Month: October 2019

Why are you letting them do this to me?

 

The anguish in my child’s voice as she cried out to me just about broke my heart.  I was the one who had brought her to this place.  I was the one who had told her she needed to submit to the treatment.  It was my fault she was there and she was in pain.  It took tremendous self-control to restrain myself from intervening, from stopping the hurt.  But that would have meant stopping the cure.  The treatment was both unpleasant and necessary.

 

This was one of those parenting moments that gave me a crystal clear glimpse of the Father’s heart.  How did He allow His Son to endure the Cross?  Maybe the Lord had to restrain Himself from intervening.  I can only imagine the great pain it cost Him to ask His Son to go through something so impossible.  But if He made such a big ask of Jesus, why should I be surprised when He makes a big ask of me?

 

Unlike me, God doesn’t wring His hands and wonder if He’s doing the right thing.  He knows. Although we might struggle with what He allows us to experience, we can be certain there is joy on the other side of it (Hebrews 12:2).  Not because our circumstances guarantee it or even give us any reason to hope, but because our God is who He is – “the God of compassion and mercy! [He is] slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6).  If this is who God is, then what is there to fear when we seek help from Him?

 

All that we experience, both joys and troubles, has passed through the capable, steady hands of God.  Through the filter of His loving-kindness. We might look at a situation and ask, How can THIS be kind?  Why are you letting THIS happen to me?  But the thing isn’t outside of God’s control.  It’s not beyond the boundaries of His sovereignty.

 

God has always been prepared for what we’re facing, and He also can see down the road to use every circumstance to prepare us for what lies ahead. There’s a source of strength in difficulties that too often we overlook, and it’s God Himself.  His character. Everything about Him. He showed us how far He was willing to go when He sent His Son to die on our behalf. He let Jesus endure the Cross because He loves US. Our healing came at great cost. We are precious to Him indeed.

 

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28, emphasis added

I went to a really small grade school.  While there were some really wonderful things about the stability of our little group, there were also some definite drawbacks.  If you were the kid who ate glue in first grade, you were stuck with a label that was hard to remove.

 

Poor Jacob.  He got stuck with a name that means “ambitious deceiver” because he grabbed his twin brother’s heel at birth (Genesis 25:26).  It was a name he lived down to, using deceit to steal his brother’s position and inheritance. Eventually he had to run for his life to escape Esau’s wrath.  But one day he wanted to go home, and the night before he arrived, he had an experience that changed everything.

 

Jacob [was] all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn.  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.”

“What is your name?” the man asked.
He replied, “Jacob.”
“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him.  “It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and men and have won.”  The sun rose as he left Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Genesis 32:24-31

 

It’s possible Jacob recognized his desperate situation – he’d wronged Esau and had no reason to expect a warm welcome.  All the terrible things that had been said about him were true.  What he needed now was mercy, and he turned to God. Restoration always requires the intervention of God, and that’s what Jacob got.  When Jacob and Esau met the next day, “Esau ran to meet him and embraced him affectionately and kissed him.  Both of them were in tears” (Genesis 34:4). That doesn’t happen without a miracle.

 

I’ve wrestled with God a time or two.  It happens whenever I really want God to do things my way rather than being willing to allow Him to do things in His way.  He will let me wrestle with Him all night, but He’s never lost a match and He never will.  But He also doesn’t give up and walk away. That’s not His way.  Instead Isaiah 44:23 says, “The Lord has redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel.”  He buys back those who have come up short (me) and is glorified in those who wrestle with Him (also me).  This gives me great hope.  So if you’re wrestling with God, don’t quit too soon.  Don’t let go before you receive the blessing.

 

I don’t know exactly what blessing Jacob was hoping for.  What he received was a transformation so complete it required a name change.  One meaning of Israel is “Contends with God.” But that’s only one part of the story.  The more important part is found in the other meaning of the name – “God prevails.”  The Lord overcame all of Jacob’s resistance. He touched him in a way that changed him forever.  This is what He does for all those who wrestle with Him.