1/28/2001
Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence: It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, "Congratulations." I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trop, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven’t in the 30 years since. Carol Mann, The 19th Hole, (Longmeadow), quoted in Reader’s Digest.
The greatest spiritual discipline is to continually be focused on God, and His blessings are what make it difficult. Hardships almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert attention elsewhere. Are blessing always "good things"? Did Jesus say we were blessed only when things where going our way?
Matt 5:3-4;10-11
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Does the world view poverty, mourning, persecution, and mistreatment as beneficial? NO! The world shuns such things. But Jesus teaches us that to the Christian they can be instruments of God’s work in our life. Jesus reefers to these things not only as beneficial but as BLESSINGS.
A terrible misconception among believers is that all hardship is a form of Divine discipline, and all "good things" are a result of Divine reward. The book of Job is a narrative of a man who "was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1-2)." God allowed the devil to punish him with the worse kind of suffering imaginable by killing Job’s children and taking all of material possessions away then afflicting him with painful boils all over his body. Even through the worst of life’s sufferings Job didn’t have any misconception of God’s goodness. When Job’s wife approached him and said: "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die! (Job 2:9)". Job replied with powerful words of faith: "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10).
BODY: Genesis 28:10-22
1. THE EVENTS GOD DIRECTS IN OUR LIVES AREN’T ALWAYS ABOUT DISCIPLINE AND REWARD, MORE TIMES THAN NOT THEY’RE ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.
In this text we find Jacob on the run from Esau, because under his mothers advice he tricked his elderly father Isaac and stole Esau’s blessing. Up until this point in Jacob’s life everything went good, he enjoyed the comfort of living under his mother’s watchful eyes and his fathers patriarchal blessings. Before Jacob left home what did he know of God? Simply what he had learned form his parents. But due to the blessings he had little reason to exercise any faith in the God of his parents.
JACOB WAS TOO BLESSED TO SEE GOD.
But now things are drastically changing in the life of Jacob. Now he becomes a fugitive, his mother is no were in sight to give him advice, far away from the securities of home and family.
Gen 28:11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
"WHEN HE REACHED A CERTAIN PLACE" - a place he had never been before this night. This is a place of hardship were he exchanges the soft comfortable pillows he had always known for a ROCK. A pillow is a cushion for the head used to rest on, but in this CERTAIN PLACE there wasn’t any comfort available.
ILLUSTRATION: Though many of us have seen pictures of a huge eagle’s nest high in the branches of a tree or in the crag of a cliff, few of us have gotten a glimpse inside. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks, and a number of other items that seem entirely unsuitable for the project. But then she lines the nest with a thick padding of wool, feathers, and fur from animals she has killed, making it soft and comfortable for the eggs. By the time the growing birds reach flying age, the comfort of the nest and the luxury of free meals make them quite reluctant to leave. That’s when the mother eagle begins "stirring up the nest." With her strong talons she begins pulling up the thick carpet of fur and feathers, bringing the sharp rocks and branches to the surface. As more of the bedding gets plucked up, the nest becomes more uncomfortable for the young eagles. Eventually, this and other urgings prompt the growing eagles to leave their once-comfortable abode and move on to more mature behavior.
Comfort is not the avenue to maturity. God had to get Jacob out from under his mother’s care before he will rely on God. Out of reach of her voice before he could hear God, and striped from all his worldly comforts before he would look to God.
2. DESPERATION CAN CAUSE OUR EYES TO SEE THINGS THEY’VE NEVER SEENS BEFORE.
Gen 28:12-15
12He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 15I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
When Jacob was in the comforts of his home how many visions did God give him? How many times did he hear the voice of God speaking words of comfort making personal promises?
Look at what God offers Jacob in verse 15:
I AM WITH YOU - companionship
I WILL WATCH OVER YOU WEREEVER YOU GO - safety
I WILL BRING YOU BACK - guidance
I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU UNTIL I HAVE DONE WHAT I HAVE PROMISED YOU - personal guarantee.
Gen 28:16
16When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."
Jacob wasn’t expecting to see God in this CERTAIN PLACE of hardship. Now that the blessings are striped away Jacob can see God. God was always there for Jacob but now for the first time in his life he realizes it.
Gen 28:17
17He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven."
Now that Jacob realizes God is in this CERTAIN PLACE it becomes an awesome place. Maybe the place your at right now spiritually is a CERTAIN PLACE. Maybe your circumstances are getting the best of you and you want to move to an awesome place with God. Did God make Jacob’s circumstances better before he realized God was with him? No! If anything they got worse, God is not in the business of changing our circumstances He’s in the business of changing US. What changed about Jacob was his perspective, he went from encountering hardship to encountering God.
Gen 28:18-19
18Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.
The ROCK PILLOW that was a symbol of hardship becomes a symbol of worship. Jacob’s eyes that were blinded by blessings are now opened by oppression. This is the first of many struggles in the life of Jacob that will all serves strengthen his faith.
ILLUSTRATION: Human beings grow by striving, working, stretching; and in a sense, human nature needs problems more than solutions. Why are not all prayers answered magically and instantly? Why must every convert travel the same tedious path of spiritual discipline? Because persistent prayer, and fasting, and study, and meditation are designed primarily for our sakes, not for God’s. Kierkegaard said that Christians reminded him of schoolboys who want to look up the answers to their math problems in the back of the book rather than work them through...We yearn for shortcuts. But shortcuts usually lead away from growth, not toward it. Apply the principle directly to Job: what was the final result of the testing he went through? As Rabbi Abraham Heschel observed, "Faith like Job’s cannot be shaken because it is the result of having been shaken."
Gen 28:20-22
20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God 22and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
Jacob’s methods had made him a fugitive, but now the fugitive who was running from his problems becomes a pilgrim journeying with God. But the journey with God for Jacob began when his comforts (blessings) were taken away.
Is your perception of God’s blessings: Good health, sufficient money, good family relations, etc. Is it only what the world considers "GOOD THINGS"? Are you willing only to receive good from God and not bad? Do you believe bad things only happen to bad people?
If so you may be TOO BLESSED TO SEE GOD.
The GOOD THINGS in your life were not obtained by your power "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" James 1:18. And all those GOOD THINGS God has given you He can take away if He so desires.
ILLUSTRATION: I met a young man not long ago who dives for exotic fish for aquariums. He said one of the most popular aquarium fish is the shark. He explained that if you catch a small shark and confine it, it will stay a size proportionate to the aquarium. Sharks can be six inches long yet fully matured. But if you turn them loose in the ocean, they grow to their normal length of eight feet. That also happens to some Christians. I’ve seen some of the cutest little six-inch Christians who swim around in a little puddle. But if you put them into a larger arena--into the whole creation--only then can they become great. Charles Simpson.
Do you want to grow in your faith, do you want to hear God, and do you want to see spiritual things like you’ve never seen before? If so your first step is to recognize that God is actively involved in every aspect of your life. His goal is for your faith and relationship with Him to grow. But if think you can grow in a small comfortable aquarium with out any hardships your sadly mistaken. There are no short cuts to spiritual maturity, God must stretch your faith and get you away from your worldly comforts so you can see Him.
We must have our perception of "blessings" changed from WORLDLY THINGS to SPIRITUAL THINGS. The greatest blessing of all is salvation and so many wonderful things that go along with it. Forgiveness of sins, the protection, and guidance of God, peace with God, and guarantee that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
As I was greeting one of the men in my church this morning he asked how I was, and I told him I was blessed, and asked how he was. He said; "David, you know what the greatest blessing of all is - I’m not getting what I deserve!"
Thank God I’m not getting what I deserve because I deserve hell, but by the grace of God I’m getting heaven. NOW THAT’S A BLESSING!
