Fighting God & Loosing Life - Day 15: Thirty Day Meditations to Abundant Life!
Have you ever had a bad day where arrows of rotten luck seem to be hurled at you every other turn? Or perhaps it's not a day, but a whole life-worth of days? Maybe you feel that the world is truly against you from the chair that stubs your toe (for the fifth time this week) to the chair of the company that wants to fire you after you've moved your family to take that job only a year ago.
There is man in the Bible whose life always intrigued me. His story has always made me wonder, not because he had a hard life, but because his fathers had such a different sort of life, full of blessings, victories, rest, peace and joy - with a fair amount of hardship, but hardships that were always overcome. His life on the other hand, was such a far cry from that.
David Roiel
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| Courtesy of Shutterstock-Kwest; text/mortification by D.R. |
This man's name is Jacob and his father is Isaac, and his grandfather, Abraham. Jacob was born second in line to the inheritance, just a few seconds after his twin brother Esau. But he wanted more than just a second rate inheritance, he wanted to be the firstborn. So with a little trickery, he managed to let his brother renounce his inhertiance (who forfieted it for a little soup). But this trickery set him far, far from the life he could have had.
The deceptive methods he used against his own brother, made him afraid that Esau would kill him. So he ran away. Understand, we're talking about the son of Isaac and Abraham, giants of the faith. And here was Jacob their son, being sneaky and conniving, paranoid for his life, running into the desert, deserted, alone, with nothing but the clothes on his back. He lays head to sleep, using a pillow for a rock and he meets Jesus Himself. So what does he do? He fights Him! He fights and before he lets Him go he demands that the Lord bless him. He is blessed, but the encounter leaves him forever limping. It also leaves him with a different name - Israel - He who fights God.
It's a strange story, but highly instructive nonetheless. Jacob went on to work for his uncle, Laban, far away from his land in Haran. There Jacob falls in love with Rachel, Laban's daughter, but in order to have her hand, Laban asked him for seven years labor. After seven years of sweat and toil, what does that his uncle do? He gives him Leah, Rachel's sister instead (yeah, there's more weird stuff here). So here's Jacob, serving his life for a deceptive man, married to a woman whom he doesn't love! Can't get worse than that, right? No, it can! Now Jacob works another seven years to get Rachel!
With his two wives, one loved, one unloved, he eventually leaves Laban. To make matters worse, Rachel is barren but one day she gives birth to Joseph. For many years, Rachel has no other children. Imagine how Jacob loved Joseph. Of course, one days Joseph is sold off to slavery by his own brothers. Thinking Joseph is dead, Jacob goes on. Now he has a second child from Rachel... Benjamin. The birth of the second son of Rachel, leads to her death.
To say that Jacob's life was a tragedy, is an understatement. But the reason for such a life, can be summed up in one word - unbelief - unbelief that God wanted to bless him richly. Instead, Jacob thought he had to fight, strive and toil for God's blessings - not just with the world, but with God Himself too. And so at every turn he seemed to falter. That is not the Life God wants for you!
Sometimes we find ourselves doubting that our Father desires good things to come to us. We become embittered, the sun grows dark in our eyes no matter how high and bright it shines in the summer sky. Here's that one word again - unbelief. It seems we are wired to doubt that God is not merely able to bless you, but more, more, more than willing to do so.
Today, expect good things to come in your life. Your marriage might be in tatters, your health flees you, your financial affairs are disasterous and your prospects seemingly marred for life. Expect good things to come. Expect to rise, not to just get out of it alive, but to rise to glory and from there to more glories still. That is your call in Jesus Christ. It is an upward call of victory, blessing, hope and greater things still.
Joseph Prince has a saying that goes something like this. "With God, when you fail, you fail forward." I like that. "Fail forward"
There is no where that is too lost for the Good Shepherd of your soul to find you.
There is no thing that is too powerful for your Strong Savior to rescue you from.
And there is no sin, nor mistake that the blood of the Lamb has not erased already.
God is with you. If He's with you, your Life is good and will become better. All those failures, God shall make them work for you so they become stepping stones to greater glories. Can you believe that? This is faith. Cast out the unbeleif that embitters your heart.
So instead of fighting God for your blessings, wrestling and pleading with God, man and the world, thinking like Jacob, that unless you do so He will not bless you; just rest in Him. Receive from Him. Let go and rest.
Previous day's post: How God works in you; an amazing truth! - Day 14: Thirty Day Meditations to Abundant Life!It's a strange story, but highly instructive nonetheless. Jacob went on to work for his uncle, Laban, far away from his land in Haran. There Jacob falls in love with Rachel, Laban's daughter, but in order to have her hand, Laban asked him for seven years labor. After seven years of sweat and toil, what does that his uncle do? He gives him Leah, Rachel's sister instead (yeah, there's more weird stuff here). So here's Jacob, serving his life for a deceptive man, married to a woman whom he doesn't love! Can't get worse than that, right? No, it can! Now Jacob works another seven years to get Rachel!
With his two wives, one loved, one unloved, he eventually leaves Laban. To make matters worse, Rachel is barren but one day she gives birth to Joseph. For many years, Rachel has no other children. Imagine how Jacob loved Joseph. Of course, one days Joseph is sold off to slavery by his own brothers. Thinking Joseph is dead, Jacob goes on. Now he has a second child from Rachel... Benjamin. The birth of the second son of Rachel, leads to her death.
To say that Jacob's life was a tragedy, is an understatement. But the reason for such a life, can be summed up in one word - unbelief - unbelief that God wanted to bless him richly. Instead, Jacob thought he had to fight, strive and toil for God's blessings - not just with the world, but with God Himself too. And so at every turn he seemed to falter. That is not the Life God wants for you!
Sometimes we find ourselves doubting that our Father desires good things to come to us. We become embittered, the sun grows dark in our eyes no matter how high and bright it shines in the summer sky. Here's that one word again - unbelief. It seems we are wired to doubt that God is not merely able to bless you, but more, more, more than willing to do so.
Today, expect good things to come in your life. Your marriage might be in tatters, your health flees you, your financial affairs are disasterous and your prospects seemingly marred for life. Expect good things to come. Expect to rise, not to just get out of it alive, but to rise to glory and from there to more glories still. That is your call in Jesus Christ. It is an upward call of victory, blessing, hope and greater things still.
Joseph Prince has a saying that goes something like this. "With God, when you fail, you fail forward." I like that. "Fail forward"
There is no where that is too lost for the Good Shepherd of your soul to find you.
There is no thing that is too powerful for your Strong Savior to rescue you from.
And there is no sin, nor mistake that the blood of the Lamb has not erased already.
God is with you. If He's with you, your Life is good and will become better. All those failures, God shall make them work for you so they become stepping stones to greater glories. Can you believe that? This is faith. Cast out the unbeleif that embitters your heart.
So instead of fighting God for your blessings, wrestling and pleading with God, man and the world, thinking like Jacob, that unless you do so He will not bless you; just rest in Him. Receive from Him. Let go and rest.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
~Jesus, your Savior in Matt 11:28-30~
David Roiel
The Green Leaf Blog-Discover your inheritance!
Subscribe today to get these posts by email and look for my frequent eBook giveaways!
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