If you take the Bible seriously, it’s quite a frustrating book. Within its pages are outrageous commands like “be holy” (1 Peter 1:16) and “offer the parts of your body to [God] as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13). Jesus laid a heavy burden on us when He said, “…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). It’s frustrating and then disheartening when we see how far short of this commandments we typically fall.
Several years ago I heard someone describe the Christian experience as similar to that of a piano player and suddenly the commands of the Bible made more sense and seemed less daunting. When a person begins playing piano do we expect them to play a piece by Mozart without a mistake? No. We don’t expect them to play on that level at all. We can, however, envision them playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” flawlessly. The more they commit themselves to the study and practice of piano the greater their ability and they are able to play more complex pieces with increasing excellence.
The spiritual life is similar. We advance from stage to stage in progression. As we go forward with God we see greater degrees of holiness, righteousness, and perfection in our lives. As long as we live there is further progression to make. There’s always another level. There’s always a better place ahead, where we can see and hear God more clearly, accomplish His will more completely, and enjoy His presence more intimately.
Let’s get really honest this morning. How many of us can say they we’re growing in holiness, righteousness, and the perfection of our heavenly Father? How many of us can genuinely say that we see and hear God more clearly, accomplish His will more completely, and enjoy His presence more intimately than last year or the year before or the decade before? I dare say that God is so absent from some of our lives that during our sleepless nights we wonder if we’ve ever really encountered Him at all.
If you’re not progressing it’s because you’ve stopped struggling. Moving to the next level in spiritual progress requires intense wrestling with God. If you’re not prepared to go there, you’ll go no further with God. But, if you’ll set your mind to face the struggle, you’ll see more of God.
My introduction has been rather vague thus far, so let me bring it down to earth a bit more. Jacob had made some spiritual progress in his life as God shaped his character in the land of Haran as we saw last week. In the portion of the story we read this morning he stood on the brink of a new spiritual level. As he stood at the ford of the Jabbok River, Jacob was poised to cross over into the land of promise, Canaan. God made Jacob for this land. It was, so to speak, his calling. God promised that one day Jacob and his descendants would possess the land and that He would bless them in it and they would bless the nations of the earth by bringing them knowledge of the true and living God. Stepping across the Jabbok River into Canaan was Jacob’s destiny, but before he could enter in certain struggles had to ensue. Jacob wasn’t quite ready for all the God had in mind for him. The struggles would relieve Jacob of the baggage he’d carried all his life to that point.
Struggles on the Path of Spiritual Progress
As we examine Jacob’s struggles at the Jabbok we’ll discover how to go forward with God.
1. Embrace the crisis God is orchestrating
Jacob was caught between a rock and a hard place. His crooked uncle Laban was behind him. Jacob had made a covenant not to go back in that direction under pain of cursing and death. Ahead of him was Canaan, the place to which God ordered him to return. Jacob faced his warrior brother Esau who had sword to kill him when their father passed away. Because he had received no word from his mother that it was safe to return, Jacob assumed that his father had died and Esau was still fuming over the stolen blessing. What made this crisis worse was the fact that Jacob’s wives and children were in harm’s way. Esau marched toward them with a 400 man militia and there was nothing he could do to protect his family.
Jacob faced the crisis of a lifetime which God had orchestrated. God wanted him to face it, not flee. Jacob could not go back to the security of Haran, but he could have attempted to avoid the crisis by moving to another land. He would have disobeyed God, but he would have avoided the crisis. Jacob chose to embrace the crisis rather than run from it. This struggle helped him go forward with God because it’s in the crisis that we meet God face to face.
We Americans are good at dodging the various crises that God orchestrates. Rather than tighten our belts, get out of debt, start saving, and face a short, sharp recession our government is desperately trying to avoid the crises through bailouts and stimulus plans. It just postpones the inevitable. We’re avoiding the crisis because that’s where God is. I know a family who, rather than confront and discipline their teenage daughter, allowed her to indulge in her reckless lifestyle. They overlooked certain behaviors and provided protection for certain others. They didn’t want to face the crisis of her possible rejection. They don’t realize that it’s in the crisis that there’s the possibility of change because it’s there that we meet God. The struggle of the crisis takes us to the next level, spiritually speaking.
Embrace the crisis. It is there that you will be refined by fire. It is in the crisis that you will make spiritual progress, because it is there that you will meet God.
This morning I want you to come face to face with God. Let’s take a moment to stop and ask Him: “Father, what crisis are you orchestrating that I need to embrace?” When He reveals it make the commitment to step into it.
2. Adopt Christ’s perspective on your weakness
All his life, Jacob was a man of great strength. Jewish tradition held that he was a giant of a man. If you remember last week’s story, he was able to move a huge stone that generally required several men to budge. Jacob possessed a superior intellect and work ethic. He was also as shrewd as they come in gaining the advantage over other people. All of these positive qualities led Jacob to a spiritually unhealthy place with God. He developed a pattern of self-sufficiency. Although God clearly blessed him, Jacob operated as if he could do it all himself. Even in the story today we find Jacob resorting to his old tactics. Rather than rely on the Lord to fulfill his promise of safety, Jacob sought to bribe Esau with a gift. He also arranged his caravan in such a way as to disrupt Esau’s military advantage so that at least a few member of his family might survive if his brother was bent on vengeance. Before Jacob could cross the Jabbok and into the land of promise God needed to rid him of his self-sufficiency. His accomplished this by bringing him face to face with his own weakness
It was night time and there was Jacob alone on bank of the river. A mysterious man showed up and an odd wrestling match ensued. It’s not evident when this happened, but at some point Jacob realized he was struggling with an angel of the Lord. Can you imagine the audacity to think that you have what it takes to overcome an angelic being? Jacob, relying on his own strength and skill, believed he could prevail. He thought he could whip the spirit being and move into his territory. The angel proved his superiority of strength by dislocating Jacob’s hip through a simple touch of the hand. At this point Jacob was alone, defenseless, and physically out of commission.
But this is exactly where God wanted him. He could do nothing apart from God’s help. His self-sufficiency was useless and he could see his sin from God’s perfect perspective. Jacob needed to sorrow over his life of self-sufficiency. Probably, for the first time, he could see how it had affected every person in his life and his relationship with God. He now realized all the heartache generated from this way of living. He could see firsthand that his self-sufficiency was preventing him from entering into God’s promise.
In the crisis, God will bring us to see our weakness from His perspective, but He does not leave us there. Instead, through our hope in Christ, He brings us to repentance. We see our sin and turn away from it and receive forgiveness. It’s imperative that we see ourselves honestly, but that we do so with faith as well.
For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
God brings the crisis so you’ll see your weakness from Christ’s perspective and will turn from it. You may see self-reliance like Jacob. Then again maybe the baggage that you’re carrying is greed or selfishness or vanity or the need for approval. Whatever the case, you cannot cross the Jabbok until you’ve put it down. There will be no further spiritual progress until you see it, own it, and turn from it.
Let’s take this to God now as well. Ask Him what sin you need to turn from, what baggage keeps you from crossing into the place of promise? When He reveals it, promise to put it down.
3. Endure until the Lord speaks
God changed Jacob’s self-sufficiency that night, but He did not alter Jacob’s personality. Jacob was a man who sought to overcome or prevail against all odds. Before the Jabbok he relied on his own strength and wisdom and craftiness. God brought the crisis, reduced Jacob to helplessness, and opened his eyes to his own sin, but Jacob held on. He held onto God through it all. Because of his endurance, God gave him a new name, Israel. Israel means “struggles WITH God.” Jacob would prevail, he would continue to be one who overcame all obstacles, but he’d do it with God rather than by his own ability. With his new outlook and new name Jacob could enter the new land.
I find that a lot of Christians are stuck on the wrong side of the Jabbok because they did not endure. God orchestrated a crisis, he brought them face to face with Himself and their sin, but rather than hold on they gave up. They allowed the weight of it all to crush them. Now the live defeated, pessimistic, dreary lives. They did not persevere for the voice of God to speak into the situation. They shut their eyes, closed their ears, and hardened their hearts to face the pain of life. They still hold on to some profession of faith way back there somewhere, but God is absent in their thoughts, actions, and conversations.
When my kids were little sometimes they’d grab hold of my leg and refuse to let go. I’d start walking with a munchkin or two attached. I imagine that this kind of spiritual attitude pleases God immensely. He wants us to hold on, no matter what we’re going through, and not let go until He blesses us with an answer or a promise.
Jacob received a new name and a guarantee of protection. He received what everyone gets when they refuse to let go: God’s presence and God’s voice. He will eventually speak into what you’re going through if you’ll refuse to let go.
Let’s approach Him in prayer again. Ask Him to give you the persistence to hold on. Ask Him if He will speak right now.
4. Limp into a new life with God
As the sun rose on a new day Jacob hobbled into the Promised Land. His body was severely weakened after a fitful, sleepless night. The injured hip would eventually heal, but on this day he was quite debilitated. On the horizon Jacob caught sight of Esau and his warriors fast approaching. He displayed no fear. Jacob faced Esau after facing God. He encountered his brother at a new spiritual level. The self-reliant schemer was gone. Jacob, the heel grabber no longer existed. He was Israel, the one who struggles with God. This time he faced his brother in weakness and humility and let God handle the details. The result:
Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept. Genesis 33:4
In the end, the struggle was worth it. Jacob advanced to the next level. His struggle for spiritual progress brought his to the place of promise. He could live out God’s calling on his life. He had God’s power to overcome and proclaim His name. But there was an added bonus, reconciliation and a totally restored relationship with his brother. God’s blessings on the other side of the Jabbok were more than Jacob could have imagined.
Let’s conclude by asking God what He has in mind when you advance to the next level.
