There’s this thing I read in a book called Changed into His Likeness by Watchman Nee that really revolutionized my understanding of how God came for each and every one of us. Take a look, you just might identify.
Throughout the Scriptures, ever notice how when speaking to the Israelites God is referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It meant a lot to the Israelites because these guys were their ancestors. It was a reminder that the very same God that did awesome wonders in their ancestors’ day was very much alive and well with them.
But then these three guys were very much unlike one another. They each represent different personalities and show how God interacts with different kinds of people, and with us at different stages of our growth.
Abraham and Isaac
Abraham was the father of faith himself. Right off the bat, as soon as we meet him, God’s calling him to take a giant step of faith and Abraham (then called Abram) obeys. This man had a very amazing and exemplary walk with God. He experienced miracles, lived prosperously and fought and won battles all by God’s strength. See, God had a covenant relationship with Abraham that gave him an edge.Abraham is like the picture of that stellar child of God. His life is marked with so many exploits and wonders done through God’s favor. He has testimonies of the miracles and wonders God has done in his life, of the many battles he’s won by God’s might. He talks casually about how God is His closest friend and how God reveals secrets to him. He’s that believer we all aspire to be like. If this is where you are in your walk with God, it’s legit, and it’s a good place to be. Oh the adventures you will have in God!
Isaac, however, is majorly known for being Abraham’s son. Not to belittle or invalidate his own experience, but much of what we see him doing is as a result of what his father has already done. His father got a wife for him (Genesis 24:1-67). One time Isaac was going to dig up wells but they were his father had dug years before (Genesis 26:18). He was basically living a life enjoying his father’s inheritance. He had entered into rest by heritage, enjoying the blessing of his father.
Isaac reminds us that, as believers, we have entered into a Victory already purchased for us. The battle has been fought and won, and we’ve been crowned ‘More than Conquerors’ through our Father Who loves us. All our accomplishments in Him are based on what He’s provided already. We won’t be speaking cliche when, like Paul, we say, “I am what I am by the grace of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:10)
This understanding is very important so that our confidence is never in the exploits wrought by our hands, but in Him Who birthed us. Always.
Meet Jacob
But Jacob … now here’s a real zinger of a story. Jacob was the quintessential picture of a hustler if there ever was one. He tricked his brother, Esau, into selling his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34), he tricked his father into bestowing his blessing upon him instead of Esau (Genesis 27:1-40), and he later tricked his uncle Laban into giving him the best majority of his herd (Genesis 30:25-43). He got tricked too, like any hustler has experienced, but he owned those scars. He went through life winning seemingly by his efforts, with the wisdom of the world. He had street-smarts, and they had worked for him for so long.But then many years later, his brother, whom he’d swindled out of his birthright, was on his way. For the first time, the trickster was said to be greatly afraid (Genesis 32:7)
Jacob was so scared that he sent part of his family ahead in case Esau was ready to kill him, so they’d get killed first.
The night before their fateful meeting, Jacob fought with God. Or an angel of God, it’s not explicitly clear, but it’s heavily implied that it was God in human form (Genesis 32:24-32). They fought until daybreak. Jacob’s thigh got dislocated out of joint, leaving him with a limp for the rest of his days.
“Let me go,” the Angel of the Lord said.
“Bless me!” Jacob cried. “I won’t let you go unless You bless me!”
And God blessed him and gave him a new name: Israel. Jacob went on that morning to meet his brother, ready for the worst, but Esau instead embraced him.
Jacob is like the rest of us
I’ve come to love Jacob’s story because while most of us are not like him, he’s like so many of us. We may not all have tricked our way to the top, but we’ve all gone through circumstances that looked like we had to work our way out of. We’ve all had those times when we’ve come to depend on our efforts because they’re what have come through for us. We can relate better with the physical reality of the works of our hands than the faith the Bible speaks of.Everyone of us will come to that wrestling place. It may be a difficult circumstance that causes us to realise that the arm of flesh can only go so far, as we start to wrestle in our minds with the idea that we really can’t do everything on our own. The question that’s played at the back of our minds comes to the fore: “Where has God been all this time? Is He even there?”
And in the midst of this, God is telling us to let go. Let go of the right to understand or work your way out of everything and depend on Him. We really can’t get beyond that difficulty by our effort. All He asks — all He expects of us — is to trust Him. To trust that He loves us enough and is powerful enough to get us through.
It’s a wrestle because letting go is a hard decision. It may leave us with a limp, like Jacob. The limp isn’t physical, but it’s a reminder that we will always need His help. It would be a constant reminder that you may have been able to sort out everything else by your abilities, but there are some things you know are way beyond you and show you need God’s help. It’s humbling, trust me. But like Jacob, that’s the only way we’re getting out of that fight.
Even the Apostle Paul had his own ‘limp’, but he called it a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). He prayed and prayed, asking God to take it away. But you know what God said?
My grace is sufficient for thee, for My Strength is made perfect in weakness.
Can I put this in perspective? One of my pastors, Dr Samuel Oyeyinka, once put it this way. Do you realise that, to this day, no one can fully decipher Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’? Some have speculated that it was an eye defect because Paul once wrote about having to write in BIG LETTERS (Galatians 6:11), though that could have just been for emphasis. Some said it was the pain of constantly being persecuted. Some suggest it may have been loneliness from his singleness. Or, who knows, maybe it was a literal thorn that was lodged in his flesh! (creepy picture, I know)
Whatever it was, it was something so difficult that The Paul, writer of two-thirds of the New Testament texts, kept asking God why He didn’t take it away. That was his wrestle with God. This ‘thorn’ could have been any of many things but we really don’t know for sure what it was!
Why?
Now this is the best part.
It shows that, whatever it may have been, God’s strength and grace overshadowed it so much that it didn’t become an issue anymore! It was a constant reminder to Paul that he really needed God’s help, but to others Paul was just fine, even super-fine.
It did not impede Paul from fulfilling God’s intent for his life. Whatever this thorn may have been, Paul was still able to say at the end of his life, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” (2 Timothy 4:7)
Because Paul trusted His life to God, God helped him walk despite his limp.
Wow!
The God of Jacob
Jacob came out of the fight with a new name, Israel. But do you notice that God was still referred to, more often than not, as the God of Jacob and not simply the God of Israel? Do you see how God was not ashamed to be associated with Jacob, with all of his crooked past?It’s a reminder that, when we commit our lives to God, our past, present and future are committed to Him. He’s not ashamed to be identified with our past because not only has it been a part of who we’ve become, but He’s going to work it out into His beautiful glorious future for us. You would look back and see the beautiful thread God weaved through and out of that past. In the pain and hurts, He would strengthen you so you can even be a comfort to another going through theirs.
He’s not ashamed to be identified with our past…
This is why Paul would say, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon Me.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
My limitations are a reminder that God is able to help me. When I face my own thorns, those situations where I still have questions, I’ve come to a place where I deliberately commit them to God. It’s not always easy, but I’m willing to trust that if I trust Him with the parts of life I find difficult, He would help me walk. By His strength and grace I will walk on water with Him. Where I limp, I’ll trust He’ll help me walk. And if I get overwhelmed by the waves, I know He’ll carry me.
I’m learning to live from that place always, not just when I face difficult circumstance. When I’m weak and aware of my weakness, I’m at my strongest (2 Cor 12:10) because He has more license to work!
And, like Don Moen’s song, my heart constantly sings…
Lord I offer my life to You
Everything I’ve been through
Use it for Your glory
Lord, I offer my days To You
Lifting my praise To You
As a living sacrifice
Lord I offer You my life.
Abrahams have learnt this lesson of trusting God, early. That’s why they have such a close walk with God. That’s why God can do so much through them.
This, trusting in God, is the only life Isaacs know because Abrahams taught them. But they, like we all, will come to points where we have no choice but to trust God. A literal moment of truth. It stretches us, but it builds our faith.
We tend to define Christian life based on the Abrahams and Isaacs, but don’t forget that even the Jacobs are special to God. He also wants to be identified with their journey, to show forth His glory and awesomeness through their story. We all come into His plans through the door of faith, trusting in Him. He meets us right where we are.
Right where you are.
Faith is like coming to a cliff. Our Father calls us to step off. Our common sense tells us to stay on solid ground, and we wrestle. But when we trust Him and step off, we land in His arms.
The more we step off of these cliffs, the better we know the One waiting to catch us. Over and over again.
Let me finish…
Let’s bring this home, shall we?- Abraham shows us that we can have a close walk with God, and that we would see His strength and might working through us.
- Isaac reminds us that we’ve come into an inheritance we did not work for. Christ provided everything that we would need for life and godliness. Our part is to trust Him, receive what He’s done, and walk.
- Jacob reminds us that there’s a point where the strength and knowledge we’ve always known would not be enough. In those places where we see we have to trust God, we come to see His power at work in us and for us. The ‘limp’ may remain, but it’s an opportunity to see His strength in us.
And that’s why He’s not ashamed, but really excited, to be known in the mouths of the people as the God of (insert your name)!
Emmanuel Onimisi 