Most sports fans know the name of Reggie White, great defensive end for the Green Bay Packers who recently went to be with the Lord. Some do not know that he was an ordained minister. Before signing a $17 million deal with the Packers, White said publicly that he would look to God to tell him where to play.
Later a coach from Green Bay admitted that he left a message on White’s answering machine that said, "Hey Reggie, this is God. Go to Green Bay."
God doesn’t leave answers on answering machines so how do we find God’s big dreams for our life?
You might be saying to yourself, "I would like to dream big for God. What does God want me to do and how can I find out?"
Jacob found himself wrestling with the same questions. In fact, no one ever lived a more topsy-tervy existence than Jacob when it came to figuring out God’s big dreams for his life.
So today we’re going to dissect Jacob’s life to discover God’s big dream for us.
Here are THREE PRECEPTS FOR FINDING GOD’S BIG DREAM FOR YOUR LIFE:
1. ADMIT WHO YOU ARE before you dream of who you can become.
Jacob was pretty much a rascal for most of his earthly existence. He even came out of his mother’s womb holding on to the heel of his paternal twin brother Esau - hence his name, which literally means, "heel-grabber".
Figuratively the name Jacob means "supplanter". A supplanter is someone who tries to take what belongs to others by deception. Jacob honed the craft of deceiving others (in order to have his own way) into an art form.
When the midwives, or whoever else gathered around the birth of Isaac and Rebekah’s twin boys, saw the second son’s hand on the heel of the first son, they took note of it right away. The story surely must have made the rounds among the entire clan.
Jacob most likely endured ribbing about his name all during his childhood. Every time someone spoke his name he may have remembered the story. He could almost hear their thoughts: "There’s the boy, who, even at his birth, was trying to take what belonged to someone else."
To make matters worse, his parents played favorites. Jacob was the darling of his mother and Esau was Isaac’s preference. This foolish parental error may have motivated Jacob all the more to begin supplanting his seconds-older sibling.
In those days the oldest son inherited the birthright and the blessing. Esau held that place by a photo finish. Big problem with Esau however, was that he was the sort of person who lived for the moment. He failed to consider the consequences of his actions.
One day when he came back home, dog-tired from hunting, consumed with hunger and thirst, he asked his culinary brother to feed him with some of the stew he had just cooked. Then Jacob "the supplanter" bargained, "First sell me your birthright." (Gen. 25:30 NIV)
"Look, I’m dying of starvation!" Esau said. "What good is my birthright to me now?" (Gen. 25:32 NLT)
So he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew!
Esau wasn’t really dying of starvation. He could have turned aside Jacob’s raw deal and taken a little bit more time and found something else to eat. Accepting a bargain like that was along the same lines as Russia selling Alaska to the United States for about two cents an acre.
What Esau did was foolishly impulsive and we are warned in Scripture not to make the same mistake.
"Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau. He traded his birthright as the oldest son for single meal." (Hebrews 12:16 NLT)
This is the real reason Esau lost his birthright. He was careless with the blessings of God. What a red flag for us! Short-term thinking can rob us of God’s big dreams for our life.
Esau may have been the willing dupe in this story - but what kind of scoundrel would take advantage of his own brother in his hour of need? How manipulative. How exploitive. And yet...how totally human.
Before we condemn Esau or Jacob remember, "For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard." (Romans 3:23 NLT) We’re all Esau’s and Jacob’s.
Isaac and Rebekah’s boys aren’t the only rightesouness-challenged people to ever live. We all have some soul-searching to do before we can find God’s big dream for our life.
Do you know what Jacob’s biggest problem was? It’s also our biggest hurdle when it comes to discovering God’s big dreams for our life - our own self. Dreaming big for God is most often hindered by our own need for change.
Your struggle begins with you - just like Jacob’s stuggle began with Jacob.
"Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak." (Gen. 32:24 NASB)
The Bible says Jacob was involved in a wrestling match before the night was over, but don’t skim over the fact that he began the evening "alone", wrestling with his own conscience.
On this night he was on his way back to face his brother Esau whom he had defrauded years earlier. One of the reasons this became necessary is because Jacob had worn out his welcome with his in-laws in whose land he had been living. He had been involved in a wrestling match of "supplanting" with them too!
But don’t miss this: It wasn’t just that Jacob was about to face his angry brother. It wasn’t just that he had escaped facing the anger of his in-laws.
He had to face himself.
God got Jacob alone so he could take a good hard look at himself. Before God could do anything for Jacob He had to isolate him.
Times of isolation and loneliness can seem overwhelming. But they’re also good times to take self-inventory. God schedules some of these times on each of our calendars so He can get us ready for His blessings. He has to change us so we can be the kind of person that can handle His big dream for our life. But He can’t help us change until we first see the need for transformation.
God is love - so He wants to bless us. But He’s also holy - so He can’t and won’t bestow His blessing on just any lifestyle. God’s love and holiness are qualities for which we praise Him. And there’s something else we need to worship Him for:
He shows up in the midst of our aloneness!
Jacob was "alone" that night when it came to human company - but not when it came to Divine Companionship!
The "man" with whom Jacob wrestled was God in human form. Even Jacob said after the match was over, "I have seen God face to face." (Gen. 32:30 NLT)
The reason God came down to wrestle with Jacob, and the reason He does the same with us, is to encourage us by His presence to become a better person. He’s personally interested in each one of us realizing His big dreams for our life so He makes personal appearances with us to assist in the process.
This was the greatest night of change in Jacob’s life. Even greater than his night at Bethel. He would never forget this night. It began in fear, isolation and aloneness; but ended in real lasting change in his character.
If you’re going through a trying time like Jacob, take heart - God isn’t trying to hurt you, He wants to bless you!
In his book, "Night Scenes of the Bible", the 19th Century American pastor Daniel March chronicles the experiences of the saints of the Old and New Testaments during some infamously dark nights.
It is astounding to realize how much of God’s great work in the lives of His people was done at night!
At night:
Abraham received summons to offer up Isaac. (Gen. 22:1-3)
Jacob saw the stairway to heaven. (Gen. 28:11)
The death angel visited Egypt. (Ex. 12:42)
The Red Sea was crossed. (Ex. 14:20)
King Saul failed his test to trust God and instead visited the witch at Endor. (1 Sam. 28:8)
King David penned the very uplifting third Psalm while fleeing his son Absalom.
Elijah was given strength to finish reviving Israel. (1 Kings 19)
Jonah finally came to see the need of reaching more than 120,000 Ninevites for God. (Jon. 4:10-11)
Isaiah learned the value of the night watch. (Isa. 21:11)
Daniel read the handwriting on the wall. (Dan. 5:1,4,30)
Nicodemus came to see Jesus. (Jn. 3:1-2)
Jesus prayed on the mountain all night (Lk. 6:12); came walking on the water to the disciples in their boat (Mt. 14:24-25); and bore the weight of contemplating the cross while praying at Gethsemane (Mt. 26:36).
At night Simon Peter lost the battle with temptation and denied he even knew Jesus. (Mt. 26:34)
After fishing all night and not catching anything, Jesus told His workers to cast their nets on the other side, and when they obeyed they caught a net so full of fish they couldn’t hardly get it to the shore! (Jn. 21:3-4)
At night the Aposlte Peter was visited in prison by and angel and an earthquake, setting him free from his shackles and bursting open the prison doors so he could attend prayer meeting! (Acts 12:6-8)
It was midnight in the prison in Philipi when Paul and Silas were singing praises to God. The earth quaked and the prison doors flew open - and they led the jailor and his entire household to Christ! (Acts 16:25-34)
At night Paul suffered shipwreck but not one of the 276 people on the ship drowned. (Acts 27)
No night is so dark it can stop God from His powerful work! God did a great work in Jacob that night.
Jacob was so radically changed that God gave him a new name.
"What is your name?" the Man asked. "Jacob", was the reply. It isn’t anymore!" the Man told him. "It is Israel - one who has power with God. Because you have been strong with God you will prevail with men."
God didn’t ask Jacob his name because He didn’t know who He was wrestling with. By getting Jacob to own up to his name He was forcing to admit to his character flaw. No one knew how his name reflected his character more than Jacob. When he replied it was as if he had to say, "I’m the heel-grabber; I’m the supplanter."
HE HAD TO ADMIT WHO HE WAS BEFORE GOD COULD SHOW HIM WHO HE COULD BECOME.
That lonely and fearful night Jacob changed from a man who got through life by scheming and conniving to someone who would succeed through the power of his relationship with God.
Jacob’s experience represents the two monumentally different lifestyles available to each of us. We can live our life independently of God or we can work with God...live to please God or live to please our self...live by taking advantage of the weaknesses of others or live by appropriating God’s strength in order to help others.
Each of us must avail ourselves of the opportunities God gives us to admit who we are. To refuse to admit who we are without God is to sentence ourselves to a life of constant wrestling and turmoil.
The second precept for finding God’s big dream for you life?
2. ACCEPT WHO GOD IS before you dream of who you can become.
After God asked Jacob his name - Jacob returned the question.
"What is your name?" Jacob asked Him. "No, you mustn’t ask," the Man told him. And he blessed him there. (Gen. 32:29 LB)
Why didn’t God come out and identify Himself to Jacob?
Because Jacob wasn’t doubting it was God. What he wanted to know was whether or not God was going to change. "You just changed me and even changed my name because I’m now a new person. Are you still the same God my grandfather and father prayed to or have you changed also?"
God’s answer was that He didn’t need to worry about that. God never changes!
Even as the Old Testament ends, God is revealing to Jacob’s descendants this vital truth:
"I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already completely destroyed." (Mal. 3:6 NLT)
Man is constantly in need of an upgrade; but God doesn’t ever need to change anything about Himself.
If you were riding a bike into the wind, then stopped and turned around, you might think that the wind changed because it went from hindering you to helping you. In actuality it didn’t change, you did.
In the same way, if you are sincerely interested in realizing God’s big dream for you life don’t waste one second worrying about whether or not God is going to change - you are the only one in need of change. What He says today He says tomorrow. What He’s like today He’ll be like tomorrow.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." (Heb. 13:8 NCV)
In addition to the first two precepts:
1. ADMIT WHO YOU ARE are before you dream of who you can become.
2. ACCEPT WHO GOD IS before you dream of who you can become.
There is a third:
3. ALLOW GOD TO DO WHAT HE WANTS TO DO in you in order to beomc what He wants you to become.
Gen. 32:25-26: When the Man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Then the Man said, "Let me go for it is dawn." But Jacob panted, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
When the Bible says God "couldn’t win the match", there’s no way this means that man has more strength than God. God is all-powerful. No one can come close to matching His might.
You fathers know what happened between God and Jacob that night. When kids are little they want to wrestle with dad. Quite often, dads let their children "win" because, on the one hand, they want to challenge them enough to make them stronger, but on the other hand they let them win because they want to encourage them to tackle things that are bigger than they are.
That’s what God did for Jacob. He wrestled with Jacob until Jacob realized he couldn’t go any further in life without God’s empowerment. Then God let Jacob win.
Jacob won by saying, "I won’t let you go until you bless me. I won’t let you go until I’m a new man - a different person."
Joni Eareckson Tada, as a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair, understands what Jacob went through when he was given a limp as a memento of his wrestling match with God, wrote the following poem by holding a pen between her teeth:
When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
to build so great and bold a man,
That all the world shall be amazed,
Then watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects whom He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him, and with mighty blows converts him,
Into shapes and forms of clay which only God can understand
While man’s tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands...
Yet God bends but never breaks when man’s good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses, and with mighty power infuses him,
With every act induces him to try His splendor out,
God knows what He’s about!
As a new man Jacob did not have to worry about meeting Esau. Here’s what the Bible says happened the next day.
"But Esau ran toward Jacob and hugged and kissed him. Then the two brothers started crying." (Gen. 33:4 CEV)
Jacob was back home and finally on the road to living his God-given dream. He had been on a difficult journey...but it was worth the trip.
God has big dreams and plans for your life! If you too want to find them:
1. Admit who you are before you dream of who you can become.
2. Accept who God is before you dream of who you can become.
3. Allow God to do what He wants to do in you in order to become what He wants you to become.
