“God is not an employer looking for employees. He is an Eagle looking for people who will take refuge under his wings. He is looking for people who will leave father and mother and homeland or anything else that may hold them back from a life of love under the wings of Jesus.”
GENESIS 31-32
22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When 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. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,e because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30So Jacob called the place Peniel,f saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,g and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore 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.(32:22-32)MATTHEW 10:24-42
37“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.38Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.39Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
JOURNAL
Ok so Jacob wrestles with God and Jesus tells that we are to not love our family and children over him...these verses are tough ones and have caused more questions than answers for me over the years. So what is the deal of Jacob wrestling with God?
Quite frankly I have always been a little put out by Jacob. He seems like a fearful, conniving snake to me. He is always manipulating, always fearful, always scheming...yet God loves and blesses him. Why?
The easy answer is that it was because of the promise to Abraham...yet in that same vein I wonder why God would still choose him...there were others and God is sovereign and in control so why Jacob?
I don't know that there is an easy answer...God's grace though is evident. Jacob definitely did not deserve the blessing but neither do I deserve the blessings in my life. Yet Jacob changed, his story is a light into the process of God changing a man over time. Jacob became a better man and it was through God's provision, in both suffering and blessing.
Often I find that it is easy to cast judgement and imagine how things should be different. In my life it's definitely a struggle, I judge God, situations, people...the list goes on and on. Yet scripture definitely has a way of slapping me upside the head. I have been blessed beyond measure, my sins have been forgiven and are not held against me. God has also allowed me to suffer in circumstances that at times didn't seem fair. Yet I can always look back and see that it was part of a process. The lesson for me is to always consider my own journey before judging others and to continue to seek obedience to God in humility and gratitude.
For ultimately the greatest gift I can give to God is to be the best version of me...that can only happen when I seek God and fully surrender to his love and the unique talents and life in which I live. This changes things because my objective no longer becomes what I can get but rather what can I give. Because what I get is the all-powerful living God and what I can give is the best of myself fueled from his love for me.
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Ok so Jacob wrestles with God and Jesus tells that we are to not love our family and children over him...these verses are tough ones and have caused more questions than answers for me over the years. So what is the deal of Jacob wrestling with God?
Quite frankly I have always been a little put out by Jacob. He seems like a fearful, conniving snake to me. He is always manipulating, always fearful, always scheming...yet God loves and blesses him. Why?
The easy answer is that it was because of the promise to Abraham...yet in that same vein I wonder why God would still choose him...there were others and God is sovereign and in control so why Jacob?
I don't know that there is an easy answer...God's grace though is evident. Jacob definitely did not deserve the blessing but neither do I deserve the blessings in my life. Yet Jacob changed, his story is a light into the process of God changing a man over time. Jacob became a better man and it was through God's provision, in both suffering and blessing.
Often I find that it is easy to cast judgement and imagine how things should be different. In my life it's definitely a struggle, I judge God, situations, people...the list goes on and on. Yet scripture definitely has a way of slapping me upside the head. I have been blessed beyond measure, my sins have been forgiven and are not held against me. God has also allowed me to suffer in circumstances that at times didn't seem fair. Yet I can always look back and see that it was part of a process. The lesson for me is to always consider my own journey before judging others and to continue to seek obedience to God in humility and gratitude.
For ultimately the greatest gift I can give to God is to be the best version of me...that can only happen when I seek God and fully surrender to his love and the unique talents and life in which I live. This changes things because my objective no longer becomes what I can get but rather what can I give. Because what I get is the all-powerful living God and what I can give is the best of myself fueled from his love for me.
Quite frankly I have always been a little put out by Jacob. He seems like a fearful, conniving snake to me. He is always manipulating, always fearful, always scheming...yet God loves and blesses him. Why?
The easy answer is that it was because of the promise to Abraham...yet in that same vein I wonder why God would still choose him...there were others and God is sovereign and in control so why Jacob?
I don't know that there is an easy answer...God's grace though is evident. Jacob definitely did not deserve the blessing but neither do I deserve the blessings in my life. Yet Jacob changed, his story is a light into the process of God changing a man over time. Jacob became a better man and it was through God's provision, in both suffering and blessing.
Often I find that it is easy to cast judgement and imagine how things should be different. In my life it's definitely a struggle, I judge God, situations, people...the list goes on and on. Yet scripture definitely has a way of slapping me upside the head. I have been blessed beyond measure, my sins have been forgiven and are not held against me. God has also allowed me to suffer in circumstances that at times didn't seem fair. Yet I can always look back and see that it was part of a process. The lesson for me is to always consider my own journey before judging others and to continue to seek obedience to God in humility and gratitude.
For ultimately the greatest gift I can give to God is to be the best version of me...that can only happen when I seek God and fully surrender to his love and the unique talents and life in which I live. This changes things because my objective no longer becomes what I can get but rather what can I give. Because what I get is the all-powerful living God and what I can give is the best of myself fueled from his love for me.
6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
ROMANS 5:6-8
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