God Encounters –Joy Comes in the Morning

Today we will finish the posts on Jacob and his encounter with God.  Jacob in his encounter with God  wrestled with God and it changed everything for him.  It changed the direction of his life and even changed his name.  In this post we will continue to look at Jacob and again if you are unfamiliar with him please read Genesis 31 and 32 – if you wish you can click here to read it.  The minimum I think you should know about his encounter is in this paraphrase of the Scripture of Jacob wrestling with God:

Jacob stayed behind by himself and this is where there is real mystery in what happened is written. We know that Jacob wrestled with a man until daybreak. We do not know how this happened but Jacob wrestles with the man. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.

The man said, "Let me go; it’s daybreak."  Jacob said, "I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me." The man said, "What’s your name?"  He answered, "Jacob."

The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it is Israel; you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through." Jacob asked, "And what’s your name?" The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel  because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!" The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip being knocked out of joint.

In looking at Jacob’s encounter we have seen that different motivations drive us to God and for Jacob it was family issues and problems.  We have seen family issues do drive us to seek the presence of God and they push us to seek direction from God about them.  We also talked about the paradox that we must give up the most precious things in order get all that God has for us.  We will encounter God when it seems like everything is lost.  God will also encounter those that seek There are some tough things to learn but if you wrestle with God you will find that God does not want things easy for us but He simply wants us to hold on tight to Him through all we go through.

As we finish I want you to consider this: Seeking God is something you must do alone. Jacob’s wives or children couldn’t help him seek God’s presence. Laban and Esau were not able to spiritually help him. Jacob wrestled alone with God, and prevailed. He saw God face to face. You cannot wait for your spouse to go with you in your journey to God, it is a lonesome journey, and it’s a journey you take by yourself. As Abraham interceded alone for Sodom . . . as Moses interceded alone on Sinai . . . as Elijah alone stood against 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel . . . so you must seek God’s face alone. Are you willing to seek God and are you willing to hear what he has to say to you and change what he isays change?

You will hear this idea a number of times as we go through this series and that is: We are usually surprised by God’s encounter with us. Jacob didn’t expect God’s presence that night. He retreated there to hide because he was afraid after taking his family across the brook and was probably there to pray to God and not wrestle with Him. God will encounter you but will you recognize it?

Jacob was surprised to find himself in the presence of God. Sometimes we go to church, never expecting to meet God, but in the unusual and unexpected places, we are surprised by God. God wants and desires to surprise you with an encounter with Him. He wants to do it right here and now! Consider this verse Psalm 61:2 – "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to a rock that is higher than I” You have to get out of the way and let God come in and change you and that is the problem why many will not – they are too stuck on it being about them. You hear it in all their conversations words like: me, my, and I. You need to cling to Him and get rid of me, my, and I because they are deadly foes of God encounters.

In the end: After the blackest experiences at the lowest times of life, the dawn comes where we understand our encounter with God. For several days, Jacob lived in a dark valley that became progressively darker. The more Jacob manipulated circumstances, the worst they became. Let me say – the same is true for you – the more you try to manipulate people and things your way – the worse they will become. It is only in seeking God and doing things His way where relief is found! Only in the darkest experiences did Jacob meet God and was eventually was blessed by God. When we come to the end of our way, we need to turn to God. He will come to us. There always is a bright shining morning that follows the storms of the night. Hold on till the morning! Hold on tight like Jacob did and you will encounter God. He will change things for you!

Oh there is such great encouragement in Psalm 30 which says: "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning . . . You have turned for me my mourning into dancing, You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness"

That is what a God encounter is – it is the joy that comes in the morning. It is not grieving but dancing. It is not being clothed in sadness but in gladness! You might come to God weeping, grieving, and wearing sackcloth but you leave a true encounter with God – you will do it joy, dancing, and clothed in gladness.

Do you have any insights to share on this encounter that I did not?  I would love to hear them!

God Encounters–The Paradox

In the last post we started looking at Jacob and his encounter with God where he wrestled with God and it changed everything for him.  It changed the direction of his life and even changed his name.  In this post we will continue to look at Jacob and again if you are unfamiliar with him please read Genesis 31 and 32 – if you wish you can click here to read it.  The minimum I think you should know about his encounter is in this paraphrase of the Scripture of Jacob wrestling with God:

Jacob stayed behind by himself and this is where there is real mystery in what happened is written. We know that Jacob wrestled with a man until daybreak. We do not know how this happened but Jacob wrestles with the man. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.

The man said, "Let me go; it’s daybreak."  Jacob said, "I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me." The man said, "What’s your name?"  He answered, "Jacob."

The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it is Israel; you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through." Jacob asked, "And what’s your name?" The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel  because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!" The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip being knocked out of joint.

Yesterday we saw different motivations drive us to seek God and concern for family will lead us to seek God.  Today one thing we see is this : Family arguments push us to seek God and His direction. Jacob was driven by fear of a hostile uncle, and as we saw him run from Laban. What Jacob didn’t fully know was that God warned Laban not to harm Jacob. Then Jacob faced a brother who had sworn revenge on him in the past but his heart softened through the years but Jacob did not know this either. Sometimes we are motivated to seek God because we are disappointed with our family or in our marriage or our children turn against us or we are betrayed by family members. In those times we need to seek God and His direction because in God’s presence there is peace and rest. We will find direction for family issues if we seek God – we must hold on and fight for our family! We must hold on to God and what He wants and not what we want.

One reason people do not have powerful encounters with God  has to do with this: We must give up precious things of life to encounter God’s presence. Jacob gave up everything for God, he was willing to surrender all his herds to Esau, he was willing to sacrifice his family, he offered to God the only thing he brought out of the Promise Land, which was his staff or his walking stick which is something he will need after his encounter with God. Only after giving it all to God did Jacob experience God’s presence. If you are going to encounter God, you must not let anything come between you and God. Here is the problem – we have our priorities all out of whack – we have our list of priorities as children, spouse, and immediate family, other family, friends, then God. What it needs to be is like this: God, spouse, children, immediate family, other family, and then friends. We put everything before God in life and make excuses like it is alright but we wonder why we do not have encounters with God or his power and presence in our lives. We wonder why everything falls apart all round us and we do not know where to turn. It is because we are not willing to give up the precious thing of life to encounter God’s presence which will ultimately lead to greater blessings than we could imagine. We could have so much if we just gave it all to Him – it is a paradox – we must give it all to God so that we can have more of it.

Some of you want to argue with me right now and in your minds you are but I say do not argue with me but Jesus who in Matthew 10:37-39 said this: "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it". Nothing and no one should come before God in your life – not your spouse, not your children, no one and if they do – you are wrong according to Jesus!

Have you found this paradox to be true in your life? Have you given it all up for God and found so much more?

God Encounter–Wrestling with God

In the last several posts we talked all about what God encounters were and were not and now we are going to look at one of the  people of Bible who encountered God in a powerful way.  The next several posts we will be looking the Old Testament character Jacob.  He had quite the encounter with God that left him limping and changed in  many ways – if you do not know this story please go and read at least Genesis 31 and 32 – if you wish you can click here to read it.  The minimum I think you should know about his encounter is in this paraphrase of the Scripture of Jacob wrestling with God:

Jacob stayed behind by himself and this is where there is real mystery in what happened is written. We know that Jacob wrestled with a man until daybreak. We do not know how this happened but Jacob wrestles with the man. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.

The man said, "Let me go; it’s daybreak."  Jacob said, "I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me." The man said, "What’s your name?"  He answered, "Jacob."

The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it is Israel; you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through." Jacob asked, "And what’s your name?" The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him. Jacob named the place Peniel  because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!" The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip being knocked out of joint.

There is so much we could look at with this encounter but for today let me get you to focus in on this thought -  Different motivations drive us to seek God. Jacob was running scared before this encounter; he was running from an angry uncle and running towards an angry brother. He had nowhere else he could go so for a moment he was frozen in his fear, and then Jacob sought God alone in the night. But something happened in the night changed his life in many ways. Once he encountered God in the wrestling, Jacob would not let go of God – he held on for dear life. A constant thing in Jacob’s life was to hang on as seen by his willingness to work so long for his wives, so what Jacob always did in the past became the source of changing his life. He held on to God until he was changed by God. He held on tight!

Whatever your motivation for your encounter with God, be it fear, financial stresses, changes, cancer, divorce, or other problems or issues, whatever motivates you to seek God, hang on to Him and do not let go. When you get close enough to grab a hold of God, hang onto Him. Hold on to Him and get into the presence of God and intimate with Him, it will change your life. Hold on to God. Do not give up or in but hold tight!

A verse to cling to in all this is Psalm 56:3 which says: "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You". Jacob was holding on when things looked bad – he was trusting God. His way did not work and now He was trusting God’s way.

Another thing we need to see is that: Concerns for family drives us into God’s presence to encounter Him. Jacob had wives and children, he constantly prayed for their safety. While his own life was a great concern, his prayer for his family was also on his lips. When God can’t get our attention any other way, He might reach us through our spouse or children. When you have concerns for your family – it will move you to the point of seeking God with everything you have so that you do not lose those most precious things in this life – your family. Sadly some are not moved to hold on for their family – they let go and it devastates all involved including the children.

If I can say anything to you – it is this – Hold on to Jesus!  When you have problems and issues happening in life – Hold on to Jesus!  Hold on till that encounter changes you!

Would you say that you have ever wrestled with God?  If so, with what and how did it turn out ? (if your wrestling is over)