he wrestled with God. He would not just submit to God. God even knocked his hip out of place, and Jacob still wrestled. He demanded that God bless him before he would let go. Why? What could Jacob need from God? He wanted peace of mind and heart in the face of the great fear that befell him. Then God gives him another name: Israel. This is because he struggled with God and humans.
In the face of his fears, God reminded Jacob of the promise he made to him and his descendants forever. God would uphold His promise to His people. And what Jacob finds is that this is no exception - when he lifts his eyes in the morning, Esau is coming toward him. After lining up the troops, just in case, Esau comes running to him with open arms and embraced him. He allows him to pass safely to his homeland and Jacob builds an altar to the Lord.
How often does our fear get the best of us? How often do we even wrestle with God out of our fear, in search of peace? The lesson of this story is that we should not fear anything; the God who promised to save and bless Jacob has promised to save us through Jesus Christ because of His great love for us. Even though we should face all hell in this life, God will still deliver us through it. Yes, we will struggle - in fact, I heard today in one of my classes today a very good quote - without suffering, there would be no salvation. Jesus suffered in his body on the cross to ensure our salvation. And although we all suffer and bear our crosses in this life, the certain hope to which we cling is that we shall yet see that salvation. Therefore, why should we be afraid - if God is for us, who could be against us? Who shall separate us from his love? No one and nothing. God is love, and when we love God, his love lives in us. And God's perfect love casts out fear, because fear is only for those who have no hope. But we have hope for eternal life in Christ - and if that is our sure inheritance, whatever comes against us in this life has no power to destroy us.
Jacob learned that day that God would protect him because of the promise He made to him. In the same way, God has chosen us and promised to keep us in eternal life by his grace through our faith. God will protect us from final judgment and destruction, and will raise us to new life even after our bodies decay. God will not allow evil to destroy or overcome us. So why be afraid of anything in this life - it is nothing that Jesus is not Lord over, and if God kept His promises in the past, have we any reason not to trust him today?
2) On a less serious note... notice that Shechem not only "defiles" Dinah, Jacob's daughter, but then he falls in love with her and sends his father to see if Jacob would give her to Shechem in marriage. Now the brothers were up to no good. They say, "Sure, if you and your men will be circumcised." Okay, they thought. Why not. I'm sorry to be frank, but that's a painful thing this circumcision - you'd have to be serious about her to undergo that in a day without Percocet or at least anesthesia! But they did it. And the sons took advantage of that to kill all the people of the city, including Hamor and Shechem, for defiling Dinah (man, and I thought I was a protective older brother!) But Jacob knows what kinds of consequences that could bring, and is rightly horrified that his sons did this to the people of the city.
3) Back to Bethel - again to give thanks for the gracious way God has kept his promise. And God again asserts his promise to protect Jacob. I've now lost count of how many times God made and reminded Jacob of this promise. It's a sign that we can never hear God's promises to us in Jesus Christ enough. We need to be constantly reminded of whose we are, who has called us, and what blessings are ours in Him.
4) The death of Rachel - this is sad after all that has happened, and especially since it was during childbirth. Something worth noting is that this does not change Jacob's faith in God's promises. So often we would be inclined to indict God on something like this. We might even lose our faith in his promises over this, and become embittered. Certainly Jacob may have wondered why this would befall him, but God never actually broke his promise to Jacob. God has still given him descendants through whom he will bless the world. And the same is true for us - even when we tragically lose someone we love, that doesn't mean God has broken his promises. Death and suffering are a reality, and a result of the evil in the world. But God promises to save us, not necessarily from them entirely, but from their ability to overcome and destroy us forever. We cannot forget that the same God who promises to save us can bring good out of the darkest of situations (I mean, what is the resurrection, after all - God bringing amazing good out of the darkness of suffering and death). That's our hope, and that's what God promises to do. That is God delivering us and saving us and protecting us. We just have to be able to see God's salvation for what it is.
Well, that's a lot to chew on. May God continue to bless you as you read His Word. And feel free to comment or leave me notes.
In Christ's Love,
Pastor Nathan
No comments:
Post a Comment